Nitriles hydroxylation

Dethioacetalization.6 This reaction can be effected with QH5I(OCOCF3)2 (1) in aqueous methanol (9 1) or acetonitrile at 25° without effect on ester, nitrile, hydroxyl groups, or unsaturated bonds. 

Dihydrooxazoles continue to occupy an important place in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry as they have found use as versatile synthetic intermediates, protecting groups/pro-drugs for carboxylic acids, and chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric synthesis. There are several protocols in the literature for the transformations of functional groups such as acids, esters, nitriles, hydroxyl amides, aldehydes, and alkenes to 2-oxazolines. Newer additions to these methods feature greater ease of synthesis and milder conditions. 

As a class of compounds, the two main toxicity concerns for nitriles are acute lethality and osteolathyrsm. A comprehensive review of the toxicity of nitriles, including detailed discussion of biochemical mechanisms of toxicity and stmcture-activity relationships, is available (12). Nitriles vary broadly in their abiUty to cause acute lethaUty and subde differences in stmcture can greatly affect toxic potency. The biochemical basis of their acute toxicity is related to their metaboHsm in the body. Following exposure and absorption, nitriles are metabolized by cytochrome p450 enzymes in the Hver. The metaboHsm involves initial hydrogen abstraction resulting in the formation of a carbon radical, followed by hydroxylation of the carbon radical. MetaboHsm at the carbon atom adjacent (alpha) to the cyano group would yield a cyanohydrin metaboHte, which decomposes readily in the body to produce cyanide. Hydroxylation at other carbon positions in the nitrile does not result in cyanide release. 

The hydroxyl groups on glycols undergo the usual alcohol chemistry giving a wide variety of possible derivatives. Hydroxyls can be converted to aldehydes, alkyl hahdes, amides, amines, a2ides, carboxyUc acids, ethers, mercaptans, nitrate esters, nitriles, nitrite esters, organic esters, peroxides, phosphate esters, and sulfate esters (6,7). 

Carbon Cha.in Backbone Polymers. These polymers may be represented by (4) and considered derivatives of polyethylene, where n is the degree of polymeriza tion and R is (an alkyl group or) a functional group hydrogen (polyethylene), methyl (polypropylene), carboxyl (poly(acryhc acid)), chlorine (poly(vinyl chloride)), phenyl (polystyrene) hydroxyl (poly(vinyl alcohol)), ester (poly(vinyl acetate)), nitrile (polyacrylonitrile), vinyl (polybutadiene), etc. The functional groups and the molecular weight of the polymers, control thek properties which vary in hydrophobicity, solubiUty characteristics, glass-transition temperature, and crystallinity. 

Table 3 gives the corresponding physical properties of some commercially important substituted pyridines having halogen, carboxyHc acid, ester, carboxamide, nitrile, carbiaol, aminomethyl, amino, thiol, and hydroxyl substituents. 

Conversion of the C-2 amide to a biologically inactive nitrile, which can be further taken via a Ritter reaction (29) to the corresponding alkylated amide, has been accomphshed. When the 6-hydroxyl derivatives are used, dehydration occurs at this step to give the anhydro amide. Substituting an A/-hydroxymethylimide for isobutylene in the Ritter reaction yields the acylaminomethyl derivative (30). Hydrolysis affords an aminomethyl compound. Numerous examples (31—35) have been reported of the conversion of a C-2 amide to active Mannich adducts which are extremely labile and easily undergo hydrolysis to the parent tetracycline. This reverse reaction probably accounts for the antibacterial activity of these tetracyclines. 

Cyanohydrins can react either at the nitrile group or at the hydroxyl group. 

Hydroxyl Group. The OH group of cyanohydrins is subject to displacement with other electronegative groups. Cyanohydrins react with ammonia to yield amino nitriles. This is a step in the Strecker synthesis of amino acids. A one-step synthesis of a-amino acids involves treatment of cyanohydrins with ammonia and ammonium carbonate under pressure. Thus acetone cyanohydrin, when heated at 160°C with ammonia and ammonium carbonate for 6 h, gives a-aminoisobutyric acid [62-57-7] in 86% yield (7). Primary and secondary amines can also be used to displace the hydroxyl group to obtain A/-substituted and Ai,A/-disubstituted a-amino nitriles. The Strecker synthesis can also be appHed to aromatic ketones. Similarly, hydrazine reacts with two molecules of cyanohydrin to give the disubstituted hydrazine. 

Huonnations with DAST proceed with high chemoselectivity In general, under very mild reaction conditions usually required for the replacement of hydroxyl groups, other functional groups, including phenolic hydroxyl groups [112], remain intact This provides a method for selective conversion of hydroxy esters [95 97] (Table 6), hydroxy ketones [120, 121], hydroxy lactones [722, 123], hydroxy lactams [124] and hydroxy nitriles [725] into fluoro esters, fluoro ketones, fluoro lactones, fluoro lactams, and fluoro nitnles, respectively (equations 60-63)... 

One of the earliest preparations of this ring system starts with displacement of the hydroxyl of benzaldehyde cyanohydrin (125) by urea. Treatment of the product (126) with hydrochloric acid leads to addition of the remaining urea nitrogen to the nitrile. There is thus obtained, after hydrolysis of the imine (127), the hydantoin (128). Alkylation by means of ethyl iodide affords ethotoin (129)... 

Benzaldehyde cyanohydrin is reacted with urea to displace the hydroxyl group of the cyanohydrin. That intermediate is treated with HCI to convert the urea nitrogen to a nitrile. The resultant imine is hydrolyzed to the phenylhydantoin. Alkylation with ethyl iodide gives ethotoin, as described by A. Pinner in Chem. Ber. 21, 2325 (1888). 

Hydroformylation of nitrile rubber is another chemical modification that can incorporate a reactive aldehyde group into the diene part and further open up new synthetic routes to the formation of novel nitrile elastomers with a saturated backbone containing carboxyl or hydroxyl functionalities. 

Sulphoxides with -carboxylic acid or amide groups are converted, in nearly quantitative yields, to the sulphone whilst other acids and amides did not show oxidation. In the cases where oxidation did occur, the acid group was converted to the acid chloride (equation 31) whilst the amide was converted to the nitrile (equation 32). These results indicate that neighbouring-group participation in the case of carboxylic acids and amides occurs only when a five-membered intermediate is formed. In the case of hydroxyl groups, four-, five-or six-membered intermediates are favourable. 

Ketones and carboxylic esters can be a hydroxylated by treatment of their enolate forms (prepared by adding the ketone or ester to LDA) with a molybdenum peroxide reagent (MoOs-pyridine-HMPA) in THF-hexane at -70°C. The enolate forms of amides and estersand the enamine derivatives of ketones can similarly be converted to their a hydroxy derivatives by reaction with molecular oxygen. The M0O5 method can also be applied to certain nitriles. Ketones have also been Qc hydroxylated by treating the corresponding silyl enol ethers with /n-chloroperoxy-... 

Recently Sahoo and Bhowmick [75] synthesized hydroxyl-terminated POSS in their laboratory starting from (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APS) and phenylglycidylether (PGE) and used it as a curative in carboxylated nitrile mbber (XNBR). This has been a newer class of material where the nanofiller simultaneously cures the mbber and promotes solvent resistance, as well as mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties. Table 3.3 illustrates some of these findings. 

The diol part of (19) could come from hydroxylation of the double bond in (20). This looks like an alkylation product of acetone, but the required halide (21) is not easy to make. An alternative is to make (20) from Grif nard attack on nitrile (22),... 

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