Ethylene lactones

Sulfuric acid/acetic anhydride a,j( -Ethylene- -lactones and lactones from 7-ketocarboxylic acids... 

The carbonylation of COD PdCl2 complex in aqueous sodium acetate produces /rui7x-2-hydroxy-5-cyclooctenecarboxylic acid /i-lactone (240). The lactone is obtained in 79% yield directly by the carbonylation of the COD complex in aqueous sodium acetate solution[220]. /i-Propiolactone (241) is obtained in 72% yield by the reaction of the PdCC complex of ethylene with CO and water in MeCN at —20 " C. /3-Propiolactone synthesis can be carried out with a catalytic amount of PdCC and a stoichiometric amount of CuCl2[221]. 

Alkoxide-Type Initiators. Using the guide that an appropriate initiator should have approximately the same stmcture and reactivity as the propagating anionic species (see Table 1), alkoxide, thioalkoxide, carboxylate, and sUanolate salts would be expected to be usehil initiators for the anionic polymeri2ation of epoxides, thikanes, lactones, and sUoxanes, respectively (106—108). Thus low molecular weight poly(ethylene oxide) can be prepared... 

In a somewhat related reaction the fused lactone (142) furnishes the decahydropyrido[3,4- f]pyrimidine (143) during the reaction of a-(hydantoin-5-ylidene)-7-butyrolactone with ammonia in ethylene glycol at 200 °C (71KGS1280). 

In addition to its water solubility poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) is soluble in a very wide range of materials, including aliphatic halogenated hydrocarbons (methylene dichloride, chloroform), many monohydric and polyhdric alcohols (methanol, ethanol, ethylene glycol), some ketones (acetyl acetone) and lactones (a-butyrolactone), lower aliphatic acids (glacial acetic acid) and the nitro-paraffins. The polymer is also compatible with a wide range of other synthetic polymers, with gums and with plasticisers. 

Variations and Improvements on Alkylations of Chiral OxazoUnes Metalated chiral oxazolines can be trapped with a variety of different electrophiles including alkyl halides, aldehydes,and epoxides to afford useful products. For example, treatment of oxazoline 20 with -BuLi followed by addition of ethylene oxide and chlorotrimethylsilane yields silyl ether 21. A second metalation/alkylation followed by acidic hydrolysis provides chiral lactone 22 in 54% yield and 86% ee. A similar... 

A porphinatoaluminum alkoxide is reported to be a superior initiator of c-caprolactone polymerization (44,45). A living polymer with a narrow molecular weight distribution (M /Mjj = 1.08) is ob-tmned under conditions of high conversion, in part because steric hindrance at the catalyst site reduces intra- and intermolecular transesterification. Treatment with alcohols does not quench the catalytic activity although methanol serves as a coinitiator in the presence of the aluminum species. The immortal nature of the system has been demonstrated by preparation of an AB block copolymer with ethylene oxide. The order of reactivity is e-lactone > p-lactone. 

When heated in ethylene chloride at 80 °C for 3h the y9-ketosulfide 1203 reacts with the trimethylsilyl ester of polyphosphoric acid (PPSE) 195 (prepared from P2O5 and HMDSO 7) to give 36% 1204 and 8% 1205, whereas the lactone 1206 affords with PPSE 195 the unsaturated sulfide 1207 in 93% yield [27] (Scheme 8.10). 

The principles set forth above account reasonably well for the course of bifunctional condensations under ordinary conditions and for the relative difficulty of ring formation with units of less than five or more than seven members. They do not explain the formation of cyclic monomers from five-atom units to the total exclusion of linear polymers. Thus 7-hydroxy acids condense exclusively to lactones such as I, 7-amino acids give the lactams II, succinic acid yields the cyclic anhydride III, and ethylene carbonate and ethylene formal occur only in the cyclic forms IV and V. 

