Hydroxy Olefins

The term naphthenic acid, as commonly used in the petroleum industry, refers collectively to all of the carboxyUc acids present in cmde oil. Naphthenic acids [1338-24-5] are classified as monobasic carboxyUc acids of the general formula RCOOH, where R represents the naphthene moiety consisting of cyclopentane and cyclohexane derivatives. Naphthenic acids are composed predorninandy of aLkyl-substituted cycloaUphatic carboxyUc acids, with smaller amounts of acycHc aUphatic (paraffinic or fatty) acids. Aromatic, olefinic, hydroxy, and dibasic acids are considered to be minor components. Commercial naphthenic acids also contain varying amounts of unsaponifiable hydrocarbons, phenoHc compounds, sulfur compounds, and water. The complex mixture of acids is derived from straight-mn distillates of petroleum, mosdy from kerosene and diesel fractions (see Petroleum). 

This brief outline of historical developments in osmium tetroxide-mediated olefin hydroxy-lation brings us to our main subject, catalytic asymmetric dihydroxylation. The transition from stoichiometric to catalytic asymmetric dihydroxylation was made in 1987 with the discovery by Sharpless and co-workers that the stoichiometric process became catalytic when N-methyl-... 

When internal alkynes are used, a mixture of regioisomers is formed. A mixture of Z and E isomers in varying ratios is obtained depending on the catalyst species and reaction conditions. Functional groups such as olefin, hydroxy, ester, ether, amide and nitrile are tolerated. " The reaction of... 

There are several reactions (bromination, oxymercuration, epoxidation) of olefinic hydroxy and epoxy compounds in which the oxygen function can react intramolec-ularly with an intermediate formed at the double bond, leading to an oxygen-containing heterocyclic compound (tetrahydrofuran or tetrahydropyran) (Scheme 6). 

Interest in synthetic naphthenic acid has grown as the supply of natural product has fluctuated. Oxidation of naphthene-based hydrocarbons has been studied extensively (35—37), but no commercially viable processes are known. Extensive purification schemes must be employed to maximize naphthene content in the feedstock and remove hydroxy acids and nonacidic by-products from the oxidation product. Free-radical addition of carboxylic acids to olefins (38,39) and addition of unsaturated fatty acids to cycloparaffins (40) have also been studied but have not been commercialized. 

Such copolymers of oxygen have been prepared from styrene, a-methylstyrene, indene, ketenes, butadiene, isoprene, l,l-diphen5iethylene, methyl methacrjiate, methyl acrylate, acrylonitrile, and vinyl chloride (44,66,109). 1,3-Dienes, such as butadiene, yield randomly distributed 1,2- and 1,4-copolymers. Oxygen pressure and olefin stmcture are important factors in these reactions for example, other products, eg, carbonyl compounds, epoxides, etc, can form at low oxygen pressures. Polymers possessing dialkyl peroxide moieties in the polymer backbone have also been prepared by base-catalyzed condensations of di(hydroxy-/ f2 -alkyl) peroxides with dibasic acid chlorides or bis(chloroformates) (110). 

This is a particularly troublesome competing reaction when the olefin oxide, eg, ethylene oxide, produces the more reactive terminal primary hydroxy group. Glycol ethers are used as solvents ia lacquers, enamels, and waterborne coatings to improve gloss and flow. 

P-chlorocarbamates which can be converted to aziridines and alkyloxazoUdones (93,115). A/-Chloro-A/-sodiourethane reacts with organoboranes forming A/-alkylcarbamates (114), and with olefins, catalyzed by Os, forming vicinal hydroxy carbamates (116). 

Glycol and o -hydroxy acid cleavage Oxidative decarboxylation Oxidative rearrangement of olefins... 

A iD-Corticoids have been important intermediates since it was shown ° that substitution at C-9 enhances anti-inflammatory activity. These olefins are usually obtained from 11a- or 11)5-alcohols, and consequently several refined methods have been devised for effecting this dehydration. It is desirable that such methods be compatible with the presence of A" -3-ketone and 17-hydroxy functions. The first direct procedure for which high yields were claimed was described in a patent issued to Upjohn. According to this method, the alcohol (11a or )5) is treated first with A-bromoacetamide in pyridine, then with sulfur dioxide. Recently it has been claimed " that the A-haloamide/sulfur dioxide method gives results superior to other methods, although the methanesulfonyl chloride/sulfur dioxide procedure (see below) apparently was not compared (see also ref. 94). 

Borohydrides reduce a-substituted ketones to the corresponding a-substituted alcohols, and such products can be further reduced to olefins (see section VIII). Other reagents serve, through participation of the carbonyl group, to remove the substituent while leaving the ketone intact. The zinc or chromous ion reduction of a-halo ketones is an example of this second type, which is not normally useful for double bond introduction. However, when the derivative being reduced is an a,jS-epoxy ketone, the primary product is a -hydroxy ketone which readily dehydrates to the a,jS-unsaturated ketone. Since... 

A third type of reduction of a-substituted ketones is typified by the expulsion of the substituent and the reduction of the keto function to form an olefin. Wolff-Kishner reductions of a-hydroxy, a-acetoxy, " a-halo, °° and a-epoxy (see below) ketones are the most frequently encountered steroid examples of this general class. ... 

In addition to the above, Grignaid s leagent has been utilised m preparing olefines, etheis, ketonic esters, hydroxy-acids, quinols, amides, hydroxylammes, c., for details of wliicti books of reference must be consulted ... 

Viprostol (81) also incorporates a hydroxy group moved to C-16 and protects this from facile metabolic oxidation by vinylation. It is a potent hypotensive and vasodilatory agent both orally and transdermally. The methyl ester moiety is rapidly hydrolyzed in skin and in the liver so it is essentially a prodrug. It is synthesized from protected E-iodo olefin 78 (compare with 75) by conversion to the mixed organocuprate and this added in a 1,4-sense to olefin 79 to produce protected intermediate 80. The synthesis of viprostol concludes by deblocking with acetic acid and then reesterification with diazomethane to give 81 [19]. 

The identification of (5) is based on several analytical techniques, one being the direct comparison with model p-hydroxysulfonates synthesized by Bakker and Cerfontain [29]. As indicated above, in AOS manufacturing aging is introduced to avoid the poorly water-soluble 1,2-sultone-derived 2-hydroxy-l-sulfonates. In contrast with AOS the end products derived from internal olefins obtained after direct neutralization without any aging showed good solubilities in water [4]. 

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