Methyl octanoate, hydrolysis

The deoxygenation of methyl octanoate yielded hydrocarbons Cj-C, with significant amounts of aromatics. Octanoic acid and heavy products, such as 8-pentadecanone, were formed as primary products by acid-catalyzed hydrolysis and condensation, respectively (Fig. 18). The formation of a small amount of ethylbenzene and o-xylene at low conversions of methyl octanoate indicates that direct dehydrocyclization is possible. 

Fig. 19- The efficiency, q, of the Amberlite IR-120 ion exchanger catalyst in ester hydrolysis as a function of the entropy, S, of the parent hydrocarbon RH or R H of the substituents, (a) Hydrolysis (at 25—45°C) of methyl esters RCOOCH3 [366] 1, acetate 2, chloroacetate 3, benzoate 4, cyclopentanecarboxylate 5, phenylacetate 6, a-naphthylacetate 7, 1-octanoate. (b) Hydrolysis (at 35°C) of acetates CH3COOR [480] 1, methyl 2, ethyl 3, cyclopentyl 4, cyclohexyl 5, 1-butyl 6, 2-pentyl 7, 1 -pentyl 8, 1 -hexyl 9, 1 -octyl,...

The same year, Gerlach described a synthesis of optically active 1 from (/ )- ,3-butanediol (7) (Scheme 1.2). The diastereomeric esters produced from (-) camphorsulfonyl chloride and racemic 1,3-butanediol were fractionally recrystallized and then hydrolized to afford enantiomerically pure 7. Tosylation of the primary alcohol, displacement with sodium iodide, and conversion to the phosphonium salt 8 proceeded in 58% yield. Methyl-8-oxo-octanoate (10), the ozonolysis product of the enol ether of cyclooctanone (9), was subjected to Wittig condensation with the dilithio anion of 8 to give 11 as a mixture of olefin isomers in 32% yield. The ratio, initially 68 32 (E-.Z), was easily enriched further to 83 17 (E Z) by photolysis in the presence of diphenyl disulfide. The synthesis was then completed by hydrolysis of the ester to the seco acid, conversion to the 2-thiopyridyl ester, and silver-mediated ring closure to afford 1 (70%). Gerlach s synthesis, while producing the optically active natural product, still did not address the problem posed by the olefin geometry. 

---