Alcoholysis reactions

During their synthesis esters and polyesters can be modified by the following side reactions alcoholysis, aridolysis, ester interchange, hydrolysis. 

USE Meerwein-Ponndorf reactions alcoholysis and ester exchange synthesis of higher alkoxides. chelates, and acyl-aies formation of aluminum soaps, formulation of paints waterproofing finishes for textiles. 

Very recently, asymmetric synthesis of optically active alkoxyhydrosilanes has been accomplished by way of this type of reaction. Alcoholysis and treatment of the product with an appropriate Grignard reagent led to the known optically active hydrosilane, equation (31). Results are summarized in Table 23. 

The P-N bond in phosphoramidites is more unstable than P-O bonds toward cleavage reactions. Alcoholysis of phosphoramidites is therefore one of the most useful synthetic methods for the construction of a P-O bond. The reaction is supported by acids. On the other hand, this feature is responsible for the high hydrolysis sensitivity of several phosphoramidites, which may cause serious problems when applied in hydroformylation. 

Esterases of LAB can also catalyze the direct synthesis of esters from glycerides and alcohols via a transferase reaction (alcoholysis) in aqueous systems, that is the transfer of fatty acyl groups from glycerides to alcohols. This topic requires further research (Holland et al. 2005), as well as the pathways of formation of other lipid-derived aroma compounds in LAB. 

Diethyl ether may be prepared from ethyl alcohol by the sulphuric acid process. A mixture of alcohol and sulphuric acid in equimolecular proportions is heated to about 140° and alcohol is run in at the rate at which the ether produced distils from the reaction mixture. Ethyl hydrogen sulphate (or ethyl sulphuric acid) is first formed and this yields ether either by reacting directly with a molecule of alcohol or by the formation and alcoholysis of diethyl sulphate (I) ... 

Adiponitrile undergoes the typical nitrile reactions, eg, hydrolysis to adipamide and adipic acid and alcoholysis to substituted amides and esters. The most important industrial reaction is the catalytic hydrogenation to hexamethylenediarnine. A variety of catalysts are used for this reduction including cobalt—nickel (46), cobalt manganese (47), cobalt boride (48), copper cobalt (49), and iron oxide (50), and Raney nickel (51). An extensive review on the hydrogenation of nitriles has been recendy pubUshed (10). 

Alcoholysis (ester interchange) is performed at atmospheric pressure near the boiling point of methanol in carbon steel equipment. Sodium methoxide [124-41 -4] CH ONa, the catalyst, can be prepared in the same reactor by reaction of methanol and metallic sodium, or it can be purchased in methanol solution. Usage is approximately 0.3—1.0 wt % of the triglyceride. 

The alcoholysis reaction may be carried out either batchwise or continuously by treating the triglyceride with an excess of methanol for 30—60 min in a well-agitated reactor. The reactants are then allowed to settle and the glycerol [56-81-5] is recovered in methanol solution in the lower layer. The sodium methoxide and excess methanol are removed from the methyl ester, which then maybe fed directiy to the hydrogenolysis process. Alternatively, the ester may be distilled to remove unreacted material and other impurities, or fractionated into different cuts. Practionation of either the methyl ester or of the product following hydrogenolysis provides alcohols that have narrow carbon-chain distributions. 

Propylene Glycol Esters. These emulsifiers are formed by an alcoholysis reaction of propylene glycol and fatty acids, and are predominantly used in cakes, prepared mixes, whipped toppings, and breads (36). 

Some references cover direct preparation of the different crystal modifications of phthalocyanines in pigment form from both the nitrile—urea and phthahc anhydride—urea process (79—85). Metal-free phthalocyanine can be manufactured by reaction of o-phthalodinitrile with sodium amylate and alcoholysis of the resulting disodium phthalocyanine (1). The phthahc anhydride—urea process can also be used (86,87). Other sodium compounds or an electrochemical process have been described (88). Production of the different crystal modifications has also been discussed (88—93). 

Phosphoric acid [7664-38-2] and its derivatives are effective catalysts for this reaction (60). Reverse alcoholysis and acidolysis can, in principle, also be used to produce polyamides, and the conversion of esters to polyamides through their reaction within diamines, reverse alcoholysis, has been demonstrated (61). In the case of reverse acidolysis, the acid by-product is usually less volatile than the diamine starting material. Thus, this route to the formation of polyamide is not likely to yield a high molecular weight polymer. 

