Primary acetic anhydride

One disadvantage of using acetic anhydride is that with primary amines, traces of the diacctyl compound, RN(COCH3)2, niay be formed the chances of this secondary acetylation are, however, usually remote, and recrystallisation from an aqueous solvent will generally hydrolyse the diacetyl derivative rapidly back to the mono-acetyl compound. 

Acetyl derivatives of aromatic amines may be prepared either witli acetic anhydride or acetic acid or with a mixture of both reagents. Primary amines react readily upon warming with acetic anhydride to yield, in the first instance, the mono-acetyl derivative, for example ... 

Acetyl derivatives. Primary and secondary amines are best acetylated with acetic anhydride ... 

The quinaldine is separated from any unreacted aniline and from the alkyl-anilines by treatment with acetic anhydride, basified with sodium carbonate and steam distilled. Only the primary and secondary amines are acetylated the acetylated amines are now much less volatile so that separation from the steam-volatile quinaldine (a tertiary amine) is facile. 

Anhydrides may often be hydrolysed in the cold with dilute alkali they also react with primary amines (compare Section 111,94). All anliydrides boil above 130° thus acetic anhydride has b.p. 140°. 

For this reason, acetic anhydride is generally preferred for the preparation of acetyl derivatives, but acetyl chloride, in view of its greater reactivity, is a better diagnostic reagent for primary and secondary amines. 

Synthesis Gas Chemicals. Hydrocarbons are used to generate synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, for conversion to other chemicals. The primary chemical made from synthesis gas is methanol, though acetic acid and acetic anhydride are also made by this route. Carbon monoxide (qv) is produced by partial oxidation of hydrocarbons or by the catalytic steam reforming of natural gas. About 96% of synthesis gas is made by steam reforming, followed by the water gas shift reaction to give the desired H2 /CO ratio. 

Aroma chemicals are isolates, or chemically treated oils or components of oils. Some components are removed physically, others chemically. In most cases, they are further purified by distillation. For example, Bois de Rose (rosewood) oil may be distilled to isolate linalool, which may be then further treated chemically to yield derivatives such as linalyl acetate, an important fragrance ingredient and a primary component in its own right of lavender and lavandin oils. Vetiver oil Haiti, although containing only 70% alcohols, is treated with acetic anhydride, then carefully distilled to include valuable odor components in the distillate, even though they may not be esters. 

By a suitable choice of activating reagents, primary and secondary alcohols can be selectively oxidi2ed to carbonyl compounds in good yields at room temperatures. Typical activating reagents are acetic anhydride, sulfur trioxide—pyridine, dicyclohexyl carbodiimide, and phosphoms pentoxide (40). 

Other Rea.ctlons, The anhydride of neopentanoic acid, neopentanoyl anhydride [1538-75-6] can be made by the reaction of neopentanoic acid with acetic anhydride (25). The reaction of neopentanoic acid with acetone using various catalysts, such as titanium dioxide (26) or 2irconium oxide (27), gives 3,3-dimethyl-2-butanone [75-97-8] commonly referred to as pinacolone. Other routes to pinacolone include the reaction of pivaloyl chloride [3282-30-2] with Grignard reagents (28) and the condensation of neopentanoic acid with acetic acid using a rare-earth oxide catalyst (29). Amides of neopentanoic acid can be prepared direcdy from the acid, from the acid chloride, or from esters, using primary or secondary amines. 

Catalytic hydrogenation of the nitrile function of cyanohydrins can give amines. As in the case of ordinary nitriles, catalytic reduction of cyanohydrins can yield a mixture of primary, secondary, and tertiary amines. Addition of acid or acetic anhydride to the reaction medium minimizes formation of secondary or tertiary amines through formation of the amine salt or acetamide derivative of the primary amine. 

Purification as their N-acetyl derivatives is satisfactory for primary, and to a limited extent secondary, amines. The base is refluxed with slightly more than one equivalent of acetic anhydride for half to one hour, cooled and poured into ice-cold water. The insoluble derivative is filtered off, dried, and recrystallised from water, ethanol, aqueous ethanol or benzene (CAUTION toxic ). The derivative can be hydrolysed to the parent amine by refluxing with 70% sulfuric acid for a half to one hour. The solution is cooled, poured onto ice, and made alkaline. The amine is steam distilled or extracted as above. Alkaline hydrolysis is very slow. 

Acetanilide, Bromacetanilide.—Primary and secondary bases form acetyl derivatn-cs with acetic acid, acetyl chloiide, or acetic anhydride (see Reactions, pp. 76, 77)-... 

For best results the commercial triethylamine (Matheson, b.p. 89-90°) should be purified to remove primary and secondary amines and water, either by distillation from acetic anhydride and then from barium oxide, or by reaction with phenyliso-cyanate.5 2 3 4... 

Even though formic anhydride is not a stable compound (see p. 714), amines can be formylated with the mixed anhydride of acetic and formic acids (HCOO-COMe) °°° or with a mixture of formic acid and acetic anhydride. Acetamides are not formed with these reagents. Secondary amines can be acylated in the presence of a primary amine by conversion to their salts and addition of 18-crown-6. ° The crown ether complexes the primary ammonium salt, preventing its acylation, while the secondary ammonium salts, which do not fit easily into the cavity, are free to be acylated. 

This also explains the use of pyridine in acetic anhydride as an acetylating reagent6 in the determination of primary or secondary alcohols and amines according to the following sequential reactions (with ROH as an example) ... 

Glacial acetic acid, pure or mixed with other solvents, is one of the most attractive solvents for the titration of amines. Commercial acetic acid containing not more than 1% of water (Karl Fischer titration check) can be used in normal practice for the highest accuracy, however, the water content must be lowered to about 0.01% by addition of acetic anhydride and standing for 24 h not more than the stoichiometric amount of acetic anhydride should be used in order to avoid possible reactions with active hydrogen-containing analyte components such as primary or secondary amines or alcohols. A similar procedure is followed in the preparation of perchloric acid titrant from the commercial... 

Substitution as a preceding reaction. In addition to the well known determination of primary and secondary alcohols via esterification with acetic anhydride in pyridine at about 98° C, esterification is possible at room temperature in ethyl acetate with perchloric acid117 or 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulphonic acid118 as a catalyst. However, as tertiary alcohols preferably split off their hydroxy group, they can be adequately determined by OH-substitution with HBr in glacial acetic acid according to... 

Useful syntheses of D- and L-lyxose from 1,3-O-benzylidene-D- and L-arabinitol have been achieved through the highly selective oxidation of the primary hydroxyl groups by dimethyl sulfoxide-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide.463 Oxidation of but one of the two (equivalent) hydroxyl groups in 1,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzyl-D-mannitol464 and l,6-di-0-benzyl-2,5-0-methylene-D-mannitol465 was possible with dimethyl sulfoxide-acetic anhydride. 

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