Mesityl alcohol

Beilstein Handbook Reference) Benzene, 2-hydroxy-1,3,5-trimethyl- BRN 1859675 EINECS 208-419-2 HSDB 5677 2-Hydroxymesitylene 1-Hydroxy-2,4,6-trimethylbenzene Mesitol Mesityl alcohol NSC 5353 Phenol, 2,4,6-trimethyl- 1,3,5-Trimethylphenol 2,4,6-Trimethylofenol 2,4,6-Trimethylphenol 2,4,6-Trimetylofenol. Needles mp = 73° bp 220° very soluble in EtOH, EtzO. 

The residual liquid contains about 95 per cent, of diacetone alcohol and is satisfactory for the preparation of mesityl oxide (Section 111,79). 

Fit a 750 ml. round-bottomed flask with a fractionating column attached to a condenser set for downward distillation. Place 500 g. of diacetone alcohol (the crude product is quite satisfactory), 01 g. of iodine and a few fragments of porous porcelain in the flask. Distil slowly. with a small free flame (best in an air bath) and collect the following fractions (a) 56-80° (acetone and a little mesityl oxide) (6) 80-126° (two layers, water and mesityl oxide) and (c) 126-131° (mesityl oxide). Whilst fraction (c) is distilling, separate the water from fraction (6), dry with anhydrous potassium carbonate or anhydrous magnesium sulphate, and fractionate from a small flask collect the mesityl oxide at 126-131°. The yield is about 400 g. 

Although the selectivity of isopropyl alcohol to acetone via vapor-phase dehydrogenation is high, there are a number of by-products that must be removed from the acetone. The hot reactor effluent contains acetone, unconverted isopropyl alcohol, and hydrogen, and may also contain propylene, polypropylene, mesityl oxide, diisopropyl ether, acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, and many other hydrocarbons and carbon oxides (25,28). 

In the three-step process acetone first undergoes a Uquid-phase alkah-cataly2ed condensation to form diacetone alcohol. Many alkaU metal oxides, metal hydroxides (eg, sodium, barium, potassium, magnesium, and lanthanium), and anion-exchange resins are described in the Uterature as suitable catalysts. The selectivity to diacetone alcohol is typicaUy 90—95 wt % (64). In the second step diacetone alcohol is dehydrated to mesityl oxide over an acid catalyst such as phosphoric or sulfuric acid. The reaction takes place at 95—130°C and selectivity to mesityl oxide is 80—85 wt % (64). A one-step conversion of acetone to mesityl oxide is also possible. 

Figure 2 illustrates the three-step MIBK process employed by Hibernia Scholven (83). This process is designed to permit the intermediate recovery of refined diacetone alcohol and mesityl oxide. In the first step acetone and dilute sodium hydroxide are fed continuously to a reactor at low temperature and with a reactor residence time of approximately one hour. The product is then stabilized with phosphoric acid and stripped of unreacted acetone to yield a cmde diacetone alcohol stream. More phosphoric acid is then added, and the diacetone alcohol dehydrated to mesityl oxide in a distillation column. Mesityl oxide is recovered overhead in this column and fed to a further distillation column where residual acetone is removed and recycled to yield a tails stream containing 98—99% mesityl oxide. The mesityl oxide is then hydrogenated to MIBK in a reactive distillation conducted at atmospheric pressure and 110°C. Simultaneous hydrogenation and rectification are achieved in a column fitted with a palladium catalyst bed, and yields of mesityl oxide to MIBK exceeding 96% are obtained. 

Ma.nufa.cture. Mesityl oxide is produced by the Hquid-phase dehydration of diacetone alcohol ia the presence of acidic catalysts at 100—120°C and atmospheric pressure. As a precursor to MIBK, mesityl oxide is prepared ia this manner ia a distillation column ia which acetone is removed overhead and water-saturated mesityl oxide is produced from a side-draw. Suitable catalysts are phosphoric acid (177,178) and sulfuric acid (179,180). The kinetics of the reaction over phosphoric acid have been reported (181). 

The solubility parameter is about 19.2MPa and being amorphous they dissolve in such solvents as tetrahydrofuran, mesityl oxide, diacetone alcohol and dioxane. Since the main chain is composed of stable C—C and C—O—C linkages the polymer is relatively stable to chemical attack, particularly from acids and alkalis. As already mentioned, the pendant hydroxyl groups are reactive and provide a site for cross-linking. 

Purely parallel reactions are e.g. competitive reactions which are frequently carried out purposefully, with the aim of estimating relative reactivities of reactants these will be discussed elsewhere (Section IV.E). Several kinetic studies have been made of noncompetitive parallel reactions. The examples may be parallel formation of benzene and methylcyclo-pentane by simultaneous dehydrogenation and isomerization of cyclohexane on rhenium-paladium or on platinum catalysts on suitable supports (88, 89), parallel formation of mesityl oxide, acetone, and phorone from diacetone alcohol on an acidic ion exchanger (41), disproportionation of amines on alumina, accompanied by olefin-forming elimination (20), dehydrogenation of butane coupled with hydrogenation of ethylene or propylene on a chromia-alumina catalyst (24), or parallel formation of ethyl-, methylethyl-, and vinylethylbenzene from diethylbenzene on faujasite (89a). 