The reaction is driven to completion by distilling the lower boiling alcohol. Metal methoxides are frequentiy insoluble and caimot be employed as starting materials in this reaction by the same token, they can be convenientiy prepared from solutions of higher alkoxides by precipitation with methanol. Alcoholysis also gives mixed metal alkoxides ... 

Ideally, two moles of polyol react with one mole of triglyceride to form three moles of monoester. In reaUty, the reaction reaches an equiUbrium, whereby some amount of di- and tri-esters and neat polyol, including glycerol and the added polyol, coexist in the reaction mixture. The compositions of the alcoholysis products at equiUbrium from soya oil and glycerol (1 2 mole ratio), and soya oil and monopentaerythritol have been reported (33) as follows ... 

Acidic contaminants are poisonous to the alcoholysis catalysts and must be avoided. If the oil has a high acid number, or there are high acidity residues left in the reactor from the previous batch, such as sublimed phthaUc anhydride condensed under the dome of the reactor, the reaction can be severely retarded. A longer batch time or additional amount of catalyst is then required. Both are undesirable. 

Synthesis of Silicone Monomers and Intermediates. Another important reaction for the formation of Si—C bonds, in addition to the direct process and the Grignard reaction, is hydrosdylation (eq. 3), which is used for the formation of monomers for producing a wide range of organomodified sihcones and for cross-linking sihcone polymers (8,52—58). Formation of ether and ester bonds at sihcon is important for the manufacture of curable sihcone materials. Alcoholysis of the Si—Cl bond (eq. 4) is a method for forming silyl ethers. HCl removal is typically accomphshed by the addition of tertiary amines or by using NaOR in place of R OH to form NaCl. 

The acid chlorides are generally more reactive than the corresponding acid anhydrides. In fact, the alcoholysis of acid chlorides is probably the best laboratory method for preparing esters. Frequentiy, basic materials are added during the course of the reaction to neutralize by-product hydrochloric acid. When the basic material is aqueous caustic, the procedure is referred to as the Schotten-Baumann procedure (73). Esterification of tertiary alcohols by acid chlorides is described in Reference 74. Esters of tertiary alcohols can also be formed through an intermediate /-butyl thioate group (75) ... 

Reaction Conditions. Alcoholysis commonly takes place in one Hquid phase, sometimes with one of the reactants being only partially soluble and going into solution gradually as the reaction proceeds. Unless an excess of one of the reactants is used, or unless one of the products is withdrawn from the reaction phase by vaporization or precipitation, the reaction does not proceed to completion but comes to a standstill with substantial proportions of both alcohols and both esters in equilibrium. The concentrations present at equilibrium depend on the characteristics of the alcohols and esters involved, but in most practical uses of the reaction, one or both of the devices mentioned are used to force the reaction toward completion. 

Applications. Transesterifications via alcoholysis play a significant role in industry as well as in laboratory and in analytical chemistry. The reaction can be used to reduce the boiling point of esters by exchanging a long-chain alcohol group with a short one, eg, methanol, in the analysis of fats, oils, and waxes. For more details see References 7 and 68. A few examples are given below. 

Acidolysis requires the sue of an elevated temperature, the use of an acid catalyst (7), or both. Like alcoholysis, the reaction is reversible and requires the use of an excess of the replacing acid or removal of one of the products from the reaction if a high degree of replacement of the acid radical of an ester by another acid is to be obtained. This can be accompHshed by distilling one of the products from the reaction mixture during the acidolysis. 

Transesterification has a number of important commercial uses. Methyl esters of fatty acids are produced from fats and oils. Transesterification is also the basis of recycling technology to break up poly(ethylene terephthalate) [25038-59-9] to monomer for reuse (29) (see Recycling, plastics). Because vinyl alcohol does not exist, poly(vinyl alcohol) [9002-89-5] is produced commercially by base-cataly2ed alcoholysis of poly(vinyl acetate) [9003-20-7] (see Vinyl polymers). An industrial example of acidolysis is the reaction of poly(vinyl acetate) with butyric acid to form poly(vinyl butyrate) [24991-31-9]. 

An extensive listing of 35 other reactions including alkylation, etherification, alcoholysis, and halogenation has been compiled (1) to show the versatihty of ethanol as a reactant. 

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