Saturated Hydrocarbon Acids

Acetic acid solution, more than 80% acid, by mass CH3COOH [2789] 

Acetic acid CH3COOH is used for the production of many important chemicals synthetic fibres (cellulose acetate), plastics (vinyl acetate), solvents, dyestuffs, etc. 

The annual world production in the order of 3 million tons is almost exclusively achieved by synthesis (carbonylation of methanol). Pyrolysis of wood is no more than a very small source of acetic acid (less than 2%). 

Propionic acid, less important than formic and acetic acid, is used in the fabrication of synthetic fibres and as an intermediate for synthesis. 

Formic acid is miscible with water in any proportion. The maximum concentration commonly used does not exceed 90%. 

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Cold concentrated sulphuric acid will remove unsaturated hydrocarbons present in saturated hydrocarbons, or alcohols and ethers present in alkyl halides. In the former case soluble sulphonated products are formed, whilst in the latter case alkyl hydrogen sulphates or addition complexes, that are soluble in the concentrated acid, are produced. 

All the products of Clemmensen reductions contain small amounts of un-saturated hydrocarbons. These can be removed by repeated shaking with 10 per cent, of the volume of concentrated sulphuric acid until the acid is colourless or nearly so each shaking should be of about 5 minutes duration. The hydrocarbon is washed with water, 10 per cent, sodium carbonate solution, water (twice), dried with anhydreus magnesium or calcium sulphate, and finally distilled twice from a Claisen flask with fractionating side arm (or a Widmer flask) over sodium. 

Chakactkrisation of Unsaturatkd Aliphatic Hydrocarbons Unlike the saturated hydrocarbons, unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons are soluble in concentrated sulphuric acid and exhibit characteristic reactions with dUute potassium permanganate solution and with bromine. Nevertheless, no satisfactory derivatives have yet been developed for these hydrocarbons, and their characterisation must therefore be based upon a determination of their physical properties (boiling point, density and refractive index). The physical properties of a number of selected unsaturated hydrocarbons are collected in Table 111,11. 

Electrolysis, under similar conditions, of a mixture of two carboxylic acids RCOOH and R COOH leads, in addition to normal coupling products R—R and R —R, to cross coupling R—R. If a mixture of a saturated carboxylic acid and a half ester of an ato-dicarboxylic acid is electrolysed, there are three main products, viz., a hydrocarbon (I), a mono-ester (II), and a di-ester (HI) and these are readily separable by distillation. Some unsaturated ester (IV) is often present in small quantity. 

The high acidity of superacids makes them extremely effective pro-tonating agents and catalysts. They also can activate a wide variety of extremely weakly basic compounds (nucleophiles) that previously could not be considered reactive in any practical way. Superacids such as fluoroantimonic or magic acid are capable of protonating not only TT-donor systems (aromatics, olefins, and acetylenes) but also what are called (T-donors, such as saturated hydrocarbons, including methane (CH4), the simplest parent saturated hydrocarbon. 

Protonation of formic acid similarly leads, after the formation at low temperature of the parent carboxonium ion, to the formyl cation. The persistent formyl cation was observed by high-pressure NMR only recently (Horvath and Gladysz). An equilibrium with diprotonated carbon monoxide causing rapid exchange can be involved, which also explains the observed high reactivity of carbon monoxide in supera-cidic media. Not only aromatic but also saturated hydrocarbons (such as isoalkanes and adamantanes) can be readily formylated. 

This may be a factor while aeid-catalyzed transformations (isomerization, alkylation) of saturated hydrocarbons proceed preferentially in excess strong acid media. 

Typical nonsieve, polar adsorbents are siUca gel and activated alumina. Kquilihrium data have been pubUshed on many systems (11—16,46,47). The order of affinity for various chemical species is saturated hydrocarbons < aromatic hydrocarbons = halogenated hydrocarbons < ethers = esters = ketones < amines = alcohols < carboxylic acids. In general, the selectivities are parallel to those obtained by the use of selective polar solvents in hydrocarbon systems, even the magnitudes are similar. Consequendy, the commercial use of these adsorbents must compete with solvent-extraction techniques. 

Aqueous mineral acids react with BF to yield the hydrates of BF or the hydroxyfluoroboric acids, fluoroboric acid, or boric acid. Solution in aqueous alkali gives the soluble salts of the hydroxyfluoroboric acids, fluoroboric acids, or boric acid. Boron trifluoride, slightly soluble in many organic solvents including saturated hydrocarbons (qv), halogenated hydrocarbons, and aromatic compounds, easily polymerizes unsaturated compounds such as butylenes (qv), styrene (qv), or vinyl esters, as well as easily cleaved cycHc molecules such as tetrahydrofuran (see Furan derivatives). Other molecules containing electron-donating atoms such as O, S, N, P, etc, eg, alcohols, acids, amines, phosphines, and ethers, may dissolve BF to produce soluble adducts. 

Irradiation of ethyleneimine (341,342) with light of short wavelength ia the gas phase has been carried out direcdy and with sensitization (343—349). Photolysis products found were hydrogen, nitrogen, ethylene, ammonium, saturated hydrocarbons (methane, ethane, propane, / -butane), and the dimer of the ethyleneimino radical. The nature and the amount of the reaction products is highly dependent on the conditions used. For example, the photoproducts identified ia a fast flow photoreactor iacluded hydrocyanic acid and acetonitrile (345), ia addition to those found ia a steady state system. The reaction of hydrogen radicals with ethyleneimine results ia the formation of hydrocyanic acid ia addition to methane (350). Important processes ia the photolysis of ethyleneimine are nitrene extmsion and homolysis of the N—H bond, as suggested and simulated by ab initio SCF calculations (351). The occurrence of ethyleneimine as an iatermediate ia the photolytic formation of hydrocyanic acid from acetylene and ammonia ia the atmosphere of the planet Jupiter has been postulated (352), but is disputed (353). 

