2- ethyl acrylate synthesis

Acetylene-Based Routes. Walter Reppe, the father of modem acetylene chemistry, discovered the reaction of nickel carbonyl with acetylene and water or alcohols to give acryUc acid or esters (75,76). This discovery led to several processes which have been in commercial use. The original Reppe reaction requires a stoichiometric ratio of nickel carbonyl to acetylene. The Rohm and Haas modified or semicatalytic process provides 60—80% of the carbon monoxide from a separate carbon monoxide feed and the remainder from nickel carbonyl (77—78). The reactions for the synthesis of ethyl acrylate are... 

The stoichiometric and the catalytic reactions occur simultaneously, but the catalytic reaction predominates. The process is started with stoichiometric amounts, but afterward, carbon monoxide, acetylene, and excess alcohol give most of the acrylate ester by the catalytic reaction. The nickel chloride is recovered and recycled to the nickel carbonyl synthesis step. The main by-product is ethyl propionate, which is difficult to separate from ethyl acrylate. However, by proper control of the feeds and reaction conditions, it is possible to keep the ethyl propionate content below 1%. Even so, this is significantly higher than the propionate content of the esters from the propylene oxidation route. 

These processes have supplanted the condensation reaction of ethanol, carbon monoxide, and acetylene as the principal method of generating ethyl acrylate [140-88-5] (333). Acidic catalysts, particularly sulfuric acid (334—338), are generally effective in increasing the rates of the esterification reactions. Care is taken to avoid excessive polymerisation losses of both acryflc acid and the esters, which are accentuated by the presence of strong acid catalysts. A synthesis for acryflc esters from vinyl chloride (339) has also been examined. 

Qiu et al. [241 have reported the synthesis of macromolecules having 4-tolylureido pendant groups, such as poly(N-acryloyl-N -4-tolylurea-cvi ethyl acrylate) [po-ly(ATU-co-EA)] 18, and poly(N-methacryloyl-A/ -4-tol-ylurea-co-EA) [poly(MTU-co-EA)] 19, from the copolymerization of ATU and MTU with EA, respectively. Graft copolymerization of acrylamide onto the surface of these two copolymer films took place using the Ce(lV) ion as initiator. The graft copolymerization is proposed as Scheme (12). 

An (E)-selective CM reaction with an acrylate (Scheme 61) was applied by Smith and O Doherty in the enantioselective synthesis of three natural products with cyclooxygenase inhibitory activity (cryptocarya triacetate (312), cryptocaryolone (313), and cryptocaryolone diacetate (314)) [142]. CM reaction of homoallylic alcohol 309 with ethyl acrylate mediated by catalyst C led (E)-selectively to d-hydroxy enoate 310 in near quantitative yield. Subsequent Evans acetal-forming reaction of 310, which required the trans double bond in 310 to prevent lactonization, led to key intermediate 311 that was converted to 312-314. 

A Michaelis-Arbusov rearrangement followed by a Wittig-Horner reaction is involved in preparation of the distyrylbenzene derivative 11.37, as shown in Scheme 11.15. Precautions must be taken in the first stage to minimise formation of the carcinogenic by-product bis(chloromethyl) ether 11.16. The stilbene bis-ester 11.38 can be made by a similar procedure, or alternatively by the reaction of ethyl acrylate with 4,4 -dibromostilbene in the presence of a palladium-based catalyst (Scheme 11.16), a synthesis that yields the required trans form of the brightener. 

Somei adapted this chemistry to syntheses of (+)-norchanoclavine-I, ( )-chanoclavine-I, ( )-isochanoclavine-I, ( )-agroclavine, and related indoles [243-245, 248]. Extension of this Heck reaction to 7-iodoindoline and 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol led to a synthesis of the alkaloid annonidine A [247]. In contrast to the uneventful Heck chemistry of allylic alcohols with 4-haloindoles, reaction of thallated indole 186 with 2-methyl-4-trimethylsilyl-3-butyn-2-ol affords an unusual l-oxa-2-sila-3-cyclopentene indole product [249]. Hegedus was also an early pioneer in exploring Heck reactions of haloindoles [250-252], Thus, reaction of 4-bromo-l-(4-toluenesulfonyl)indole (11) under Heck conditions affords 4-substituted indoles 222 [250], Murakami described the same reaction with ethyl acrylate [83], and 2-iodo-5-(and 7-) azaindoles undergo a Heck reaction with methyl acrylate [19]. 

Synthesis of bicyclic aza sugars from D-xylose was reported. A key step involved reaction of the nitrone 9 with ethyl acrylate providing intermediate 10, which was finally converted into aza sugars (Fig. 4).11... 

The Michael reaction involves conjugate addition of a nucleophile onto an a,P-unsaturated carbonyl compound, or similar system. Such reactions take place in nature as well, and some can be potentially dangerous to us. For example, the a,P-unsaturated ester ethyl acrylate is a cancer suspect agent. This electrophile can react with biological nucleophiles and, in so doing, bind irreversibly to the nucleophile, rendering it unable to carry out its normal functions. A particularly important enzyme that can act as a nucleophile is DNA polymerase, which is responsible for the synthesis of strands of DNA, especially as part of a DNA repair mechanism (see Section 14.2.2). The nucleophilic centre is a thiol grouping, and this may react with ethyl acrylate as shown. 

