Methyl ethers Subject

Because the Williamson synthesis is an S 2 reaction, it is subject to all the usual constraints, as discussed in Section 11.2. Primary halides and tosylates work best because competitive E2 elimination can occur with more hindered substrates. Unsymmetrical ethers should therefore be synthesized by reaction between the more hindered alkoxide partner and less hindered halide partner rather than vice versa. For example, terf-butyl methyl ether, a substance used in the 1990s as an octane booster in gasoline, is best prepared by reaction of tert-butoxide ion. with iodomethane rather than by reaction of methoxide ion with 2-chloro-2-methylpropane. 

Z)-enolates. The product was subjected to selective deprotection of the C4,C4 -methyl ethers with Mgl2, providing the natural structure of hypocrellin A as the major product. The two newly formed stereocenters in the 7-membered ring were determined to conform to the predicted helical (/ -stereochemistry and the syn-aldol stereochemistry. The minor ( )-enolate afforded the anti aldol product, which matched the diastereomeric natural product shiraiachrome A (8). With this step, the first total syntheses of hypocrellin A and shiraiachrome A (symanti = 10 1 syn diastereomer, 92 % ee) were completed. 

Formation of the methyl-rhodium complex is analogous to the formation of CH3-C(C0)4 from CH30H2 arid Co(C0K as proposed by Wender. The difference here is that the nature of the active rhodium species is not known. Under the present conditions,homologation does not occur because CO is not present however, addition of the methyl-rhodium species to benzaldehyde must occur as shown in (19), metal adds to the oxygen. The product in (19) is then subject to acid catalyzed etherification to obtain the methyl ether. 

The same procedure has revealed that the aldobionic acid obtained from damson gum and cherry gum by acid hydrolysis has the structure V. Methylation gives the methyl ether VI and when this is subjected to hydrolysis with dilute mineral acid there results 3,4,6-trimethyl-D-mannose (VII) and 2,3,4-trimethyl-D-glucuronic acid (VIII). 

The reagent most commonly used for oxidation of ethers is RuO. The subject is well summarized in an early review by Gore [75], Primary methyl ethers RCHjOCHj are oxidised to esters RCOOCH, and secondary methyl ethers R R CjHjOCHj to ketones R COR while with benzyl ethers PhCH OR the esters PhCOOR are formed. For cyclic ethers, the carbon atoms adjacent to the O atom are oxidised, and if there are two secondary carbon atoms the main products are lactones, sometimes with partial hydrolysis to carboxylic acids [75], There is a short review on oxidation of ethers by RuO, principally on the mechanisms involved [76],... 

This rapidly growing tool for structural studies in the field of carbohydrate chemistry has been the subject of excellent reviews and a book.880,381 Initial studies of carbohydrates by mass spectrometry were confined to the acetals, methyl ethers, and acetates of the common sugars, owing to limitations imposed by the involatility of samples of other derivatives. 

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