Orga.nic Chemistry. The organic chemistry of sulfur dioxide, particularly as it relates to food appHcations, has been discussed (246). Although no reaction takes place with saturated hydrocarbons at moderate temperatures, the simultaneous passage of sulfur dioxide and oxygen into an alkane in the presence of a free-radical initiator or ultraviolet light affords a sulfonic acid such as hexanesulfonic acid [13595-73-8]. This is the so-called sulfoxidation reaction (247) ... 

Mono-, di-, and triunsaturated fatty acids are named with Arabic numeral locants for the unsaturated positions and with the suffix -enoic, -adienoic, and -atrienoic acid in place of the -ane ending of the saturated hydrocarbon name, eg, 10,12,14-octadecatrienoic acid. 

Isomerization is promoted by either acids or bases. Higher alkylbenzenes are isomerized in the presence of AlCb/HCl or BF3/HF olefins with most mineral acids, acid salts and silica-alumina saturated hydrocarbons with AlCb or AlBr,3 promoted by 0.1 percent of olefins. 

Removal of unsaturated hydrocarbons, of alcohols and of ethers from saturated hydrocarbons or alkyl halides by washing with cold concentrated sulfuric acid. 

Sodium (metal). Used as a fine wire or as chips, for more completely drying ethers, saturated hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons which have been partially dried (for example with calcium chloride or magnesium sulfate). Unsuitable for acids, alcohols, alkyl halides, aldehydes, ketones, amines and esters. Reacts violently if water is present and can cause a fire with highly flammable liquids. 

Materials that promote the decomposition of organic hydroperoxide to form stable products rather than chain-initiating free radicals are known as peroxide decomposers. Amongst the materials that function in this way may be included a number of mercaptans, sulphonic acids, zinc dialkylthiophosphate and zinc dimethyldithiocarbamate. There is also evidence that some of the phenol and aryl amine chain-breaking antioxidants may function in addition by this mechanism. In saturated hydrocarbon polymers diauryl thiodipropionate has achieved a preeminent position as a peroxide decomposer. 

Another example of the effect of resonance is in the relative acidity of carboxylic acids as compared to alcohols. Carboxylic acids derived from saturated hydrocarbons have ipK values near 5, whereas saturated alcohols have pA values in the range 16-18. This implies that the carboxylate anion can accept negative charge more readily than an oxygen on a saturated carbon chain. This can be explained in terms of stabilization of the negative charge by resonance, ... 

Peroxytnfluoroacetic acid is used tor numerous oxidations of saturated hydrocarbons and aromatic compounds It oxidizes alkanes, alkanols, and carboxylic acids with formation of hydroxylation products [29] Oxidation of cyclohexane with peroxytnfluoroacetic acid proceeds at room temperature and leads to cyclohexyl trifluoroacetate in 75% yield, 1-octanol under similar conditions gives a mixture of isomeric octanediols in 59% yield, and palmitic acid gives a mixture of hydroxypalmitic acids in 70% yield [29]... 

Triflic acid is strong enough to protonate polycyclic saturated hydrocarbons [77, 78, 79], and even -butane [80, 81], and to initiate skeletal rearrangements Acidic treatment of homoadamantane [77] (equation 32), 2-homoprotoadamantane [78] (equation 33), or as 2,3-trimethylenebicyclo[3 3 Ojoctane [79] (equation 34) causes their rearrangement to isomenc hydrocarbons... 

Almost all of the biomedical research done in the 25 years following the liquid-breathing work was conducted with commercially available fluorocarbons manufactured for various industnal uses by the electrochemical Simons process (fluonnation in a hydrofluoric acid solution) or the cobalt fluoride process (fluori-nation with this solid in a furnace at about 200 C) These processes tended to yield many by-products, partly because they were, to some extent, free radical reactions and partly because it was difficult to easily achieve complete fluonnation Aromatic hydrocarbons gave better products with the cobalt tnfluonde [73] method, whereas saturated hydrocarbons yielded better products with fluonnation using diluted or cooled gaseous fluorine (Lagow) Incompletely fluormated matenal was either... 

The rearrangement of certain saturated hydrocarbons under the influence of Lewis acids has been known for some time. Cyclohexane, for example, is converted to a mixture of hydrocarbons including methylcyclopentane. It was while investigating this... 

To optimize the alkylation conditions, ferrocene was reacted with allyldimethyl-chlorosilane (2) in the presence of various Lewis acids such as aluminum halides and Group lO metal chlorides. Saturated hydrocarbons and polychloromethanes such as hexane and methylene chloride or chloroform were used as solvents because of the stability of the compounds in the Lewis acid catalyzed Friedel-Crafts reactions. The results obtained from various reaction conditions are summarized in Table IV. 

This last comment is a warning on the potential risk that dinitrogen tetroxide presents as a reagent vis- i-vis the particular alcohol-acid. The paragraph on hydrocarbons confirms this. This oxide has even caused accidents with saturated hydrocarbons (these can be due to impurities). In any case, there is every chance that oxide will activate the methyl groups of this compound. 

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