Highly enantioselective hydrosilylation of aliphatic and aromatic carbonyl compounds such as acetophenone, methyl phenethyl ketone 1813, or deuterobenz-aldehyde 1815 can be readily achieved with stericaUy hindered silanes such as o-tolyl2SiH2 or phenyl mesityl silane 1810 in the presence of the rhodium-ferrocene catalyst 1811 to give alcohols such as 1812, 1814, and 1816 in high chemical and optical yield [47] (Scheme 12.14). More recently, hydrosilylations of aldehydes... 

Although menthyl esters, especially 19, are most often used to prepare sulfoxides, esters derived from optically active alcohols other than menthol have been prepared . Ridley and Smal prepared arenesulfmic esters of 1,2 5,6-di-O-cyclohexylidene-a-D-glucofuranose. Unfortunately, these diastereomers were oils, except for the mesityl derivative, with the major epimer having configuration R at sulfur and so they offered no advantage over the menthyl esters. Separation of the epimers by chromatography failed. 

The solid base catalysed aldol condensation of acetone was performed over a CsOH/Si02 catalyst using a H2 carrier gas. The products observed were diacetone alcohol, mesityl oxide, phorone, iso-phorone and the hydrogenated product, methyl isobutyl ketone. Deuterium tracer experiments were performed to gain an insight into the reaction mechanism. A mechanism is proposed. 

The aldol condensation of acetone to diacetone alcohol is the first step in a three-step process in the traditional method for the production of methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK). This reaction is catalysed by aqueous NaOH in the liquid phase. (3) The second step involves the acid catalysed dehydration of diacetone alcohol (DAA) to mesityl oxide (MO) by H2S04 at 373 K. Finally the MO is hydrogenated to MIBK using Cu or Ni catalysts at 288 - 473 K and 3- 10 bar (3). 

The reaction mechanism is shown in Figure 4 and is adapted from work by Fiego et al. [9] on the acid catalysed condensation of acetone by basic molecular sieves. The scheme has been modified to include the hydrogenation of mesityl oxide to MIBK. The scheme begins with the self-condensation of acetone to form diacetone alcohol as the primary product. The dehydration of DAA forms mesityl oxide, which undergoes addition of an addition acetone to form phorone that then can cyclise, via a 1,6-Michael addition to produce isophorone. Alternatively, the mesityl oxide can hydrogenate to form MIBK. 

Under acid conditions the tertiary alcohol (91) almost always undergoes acid-catalysed dehydration (cf. p. 247) to yield the txf -unsaturated ketone, 2-methylpent-3-ene-2-one (mesityl oxide, 95) ... 

The 1,2-hydrosilylation of a,/3-unsaturated ketones is possible and provides a convenient route to allyl alcohols. The standard conditions of Et3SiH/TFA lead to overreduction to the saturated alcohol with mesityl oxide 434,439 The combination of EtsSiH/AlCE/HCl with mesityl oxide gives a mixture of the 1,2-reduction product 4-methylbut-3-ene-2-ol and the fully reduced product, 2-methylpent-2-ene.136 The Ph2SiH2/RhH(PPh3)4 reduction of cyclohexenone gives reaction at... 

Butyne-l,4-diol has been hydrogenated to the 2-butene-diol (97), mesityl oxide to methylisobutylketone (98), and epoxides to alcohols (98a). The rhodium complex and a related solvated complex, RhCl(solvent)(dppb), where dppb = l,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane, have been used to hydrogenate the ketone group in pyruvates to give lactates (99) [Eq. (15)], and in situ catalysts formed from rhodium(I) precursors with phosphines can also catalyze the hydrogenation of the imine bond in Schiff bases (100) (see also Section III,A,3). 

Recently, the 13C-NMR spectrum of l-mesityl-3,3-dimethylallenyl cation (51) generated from the propargyl alcohol was measured (equation 19)39. The cation exhibits strong shielding for the C+-atom (192 ppm). 

The reduction of phenyl mesityl ketone was studied with LAH modified with amino alcohols 65 to 72 in ether (the ratio LAH alcohol ketone = 1.1 1.1 1) (83). Optical yields were modest, with the highest 39%, obtained with 65 as the chiral auxiliary reagent. It was observed that there is a relationship between the preferred enantiomeric product and the structure and absolute configuration of the carbons carrying the hydroxy and amino groups. Thus the threo... 

In the second step, the diacetone alcohol is dehydrated (the -OH group and a hydrogen atom are clipped off) to form mesityl oxide. The dehydration is done by mixing the diacetone alcohol with the water-loving catalyst sulfuric acid at 212 250 F,... 

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