The Wittig-Horner (W-H) reaction is a versatile method for the synthesis of functionalized alkenes. The synthesis of 3-substituted ethyl acrylates and acrylonitriles, which are used as monomers in polymerization, were successfully carried out by the reaction of triethyl phosphonoacetate or cyanomethanephosphonate, respectively, with various aldehydes with activated Ba(OH)2 as the catalyst in the presence of dioxane solvent at 343 K (294). As was observed for other basic solid... 

Doyle et al. (34) were the first group to generate isomiinchnones from diazo imides using Rh(II) catalysis. For example, isomiinchnone 60 was produced from diazo imide 59, but attempts to trap this species with ethyl acrylate were unsuccessful. The only material identified was the isomiinchnone hydrolysis product. This use of Rh(II) to generate a rhodium-carbenoid species from an a-diazo carbonyl compound is reminiscent of the first successful synthesis of... 

Sneider et al. (27,28) applied a familiar nitrone for the synthesis the immunosuppressant (—)-FR901483 (14) in a recent study (Scheme 12.7). The nitrone 12 is generated in situ from ketone 10 and the optically pure hydroxylamine 11 at 25 °C. The resultant nitrone 12 underwent a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with ethyl acrylate in refluxing toluene to give the diastereomer 13 with 71 % diastereomeric excess (de). In 22 synthetic steps including the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, the target molecule 14 was obtained. 

A very popular route to piperid-4-ones is by a Dieckmann or Thorpe cyclization of appropriate diesters or dinitriles. In most cases the nitrogen atom is tertiary, to avoid the formation of amides as by-products. A simple example is provided by the synthesis of the piperidone ester (129) which, after hydrolysis and decarboxylation, gives the piperid-4-one (130) (45JOC277). The diesters are available by addition of amines to acrylates and so the two ester fragments can be different. For the production of AT-benzoylpiperid-4-one (132) the whole operation from benzamide and ethyl acrylate to the ester (131) can be achieved... 

The hrst step in the preparation of the antidepressant maprotiline (33-5) takes advantage of the acidity of anthrone protons for incorporation of the side chain. Thus treatment of (30-1) with ethyl acrylate and a relatively mild base leads to the Michael adduct saponihcation of the ester group gives the corresponding acid (33-1). The ketone group is then reduced by means of zinc and ammonium hydroxide. Dehydration of the hrst-formed alcohol under acidic conditions leads to the formation of fully aromatic anthracene (33-2). Diels-Alder addition of ethylene under high pressure leads to the addition across the 9,10 positions and the formation of the central 2,2,2-bicyclooctyl moiety (33-3). The hnal steps involve the construction of the typical antidepressant side chain. The acid in (33-3) is thus converted to an acid chloride and that function reacted with methylamine to form the amide (33-4). Reduction to a secondary amine completes the synthesis of (33-5) [33]. 

The synthesis of l-methylpyrrolizid-7-one49 was very important for final confirmation of the structure of the naturally occurring pyrrolizi-dine bases. The starting ethyl ester of 3-methylproline (80), obtained by analogy with proline,50 was condensed with ethyl acrylate and the condensation product (81) converted into l-methylpyrrolizidine-7-one (82) by cyclization and ketonic hydrolysis. A similar route starting with the ethyl ester of 3-methyl-L-proline afforded optically active... 

At a considerably later date. Frankland prepared ethyl methacrylate and methacrylic acid from ethyl a-hydroxyisobutyrate and phosphorus trichloride. Tollen prepared aciylate esters from 2,3-dibromopropionate esters and zinc. Otto Rohm, in 1901. described the structures of the liquid condensation products (including dimers and timers) obtained from the action of sodium alkoxides on methyl and ethyl acrylate. Shortly after World War 1, Rohm introduced a new acrylate synthesis, noting that an acrylate is formed in good yield from heating ethylene cyanohydrin and sulfuric acid and alcohol. A major incentive for the development of a clear, tough plastic acrylate was for use in the manufacture of safety glass. 

Jew and Park achieved a highly enantioselective synthesis of (2S)-a-(hydroxy-methyljglutamic acid, a potent metabotropic receptor ligand, through the Michael addition of 2-naphthalen-l-yl-2-oxazoline-4-carboxylic acid tert-butyl ester 72 to ethyl acrylate under phase-transfer conditions [38]. As shown in Scheme 5.36, the use of BEMP as a base at —60 °C with the catalysis of N-spiro chiral quaternary ammonium bromide le appeared to be essential for attaining an excellent selectivity. 

The first step in the synthesis is the conjugate addition of methylamine to ethyl acrylate. Two sequential Michael addition reactions take place. 

Carbon monoxide may be eliminated from cyclopropanones either by thermal or photochemical processes (Table 12). In fact, decarbonylation is sometimes an undesirable side reaction in the synthesis of cyclopropanones. For example, the reaction of dimethylketene and ethyl diazoacetate affords carbon monoxide and ethyl acrylate 115 rather than the desired ketone. 2°)... 

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