Methylsuccinate

The carbonylation of some alkyl halides such as iodocyclohexane (911) can be carried out under neutral conditions in the presence of N,N,N.N-tetre,-methylurea (TMU), which is a neutral compound, but catches generated hydrogen halide. Molecular sieves (MS-4A) are used for the same pur-pose[768]. Very reactive ethyl 3-iodobutyrate (912) is carbonylated to give ethyl methylsuccinate (913) in the presence of TMU. The expected elimination of HI to form crotonate, followed by carbonylation, does not occur. 

The residue is cooled and dissolved in 171 ml. of nitric acid (sp. gr. 1.4) (Note 3), and the solution is warmed for 30 minutes on the steam bath. It is immediately concentrated to complete dryness under reduced pressure (Note 4). The flask is cooled, 300 ml. of benzene is added, and the mixture is refluxed for a short time to render the cake friable. The benzene is removed by decantation, and the cake is pulverized and extracted six times by refluxing it briefly with 300-ml. portions of ether. The combined benzene and ether extracts are filtered and concentrated to a volume of about 225 ml. In the meantime the residual salts are extracted twice by refluxing them vigorously for a short time with 300-ml. portions of benzene. The benzene solutions are separated by decantation and added to the ether concentrate. The distillation is then continued untO about two-thirds of the benzene has been removed, when the benzene solution is poured into a beaker and allowed to cool. The methylsuccinic acid is collected on a filter and is washed by shaking a suspension of it in 150 ml. of chloroform (Note 5). The yield of air-dried product, melting at 110-111 , amounts to 87-93 g. (66-70%) (Note 6). 

The residue must be dry because methylsuccinic acid is extremely soluble in water. 

Methylsuccinic acid has been prepared by the pyrolysis of tartaric acid from 1,2-dibromopropane or allyl halides by the action of potassium cyanide followed by hydrolysis by reduction of itaconic, citraconic, and mesaconic acids by hydrolysis of ketovalerolactonecarboxylic acid by decarboxylation of 1,1,2-propane tricarboxylic acid by oxidation of /3-methylcyclo-hexanone by fusion of gamboge with alkali by hydrog. nation and condensation of sodium lactate over nickel oxide from acetoacetic ester by successive alkylation with a methyl halide and a monohaloacetic ester by hydrolysis of oi-methyl-o -oxalosuccinic ester or a-methyl-a -acetosuccinic ester by action of hot, concentrated potassium hydroxide upon methyl-succinaldehyde dioxime from the ammonium salt of a-methyl-butyric acid by oxidation with. hydrogen peroxide from /9-methyllevulinic acid by oxidation with dilute nitric acid or hypobromite from /J-methyladipic acid and from the decomposition products of glyceric acid and pyruvic acid. The method described above is a modification of that of Higginbotham and Lapworth. ... 

Figure 4.2. Rotational-energy barriers as a function of substitution. Tbe small barrier ( 2kcal) in ethane (a) is lowered even further ( O.Skcal) if three bonds are tied back by replacing three hydrogen atoms of a methyl group by a triple-bonded carbon, as in methylacetylene (b). The barrier is raised 4.2 kcal) when methyl groups replace the smaller hydrogen atoms, as in neopentane (c). Dipole forces raise the barrier further ( 15 kcal) in methylsuccinic acid (d) (cf. Figure 4.3). Steric hindrance is responsible for the high barrier (> 15 kcal) in the diphenyl derivative (e). (After...

Figure 4.3. Energy versus bond rotation in methylsuccinic acid (schematic). The diagram shows the greater stability of staggered as compared with eclipsed forms, and the effect of size and dipole moment of substituents on the barriers. The slope of the curve at any point represents the force opposing rotation there. ( = energy of activation of rotation.) (After Gordon )...

D. Brownii, Rydb. From this speeies Manske prepared an alkaloida produet which could not be crystallised or converted into crystalline salts, but on alkaline hydrolysis yielded methylsuccinic acid (fine prisms, m.p. 112°), anthranilic acid and a crystalline base, m.p. 120-1°,... 

CggHjgOjN. HjO, m.p. 143°, [a] ° + 53-2° (EtOH), apparently identical with the basic hydrolytic product of lycaconitine (p. 686) from which methyllycaconitine differs in yielding methylsuccinic acid in place of succinic acid on hydrolysis. This established for the first time similarity in constitution between alkaloids of the two closely related Ranunculaceous... 

Methyl desoxyglycyrrhetate 61 Methyidigoxin 104 Methyl glycyrrhetate 61 Methyl iodide reagent 70 N-Methylphenylalanine 89 Methylsuccinic acid 249 Methyl sugars 188... 

This H-transfer reduction with sodium formate and employing catalysis by a water-soluble rhodium-phosphine catalyst yields dimethyl methylsuccinate [117]. 

Figure 4.78 Liquid/liquid H-transfer reduction of dimethyl itaconate to dimethyl methylsuccinate experimental results vs models.

Homer and Roder also found that dimethylmaleic acid 112, R = H) and its methyl ester 112, R = CH3) are reduced stereospecifically to meso-2,3-di-methylsuccinic acid and its methyl ester, respectively 113, R = H and CH3)ll7>. 

Another interesting issue is the possibility of creating optically active compounds with racemic catalysts. The term chiral poisoning has been coined for the situation where a chiral substance deactivates one enantiomer of a racemic catalyst. Enantiomerically pure (R,R)-chiraphos rhodium complex affords the (iS )-methylsuccinate in more than 98% ee when applied in the asymmetric hydrogenation of a substrate itaconate.109 An economical and convenient method... 

The reaction was then concentrated and the residue was passed through a short column of silica gel eluting with ethyl acetate-diethyl ether (1 1) to remove the catalyst. The (,S )-dimethyl methylsuccinate does not need any further purification (190 mg, 95%). 

Heating the reaction for shorter periods gave erratic results. At this point the semisolid mixture can be diluted with 200 ml. of water, extracted with benzene, and the benzene extract fractionally distilled to give ethyl 2,3-dicyano-3-methylpentanoate, b.p. 146.0-147.5° (2.5 mm.), m27d 1.4429 (highly purified ester has b.p. 138.5-141.5° (2 mm.), 25d 1.4432). The overall yield of a-ethyl-a-methylsuccinic acid is decreased by about 5% when the dicyano intermediate is isolated. 

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