Preparation of Alcohols A Review

We ve already seen several methods of alcohol synthesis  

I Alcohols can be prepared by hydration of alkenes. Because the direct hydration of alkenes with aqueous acid is generally a poor reaction in the laboratory, two indirect methods are commonly used. Hydroboration/cxidation yields the product of syn, non-Markovnikov hydration (Section 7.5), whereas 

I l 2-Diols can be prej ared either by direct hydroxylation of an alkene with OSO4 followed by reduction with NaHS03 or by acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of an epoxide (Section 7.8). The OSO4 reaction occurs with syii stereochemistry to give a ci.s diol, and epoxide opening occurs with anti stereochemistry to give a trans diol. 

As noted at the end of Section 7.8, the prefixes cis- and trans- would be ambiguous when naming the diols derived from 1-methyicyclohexene because the ring has three substituents. Instead, a reference substituent r is chosen and other substituents are eitlier cis (c) or trans (t) to that reference. For the two l-met)iyT-l,2-cyclohexanediol isomers, the -OH group at Cl is the reference (r-l), and the —OH at C2 is either cis (c-2) or trans (f-2) to that reference. Thus, the diol isomer derived bv cis hvdroxvlation is named l-mcthvi-r-l,c-2-cvclohexanediol, and the isomer derived by trans hydroxyl-ation is named l-metliyl-/-l,t-2-cyclohexanediol. 

The following data for isomeric four-carbon alcohols show that there is a decrease in boiling point with increasing substitution of the OH-bearing carbon. How might you account for this trend  

Rank the following substances in order of increasing acidity  

Problem 17.5 p-Nitrobenzyl alcohol is more acidic than benzyl alcohol but p-methoxybenzyl alcohol is less acidic. Explain. 

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In view of the many limitations inherent in the direct acid-catalyzed hydration of alkenes, indirect hydration via hydroxymercuration-demeicuration has become a very valuable method for the preparation of alcohols. This process has recently been thoroughly reviewed.311... 

A review covers the preparation and properties of both MABS and MBS polymers (75). Literature is available on the grafting of methacrylates onto a wide variety of other substrates (76,77). Typical examples include the grafting of methyl methacrylate onto mbbers by a variety of methods chemical (78,79), photochemical (80), radiation (80,81), and mastication (82). Methyl methacrylate has been grafted onto such substrates as cellulose (83), poly(vinyl alcohol) (84), polyester fibers (85), polyethylene (86), poly(styrene) (87), poly(vinyl chloride) (88), and other alkyl methacrylates (89). 

Esterification is generally carried out by refluxing the reaction mixture until the carboxyHc acid has reacted with the alcohol and the water has been spHt off. The water or the ester is removed from the equiUbrium by distillation. The choice of the esterification process to obtain a maximum yield is dependent on many factors, ie, no single process has universal appHcabiUty. Although extensive preparative techniques have been reviewed elsewhere (7,68), the methods given ia this section are representative of both laboratory and plant-scale techniques used ia batch esterifications. 

Acrylic Esters. A procedure has been described for preparation of higher esters from methyl acrylate that illustrates the use of an acid catalyst together with the removal of one of the products by azeotropic distillation (112). Another procedure for the preparation of butyl acrylate, secondary alkyl acrylates, and hydroxyalkyl acrylates using -toluenesulfonic acid as a catalyst has been described (113). Alurninumisopropoxide catalyzes the reaction of amino alcohols with methyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate. A review of the synthesis of acryhc esters by transesterification is given in Reference 114 (see... 

A review of the preparation, properties, the uses of surface-active anionic phosphate esters prepared by the reactions of alcohols or ethoxylates with tetra-phosphoric acid or P4O10 is given in Ref. 3. The preparation and industrial applications of phosphate esters as anionic surfactants were also discussed in Ref. 31. 

The development of monoalkyl phosphate as a low skin irritating anionic surfactant is accented in a review with 30 references on monoalkyl phosphate salts, including surface-active properties, cutaneous effects, and applications to paste and liquid-type skin cleansers, and also phosphorylation reactions from the viewpoint of industrial production [26]. Amine salts of acrylate ester polymers, which are physiologically acceptable and useful as surfactants, are prepared by transesterification of alkyl acrylate polymers with 4-morpholinethanol or the alkanolamines and fatty alcohols or alkoxylated alkylphenols, and neutralizing with carboxylic or phosphoric acid. The polymer salt was used as an emulsifying agent for oils and waxes [70]. Preparation of pharmaceutical liposomes with surfactants derived from phosphoric acid is described in [279]. Lipid bilayer vesicles comprise an anionic or zwitterionic surfactant which when dispersed in H20 at a temperature above the phase transition temperature is in a micellar phase and a second lipid which is a single-chain fatty acid, fatty acid ester, or fatty alcohol which is in an emulsion phase, and cholesterol or a derivative. 

Hydroxycarbonylation and alkoxycarbonylation of alkenes catalyzed by metal catalyst have been studied for the synthesis of acids, esters, and related derivatives. Palladium systems in particular have been popular and their use in hydroxycarbonylation and alkoxycarbonylation reactions has been reviewed.625,626 The catalysts were mainly designed for the carbonylation of alkenes in the presence of alcohols in order to prepare carboxylic esters, but they also work well for synthesizing carboxylic acids or anhydrides.137 627 They have also been used as catalysts in many other carbonyl-based processes that are of interest to industry. The hydroxycarbonylation of butadiene, the dicarboxylation of alkenes, the carbonylation of alkenes, the carbonylation of benzyl- and aryl-halide compounds, and oxidative carbonylations have been reviewed.6 8 The Pd-catalyzed hydroxycarbonylation of alkenes has attracted considerable interest in recent years as a way of obtaining carboxylic acids. In general, in acidic media, palladium salts in the presence of mono- or bidentate phosphines afford a mixture of linear and branched acids (see Scheme 9). 

Similarly to the above-mentioned entrapment of proteins by biomimetic routes, the sol-gel procedure is a useful method for the encapsulation of enzymes and other biological material due to the mild conditions required for the preparation of the silica networks [54,55]. The confinement of the enzyme in the pores of the silica matrix preserves its catalytic activity, since it prevents irreversible structural deformations in the biomolecule. The silica matrix may exert a protective effect against enzyme denaturation even under harsh conditions, as recently reported by Frenkel-Mullerad and Avnir [56] for physically trapped phosphatase enzymes within silica matrices (Figure 1.3). A wide number of organoalkoxy- and alkoxy-silanes have been employed for this purpose, as extensively reviewed by Gill and Ballesteros [57], and the resulting materials have been applied in the construction of optical and electrochemical biosensor devices. Optimization of the sol-gel process is required to prevent denaturation of encapsulated enzymes. Alcohol released during the... 

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