Methylene Group Oxidation

X-ray photon emission spectra, 2,128 Methylene groups oxidation... 

Diels-Alder reaction of the furan derivative 148 with homochiral bicyclic enone 149 is the key step [56] in the total synthesis of the diterpenes jatropho-lone A and B, 151 and 152, respectively, isolated from Jatropha gossypiifolia L [57], Initial efforts to carry out the cycloaddition between 148 and 149 under thermal or Lewis-acid conditions failed due to diene instability. Application of 5kbar of pressure to a neat 1 1 mixture of diene and dienophile afforded crystalline 150 with the desired regiochemistry (Scheme 5.23). Subsequent aromatization, introduction of the methylene group, oxidation and methylation afforded (-l-)-jatropholones 151 and 152. 

Although this reaction can occur in fatty acids having a single double bond, such as oleic, the methylene group between two double-bonded carbons is very much more susceptible to oxidative attack than carbons adjacent to a single double bond. Thus, linoleic acid, with one active methylene group, oxidizes ten to twelve times as rapidly as oleic acid. Linolenic acid, with two such labile carbons, oxidizes twice as fast as linoleic (Gunstone and Hilditch, 1946). 

Products of degradation methylene group oxidation, chain scission Bera, M Rivaton, A Gandon, C Gardette, Eur. Polym. J., 36,1753-64, 2000. 

This oxidation proceeds readily if the methylene group is activated by linkage to (a) a carbonyl group, (b) an aromatic ring (c) an olefine link also activates adjacent CH2 and CH groups. 

CgHjCOCHj + SeOa —> CgHgCOCHO + Se + H O This is one example of the oxidation by selenium dioxide of compounds containing a methylene group adjacent to a carbonyl group to thecorresponding a-ketoaldehyde or a-diketone (see also Section VII,23). 

Out first example is 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-3-octanone. 3-Octanone can be purchased, but it would be difficult to differentiate the two activated methylene groups in alkylation and oxidation reactions. Usual syntheses of acyloins are based upon addition of terminal alkynes to ketones (disconnection 1 see p. 52). For syntheses of unsymmetrical 1,2-difunctional compounds it is often advisable to look also for reactive starting materials, which do already contain the right substitution pattern. In the present case it turns out that 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-butanone is an inexpensive commercial product. This molecule dictates disconnection 3. Another practical synthesis starts with acetone cyanohydrin and pentylmagnesium bromide (disconnection 2). Many 1,2-difunctional compounds are accessible via oxidation of C—C multiple bonds. In this case the target molecule may be obtained by simple permanganate oxidation of 2-methyl-2-octene, which may be synthesized by Wittig reaction (disconnection 1). 

Properly end-capped acetal resins, substantially free of ionic impurities, are relatively thermally stable. However, the methylene groups in the polymer backbone are sites for peroxidation or hydroperoxidation reactions which ultimately lead to scission and depolymerisation. Thus antioxidants (qv), especially hindered phenols, are included in most commercially available acetal resins for optimal thermal oxidative stabiUty. 

Like most other engineering thermoplastics, acetal resins are susceptible to photooxidation by oxidative radical chain reactions. Carbon—hydrogen bonds in the methylene groups are principal sites for initial attack. Photooxidative degradation is typically first manifested as chalking on the surfaces of parts. 

Ketones oxidize about as readily as the parent hydrocarbons or even a bit faster (32). Although the reactivities of hydrogens on carbons adjacent to carbonyl groups are perhaps doubled, the effect is small because one methylene group is missing in comparison to the parent hydrocarbon. Ketones oxidize less readily than similar primary or secondary alcohols (35). 

Halogen-substituted succinimides are a class of products with important appHcations. /V-Bromosuccinimide [128-08-5] mp 176—177°C, is the most important product ia this group, and is prepared by addition of bromine to a cold aqueous solution of succinimide (110,111) or by reaction of succinimide with NaBr02 iu the presence of HBr (112). It is used as a bromination and oxidation agent ia the synthesis of cortisone and other hormones. By its use it is possible to obtain selective bromine substitution at methylene groups adjacent to double bonds without addition reactions to the double bond (113). 

The avermectins also possess a number of aUyflc positions that are susceptible to oxidative modification. In particular the 8a-methylene group, which is both aUyflc and alpha to an ether oxygen, is susceptible to radical oxidation. The primary product is the 8a-hydroperoxide, which has been isolated occasionally as an impurity of an avermectin B reaction (such as the catalytic hydrogenation of avermectin B with Wilkinson s rhodium chloride-triphenylphosphine catalyst to obtain ivermectin). An 8a-hydroxy derivative can also be detected occasionally as a metaboUte (42) or as an impurity arising presumably by air oxidation. An 8a-oxo-derivative can be obtained by oxidizing 5-0-protected avermectins with pyridinium dichromate (43). This also can arise by treating the 8a-hydroperoxide with base. 

Cyclohexanone shows most of the typical reactions of aUphatic ketones. It reacts with hydroxjiamine, phenyUiydrazine, semicarbazide, Grignard reagents, hydrogen cyanide, sodium bisulfite, etc, to form the usual addition products, and it undergoes the various condensation reactions that are typical of ketones having cx-methylene groups. Reduction converts cyclohexanone to cyclohexanol or cyclohexane, and oxidation with nitric acid converts cyclohexanone almost quantitatively to adipic acid. 

This variation provides a regiospecific synthesis of isoxazoles with a great variety of substituents. The nitrile A-oxide does not react with the doubly activated methylene group in neutral or acidic medium, but under alkaline conditions the reaction proceeds exother-... 

It is stated in the basic patent that ethylene oxide (II) and 1.3-dioxolane (III) are the preferred materials. By the occasional incorporation of molecules containing two successive methylene groups the tendency of the molecules to unzip is markedly reduced. 

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