4-Hydroxy-3-methyl-8-lactones

Dimethoxyoxetanes.1 In the presence of ZnCl2, this ketal reacts with 0-hydroxy aldehydes to give 2,2-dimethoxyoxetanes, which can be converted into 4-hydroxy-3-methyl-8-lactones and 5,6-dihydro-2-pyrones. In one case, an optically active lactone was obtained in 80% ee from an optically active y-hydroxy aldehyde. 

Valeric acid, a-ACETYL- -CHLORO-7-HYDROXY-, y-LACTONE, 31, 1 5-HYDROXY-3-METHYL, 5-LACTONE,... 

Valeric acid, a-ACETYL-5-CHLORO-y-HYDROXY-, 7-LACTONE, 31, 1 S-HYDROXY-3-METHYL-5-LACTONE, 35, 86... 

The lactone (31), obtainable in three steps from cholanic acid, served as the starting point in a different approach. Phosphorus oxychloride-pyridine dehydration of the corresponding hydroxy-methyl ester afforded a complex mixture of unsaturated esters in which the cis and trans non-conjugated esters (32) predominated Hydrolysis of the entire mixture and treatment of the mixture of free acids with iV-bromosuccinimide gave the new buf-20(22)-enolide (33). DDQ dehydrogenation of (33) could be controlled to yield either the desired bufa-... 

OrMethylenation of lactones. Grieco and Hiroi have applied the a-hydroxy-methylation procedure to the preparation of the oxygenated system (2). The protective ether group was removed with HOAC-H2O-THF, 5 4 1 in 71% yield. 

Structurally, both compounds contain a 30-carbon straight chain tri and tetrahydroxy carboxylic acid. The alkyl chain in each compound is substituted with an ethyl and a number of methyl groups and two of the hydroxy groups are esterified with two units of tricarballylic acid. One of the methyl groups in actinoplanic acid A is oxidized to an hydroxy methyl group that, in turn, forms a 20-membered 6w-lactone ring with the free carboxy group of one of the tricarballylic acids [86,87]. 

This new method for the construction of a-hydroxy-y-lactones is quite general for a variety of alcohols and a,P-unsaturated esters (Figure 6.9). The preparation of a-hydroxy-y-spirolactones from cyclic alcohols is especially notable, because these spirolactones have been very difficult to synthesize until now. The reaction can be explained by Scheme 6.18 (i) in situ generation of an a-hydroxy carbon radical from an alcohol assisted by NHPI/Co(II)/02, (ii) the addition of the radical to methyl acrylate, (iii) trapping of the adduct radical by O2, and (iv) intramolecular cydization to give a-hydroxy-y-butyrolactone. Considering the low-cost material, reaction efficiency, and reaction simplicity, this method provides an innovative approach to a-hydroxy-y-lactones which has considerable industrial potential. 

For the preparation of 4-substituted coumarins, a phenol may be condensed with ethyl acetoacetate under the influence of sulphuric acid. Thus resorcinol (II) readily undergoes this condensation (which is represented diagrammatically above) to give 7-hydroxy-4-methyl-coumarin (III). Note that the coumarins, like all 2 pyrones, are systematically lactones. 

Alkynyl)oxiranes also react with carbon nucleophiles to afford furan derivatives. Furanes of different types are obtained depending on the structure of the substrates. 7-Methyl-2-ethynyloxirane (95) reacts with acetoacetate to give the furan 97 by the elimination of formaldehyde from the cyclized product 96. The hydroxy ester of the alkylidenefuran 98 and the corresponding lactone 99 are obtained by the reaction of i-methyl-2-(2-propynyI)oxirane[40, 42]. 

P-Hydroxy acids lose water, especially in the presence of an acid catalyst, to give a,P-unsaturated acids, and frequendy P,y-unsaturated acids. P-Hydroxy acids do not form lactones readily because of the difficulty of four-membered ring formation. The simplest P-lactone, P-propiolactone, can be made from ketene and formaldehyde in the presence of methyl borate but not from P-hydroxypropionic acid. P-Propiolactone [57-57-8] is a usehil intermediate for organic synthesis but caution should be exercised when handling this lactone because it is a known carcinogen. 

Hydroxy steroids afford 18,20-lactones in 48-74 % yield in the presence of other substituents such as acetates, ketals and saturated and unsaturated ketones. However only a 24% yield is reported in the presence of an 11-ketone . Tertiary 20-hydroxy-20-methyl pregnanes still give 18,20-lactones in 45% yield although a competitive cleavage of the 17,20-bond is also observed. 

In a typical Knof procedure, 3jS-hydroxyandrost-5-en-17-one acetate is epoxidized with perbenzoic acid (or m-chloroperbenzoic acid ) to a mixture of 5a,6a- and 5)5,6)5-epoxides (75) in 99 % yield. Subsequent oxidation with aqueous chromium trioxide in methyl ethyl ketone affords the 5a-hydroxy-6-ketone (76) in 89% yield. Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of the hydroxy ketone (76) with perbenzoic acid (or w-chloroperbenzoic acid ) gives keto acid (77) in 96% yield as a complex with benzoic acid. The benzoic acid can be removed by sublimation or, more conveniently, by treating the complex with benzoyl chloride and pyridine to give the easily isolated )5-lactone (70) in 40% yield. As described in section III-A, pyrolysis of j5-lactone (70) affords A -B-norsteroid (71). Knof used this reaction sequence to prepare 3)5-hydroxy-B-norandrost-5-en-17-one acetate, B-noran-... 

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