For blocking aldehydes

Honomer Selection. In practice the amide/blocked aldehyde precursor 1 (ADDA) proved more readily accessible than 2. The two forms were completely Interconvertible and equally useful as self-and substrate reactive crosslinkers (6). In our addition polymer systems, the acrylamide derivative 1 (R=CH3) provided a good blend of accessibility, physical properties, and ready copolymerizablllty with most commercially Important monomers. Structure/property relationships for other related monomers will be reported elsewhere. 

This reactivity with diols provides a unique aspect to the linked amide/blocked aldehydes and offers a basis for explaining their good performance at low molar levels of Incorporation on cellulose (Table IV). 

Thus, the aldol route will be blocked, or partially blocked, if the only available aldehydes have fewer than two C-hydrogens. Hence, inclusion of "blocking" aldehydes of Group 1 or 2 in a browning reaction mixture should increase the proportion of free aldehyde produced and generally lower the chain length of aldol polymers formed. Overall, an increase in aroma volatiles should be observed, except with aldehydes of such low boiling point as to be able to escape physically and for which the aldol condensation acts as a restraint. 

Due to the nitrile and hydroxyl functionality, enantiomerically pure cyanohydrins are useful building blocks for synthesis of chiral drugs and having enzymes available that make either the (R)- or (S)-enantiomer is very versatile. Scheme 4.12A illustrates the selectivity and substrate scope of Prunus amygdalus R-HNL and Hevea brasiliensis S-HNL. For most aldehyde and ketone substrates tested, high e.e.s can be reached [51a, 52]. 

Dioxolanes are stable to bases. They are hydrolysed by dilute acids even at room temperature in a reversal of their formation. The conversion of aldehydes and ketones into 1,3-dioxolanes is one of the most important methods for the protection of the carbonyl function in multistep syntheses. It is also the standard method for blocking two vicinal cw-positioned hydroxy groups in a carbohydrate, via reaction with acetone, e.g. ... 

With aldehydes, primary alcohols readily form acetals, RCH(OR )2. Acetone also forms acetals (often called ketals), (CH2)2C(OR)2, in an exothermic reaction, but the equiUbrium concentration is small at ambient temperature. However, the methyl acetal of acetone, 2,2-dimethoxypropane [77-76-9] was once made commercially by reaction with methanol at low temperature for use as a gasoline additive (5). Isopropenyl methyl ether [116-11-OJ, useful as a hydroxyl blocking agent in urethane and epoxy polymer chemistry (6), is obtained in good yield by thermal pyrolysis of 2,2-dimethoxypropane. With other primary, secondary, and tertiary alcohols, the equiUbrium is progressively less favorable to the formation of ketals, in that order. However, acetals of acetone with other primary and secondary alcohols, and of other ketones, can be made from 2,2-dimethoxypropane by transacetalation procedures (7,8). Because they hydroly2e extensively, ketals of primary and especially secondary alcohols are effective water scavengers. 

Synthesis gas is also an important building block for aldehydes from olefins. The catalytic hydroformylation reaction (Oxo reaction) is used with many olefins to produce aldehydes and alcohols of commercial importance. 

Penicilloic acid 5, the substrate for the projected lactamization reaction, could be derived from the suitably protected intermediate 6. Retrosynthetic disassembly of 6, in the manner illustrated, provides D-penicillamine hydrochloride (7) and tert-butyl phthalimido-malonaldehydate (8) as potential building blocks. In the synthetic direction, it is conceivable that the thiol and amino groupings in 7 could be induced to converge upon the electrophilic aldehyde carbonyl in 8 to give thiazolidine 6 after loss of a molecule of water. 

The adjacent iodine and lactone groupings in 16 constitute the structural prerequisite, or retron, for the iodolactonization transform.15 It was anticipated that the action of iodine on unsaturated carboxylic acid 17 would induce iodolactonization16 to give iodo-lactone 16. The cis C20-C21 double bond in 17 provides a convenient opportunity for molecular simplification. In the synthetic direction, a Wittig reaction17 between the nonstabilized phosphorous ylide derived from 19 and aldehyde 18 could result in the formation of cis alkene 17. Enantiomerically pure (/ )-citronellic acid (20) and (+)-/ -hydroxyisobutyric acid (11) are readily available sources of chirality that could be converted in a straightforward manner into optically active building blocks 18 and 19, respectively. 

We now tum our attention to the C21-C28 fragment 158. Our retrosynthetic analysis of 158 (see Scheme 42) identifies an expedient synthetic pathway that features the union of two chiral pool derived building blocks (161+162) through an Evans asymmetric aldol reaction. Aldehyde 162, the projected electrophile for the aldol reaction, can be crafted in enantiomerically pure form from commercially available 1,3,4,6-di-O-benzylidene-D-mannitol (183) (see Scheme 45). As anticipated, the two free hydroxyls in the latter substance are methylated smoothly upon exposure to several equivalents each of sodium hydride and methyl iodide. Tetraol 184 can then be revealed after hydrogenolysis of both benzylidene acetals. With four free hydroxyl groups, compound 184 could conceivably present differentiation problems nevertheless, it is possible to selectively protect the two primary hydroxyl groups in 184 in... 

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