Oxalic acid reactions with Grignard reagents

Osmium tetroxide, reaction with alkenes, 235-236 toxicity of, 235 Oxalic add, structure of, 753 Oxaloacetic acid, structure of, 753 Oxetane, reaction with Grignard reagents, 680 Oxidation, 233, 348 alcohols, 623-626 aldehydes, 700-701 aldoses, 992-994 alkenes, 233-236 biological, 625-626 phenols, 631 sulfides, 670 thiols, 668... 

A large number of symmetrical diaryl- or dialkyl-acetaldehydes, difficult to obtain by other means, have been prepared by the reaction of ethyl ethoxyacetate, or ethyl phenoxyacetate, with Grignard reagents followed by treatment of the resulting glycol monoalkyl ether with anhydrous oxalic acid or dilute sulfuric acid. The yield in the first step is 40-80%, and the yield in the subsequent transformation is 50-80%. 

The same strategy has been used to prepare trans bicyclic enones. The protected C5 phosphonylated aldehyde is obtained in 84% yield by a CuBr SMe2-mediated Michael addition of the Grignard reagent derived from 4-chlorobutyraldehyde diethyl acetal to a 5-phosphonylated 2,3-dihydro-4-pyridone in THF. Subsequent room-temperature hydrolysis of the acetal using aqueous oxalic acid in THF affords a near-quantitative yield of the crude aldehyde, which undergoes an intramolecular Homer-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction under treatment with Et3N/LiCl in THF at room temperature (89%). ... 

---