The addition of Grignard reagents to aldehydes, ketones, and esters is the basis for the synthesis of a wide variety of alcohols, and several examples are given in Scheme 7.3. Primary alcohols can be made from formaldehyde (Entry 1) or, with addition of two carbons, from ethylene oxide (Entry 2). Secondary alcohols are obtained from aldehydes (Entries 3 to 6) or formate esters (Entry 7). Tertiary alcohols can be made from esters (Entries 8 and 9) or ketones (Entry 10). Lactones give diols (Entry 11). Aldehydes can be prepared from trialkyl orthoformate esters (Entries 12 and 13). Ketones can be made from nitriles (Entries 14 and 15), pyridine-2-thiol esters (Entry 16), N-methoxy-A-methyl carboxamides (Entries 17 and 18), or anhydrides (Entry 19). Carboxylic acids are available by reaction with C02 (Entries 20 to 22). Amines can be prepared from imines (Entry 23). Two-step procedures that involve formation and dehydration of alcohols provide routes to certain alkenes (Entries 24 and 25). 

Figure I indicates the approach used to synthesize poly(oxyethylene)-b-poly(pivalolactone) telechelomers. An acetal capped anionic initiator, X (13) polymerizes ethylene oxide (EO) to give 2> a potassium alkoxide of a masked polyether, and this "new" initiator is to be used to polymerize pivalolactone (PVL). Since potassium alkoxides are strong nucleophiles, they can randomly attack at both the carbonyl carbon and the 3-methylene carbon in lactones, (Figure 2) such a random attack would result in a pivalolactone segment containing irregularities. Lenz (15), and Hall (16), and Beaman (17) have investigated PVL polymerization and have shown that the less nucleophilic carboxylate anion is preferable in polymerizing PVL smoothly. The weaker carboxylate anion will attack only at the methylene...

Enzyme activity for the polymerization of lactones was improved by the immobilization on Celite [93]. Immobilized lipase PF adsorbed on a Celite showed much higher catalytic activity than that before the immobilization. The catalytic activity was further enhanced by the addition of a sugar or poly(ethylene glycol) in the immobilization. Surfactant-coated lipase efficiently polymerized the ring-opening polymerization of lactones in organic solvents [94]. 

As described in Section 9.1.2.2.3, several lanthanocene alkyls are known to be ethylene polymerization catalysts.221,226-229 Both (188) and (190) have been reported to catalyze the block copolymerization of ethylene with MMA (as well as with other polar monomers including MA, EA and lactones).229 The reaction is only successful if the olefin is polymerized first reversing the order of monomer addition, i.e., polymerizing MMA first, then adding ethylene only affords PMMA homopolymer. In order to keep the PE block soluble the Mn of the prepolymer is restricted to <12,000. Several other lanthanide complexes have also been reported to catalyze the preparation of PE-b-PMMA,474 76 as well as the copolymer of MMA with higher olefins such as 1-hexene.477... 

At the first step, the insertion of MMA to the lanthanide-alkyl bond gave the enolate complex. The Michael addition of MMA to the enolate complex via the 8-membered transition state results in stereoselective C-C bond formation, giving a new chelating enolate complex with two MMA units one of them is enolate and the other is coordinated to Sm via its carbonyl group. The successive insertion of MMA afforded a syndiotactic polymer. The activity of the polymerization increased with an increase in the ionic radius of the metal (Sm > Y > Yb > Lu). Furthermore, these complexes become precursors for the block co-polymerization of ethylene with polar monomers such as MMA and lactones [215, 217]. 

Yasuda et al. [122] extended the above work to the block copolymerization of ethylene with lactones. 5-Valerolactone and s-caprolactone were combined with the growing polyethylene end at ambient temperature and the expected AB-type copolymers (100 1 to 100 89) were obtained at high yield. Reversed addition of the monomers (first MMA or lactones and then ethylene) induced no block copolymerization at all, even in the presence of excess ethylene, and only homo-poly(MMA) and homo-poly(lactone) were produced. 

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