Phenolic hydroxyl group Reaction

Chemical Properties. Lignin is subject to oxidation, reduction, discoloration, hydrolysis, and other chemical and enzymatic reactions. Many ate briefly described elsewhere (51). Key to these reactions is the ability of the phenolic hydroxyl groups of lignin to participate in the formation of reactive intermediates, eg, phenoxy radical (4), quinonemethide (5), and phenoxy anion (6) ... 

Hydroxyl Group. Reactions of the phenohc hydroxyl group iaclude the formation of salts, esters, and ethers. The sodium salt of the hydroxyl group is alkylated readily by an alkyl hahde (WiUiamson ether synthesis). Normally, only alkylation of the hydroxyl is observed. However, phenolate ions are ambident nucleophiles and under certain conditions, ring alkylation can also occur. Proper choice of reaction conditions can produce essentially exclusive substitution. Polar solvents favor formation of the ether nonpolar solvents favor ring substitution. 

Above 160°C it is believed that additional cross-linking reactions take place involving the formation and reaction of quinone methides by condensation of the ether linkages with the phenolic hydroxyl groups (Figure 23.14). 

Polymer systems are now available which may be cured by reaction of epoxy resin compounds with the phenolic hydroxyl groups. Such reactions do not evolve volatile by-products. These materials are showing promise in the area of heat-resisting electrical insulation laminates. 

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)... 

It was projected that compound 13 could be stereoselectively linked, through its free phenolic hydroxyl group, with the anomeric carbon of intermediate 12 under suitably acidic conditions (see Scheme 8). Gratifyingly, the action of boron trifluoride etherate on a mixture of 12 and 13 in CH2CI2 at -50 °C induces a completely stereoselective glycosidation reaction, providing the desired a-ano-mer 48 in an excellent yield of 95 % from 46. It is presumed that boron trifluoride initiates cleavage of the anomeric trichloroacetimi-... 

Several such polymers have by now been prepared and were found to possess a variety of interesting material properties. Tyrosine-derived poly(iminocarbonates) (see Sec. IV) would be a specific example. These polymers were synthesized by means of a polymerization reaction involving the two phenolic hydroxyl groups located on the side chains of a protected tyrosine dipeptide (12). 

Catechins are water-soluble however, they can be rendered insoluble by chemical reaction (Yayabe, 2001). Insoluble catechins do not lose their phenol hydroxyl groups, and their anti-bacterial and deodorising actions remain almost unaffected. In this form they are useful as natural anti-bacterial and deodorising materials for application to fibres and plastics. 

The anaerobic degradation of some hydroxybenzoates and phenols involves reductive removal of the phenolic hydroxyl group. The enzyme that dehydroxylates 4-hydroxybenzoyl-CoA in Thauera aromatica is a molybdenum-flavin-iron-sulfur protein (Breese and Fuchs 1998), and is similar to the enzyme from the nonsulfur phototroph Rhodopseudomonas palustris that carries out the same reaction (Gibson et al. 1997). 

One of the first enantioselective transition metal-catalyzed domino reactions in natural product synthesis leading to vitamin E (0-23) was developed by Tietze and coworkers (Scheme 0.7) [18]. This transformation is based on a Pdn-catalyzed addition of a phenolic hydroxyl group to a C-C-double bond in 0-20 in the presence of the chiral ligand 0-24, followed by an intermolecular addition of the formed Pd-spe-cies to another double bond. 

It is interesting to note that the reaction of N-salicylideneaniline, which possesses a free phenolic hydroxyl group at the ortho position in the benzylidene portion, with the acylzirconocene chloride gives the a-amino ketone in 67 % yield in the absence of any additive (Scheme 5.16) [23]. Similarly, N-(p-hydroxybenzylidene)aniline reacts with the acylzirconocene chloride to give the a-amino ketone in 58 % yield. The reaction of N-(m-hydroxyben-zylidene)aniline, however, gives the a-amino ketone in just 12 % yield. Neither N-(o-MeO-benzylidenejaniline nor N-(p-MeO-benzylidene)aniline gives an appreciable amount of product in the absence of additive. 

Acid chlorides are also used in order to determine whether or no an unidentified substance contains alcoholic or phenolic hydroxyl groups. If a substance reacts with an acid chloride, such a hydroxyl group is present, since all groups in which oxygen is combined in other ways, e.g. in ether linkage, are indifferent to this treatment. The reaction can be considerably facilitated by the addition of alkali or of alkali carbonate. 

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