Industrial processes phenylacetic acid

Homogeneous, aqueous tv o-phase catalysis is also of industrial interest for the production of the important intermediate phenylacetic acid (PAA), -which is used in perfume and pesticides syntheses. The previous process (benzyl chloride to benzyl cyanide -with hydrolysis of the latter) suffered from the formation of large amounts of salt (1400 kg per kg of PAA). The new carbonylation method reduces the amount of salt by 60% and makes use of the great cost difference between —CN and —CO [79-81]. Finally, the Suzuki coupling of aryl halides and arylboronic acids, substituting Pd/TPPMS with Pd/TPPTS catalysts, should be also mentioned. 

Apart from the oxo process, a series of other reactions are carried out industrially, even if on a smaller scale. Kuraray carries out the hydrodimerization of butadiene and water to produce n-octanol (or 1,9-nonanediol) on a scale of about 5000 metric tons per year [55]. Applications which are significantly smaller up to now are, for example, the production of vitamin precursors by Rh6ne-Poulenc (cf. Scheme 2, [56]) and the production of substituted phenylacetic acids by carbonylation (Scheme 3) [57]) or of biaryls by Suzuki cross coupling (Scheme 4), both by Hoechst AG (now Clariant AG, [57,58]). 

Increasing the temperature to 350 °C results in decarbonylation of the phenylpyruvic acid methyl ester derivatives and the phenyl acetic ester is formed with a ratio of 65 % a-ketoester to 35 % acetic acid ester. Until now the industrial process for the synthesis of phenylacetic acid ester has started from benzyl chloride, which is converted to benzyl cyanide by KCN, followed by hydrolysis. Every step of this reaction must be performed in a separate reactor and special measures must be taken for handling large amounts of toxic KCN. The new route is certainly an environmentally benign alternative [8,27]. 

Penicillin Formation by Penicillium Chrysogenum. The first reactions of the penicillin biosynthetic pathway are identical to the ones in A. chrysogenum (Figure 1.1-1). IPN, however, is not epimerized to penicillin N instead it is converted to 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA) by removal of the L-a-aminoadipic acid side chain, which is substituted by a hydrophobic acyl group. Both steps are catalyzed by the same enzyme, the acyl coenzyme A IPN acyltransferase (IAT). The enzymatic activity of lAT is believed to be the result of the processing of a 40-kD monomeric precursor into a dimeric form consisting of two subunits with MWs of 11 and 29 kD. Due to the broad substrate specifity of lAT, various penicillin derivatives are synthesized naturally by attachment of different acyl-CoA derivatives to the 6-APA-core. For industrial purposes, to facilitate extraction by organic solvents, synthesis usually is directed to the less hydrophilic penicillin V or penicillin G. This is by addition of phenoxyacetic acid or phenylacetic acid, respectively, as precursors to the culture broth. 

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