Secondary alcohol esters

A rule, similar to Prelog s rule, has been proposed for the enzyme-mediated hydrolysis of the esters of secondary alcohols. Esters of the enantiomers 31 usually react faster. This rule correctly predicted the configuration of 14 out of 15 substrates when cholesterol esterase was used, 63 out of 64 substrates with a lipase from Pseudomonas cepacia, and of 51 out of 55 cyclic substrates using a lipase from Candida rugosa24°. 

Some patent literature (21, 22, 23) disclose that secondary alcohol esters, with or without ethylene oxide chains on the... 

The types of compounds presently known to donate a hydrogen atom to photoexcited quinones include aldehydes, primary and secondary alcohols, esters and lactones, ethers and thioethers, olefins having allylic hydrogen atoms, alkylbenzenes, benzene, and saturated hydrocarbons. This list is undoubtedly incomplete. Acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, acetic acid, and -butyl alcohol react extremely slowly. 

In the mixture of secondary alcohol or primary alcohol with tertiary esters, the products of secondary alcohol esters or primary alcohol esters would be further chemically combined immediately. A hydrogen atom in the raw esters would react with a-carbon atom to form alcohols, which would not be oxidized. Transesterification reaction would happen for tert-butyl nitrite because of the instability of NO. 

This next procedure is another hydrolysis, but differs in several ways from the first example. First, this is an enantioselective hydrolysis of a secondary alcohol ester, one of the most common and useful applications of hydrolases (Figure 5.8). Second, the reaction is not a kinetic resolution, but an asymmetric synthesis or desymmetrization, which yields up to 100% of the desired enantiomer (96% isolated yield in this example). The product (lk,4S)-(+)-4-hydroxy-2-cyclopentenylacetateisaprecursorforenantiopure4-hydroxy-2-cyclopentenones. This compound was historically a key intermediate for synthesis of prostaglandins, but its application has been extended to a wide range of complex natural products [28]. 

Acetyl chloride reacts vigorously with primary and secondary alcohols to yield esters it also reacts readily with any water present to form acetic acid ... 

The hydrogenolyaia of cyclopropane rings (C—C bond cleavage) has been described on p, 105. In syntheses of complex molecules reductive cleavage of alcohols, epoxides, and enol ethers of 5-keto esters are the most important examples, and some selectivity rules will be given. Primary alcohols are converted into tosylates much faster than secondary alcohols. The tosylate group is substituted by hydrogen upon treatment with LiAlH (W. Zorbach, 1961). Epoxides are also easily opened by LiAlH. The hydride ion attacks the less hindered carbon atom of the epoxide (H.B. Henhest, 1956). The reduction of sterically hindered enol ethers of 9-keto esters with lithium in ammonia leads to the a,/S-unsaturated ester and subsequently to the saturated ester in reasonable yields (R.M. Coates, 1970). Tributyltin hydride reduces halides to hydrocarbons stereoselectively in a free-radical chain reaction (L.W. Menapace, 1964) and reacts only slowly with C 0 and C—C double bonds (W.T. Brady, 1970 H.G. Kuivila, 1968). 

The o-keto ester 513 is formed from a bulky secondary alcohol using tricy-clohexylphosphine or triarylphosphine, but the selectivity is low[367-369]. Alkenyl bromides are less reactive than aryl halides for double carbonyla-tion[367], a-Keto amides are obtained from aryl and alkenyl bromides, but a-keto esters are not obtained by their carbonylation in alcohol[370]. A mechanism for the double carbonylation was proposed[371,372],... 

Secondary alcohols (C q—for surfactant iatermediates are produced by hydrolysis of secondary alkyl borate or boroxiae esters formed when paraffin hydrocarbons are air-oxidized ia the presence of boric acid [10043-35-3] (19,20). Union Carbide Corporation operated a plant ia the United States from 1964 until 1977. A plant built by Nippon Shokubai (Japan Catalytic Chemical) ia 1972 ia Kawasaki, Japan was expanded to 30,000 t/yr capacity ia 1980 (20). The process has been operated iadustriaHy ia the USSR siace 1959 (21). Also, predominantiy primary alcohols are produced ia large volumes ia the USSR by reduction of fatty acids, or their methyl esters, from permanganate-catalyzed air oxidation of paraffin hydrocarbons (22). The paraffin oxidation is carried out ia the temperature range 150—180°C at a paraffin conversion generally below 20% to a mixture of trialkyl borate, (RO)2B, and trialkyl boroxiae, (ROBO). Unconverted paraffin is separated from the product mixture by flash distillation. After hydrolysis of residual borate esters, the boric acid is recovered for recycle and the alcohols are purified by washing and distillation (19,20). 

In general, the reactions of the perfluoro acids are similar to those of the hydrocarbon acids. Salts are formed with the ease expected of strong acids. The metal salts are all water soluble and much more soluble in organic solvents than the salts of the corresponding hydrocarbon acids. Esterification takes place readily with primary and secondary alcohols. Acid anhydrides can be prepared by distillation of the acids from phosphoms pentoxide. The amides are readily prepared by the ammonolysis of the acid haUdes, anhydrides, or esters and can be dehydrated to the corresponding nitriles (31). 

The primary and secondary alcohol functionahties have different reactivities, as exemplified by the slower reaction rate for secondary hydroxyls in the formation of esters from acids and alcohols (8). 1,2-Propylene glycol undergoes most of the typical alcohol reactions, such as reaction with a free acid, acyl hahde, or acid anhydride to form an ester reaction with alkaU metal hydroxide to form metal salts and reaction with aldehydes or ketones to form acetals and ketals (9,10). The most important commercial appHcation of propylene glycol is in the manufacture of polyesters by reaction with a dibasic or polybasic acid. 

Esters of nitro alcohols with primary alcohol groups can be prepared from the nitro alcohol and an organic acid, but nitro alcohols with secondary alcohol groups can be esterified only through the use of an acid chloride or anhydride. The nitrate esters of the nitro alcohols are obtained easily by treatment with nitric acid (qv). The resulting products have explosive properties but are not used commercially. 

Secondary alcohols are oxidized at room temperature to ketones in high yields by HOCl generated in situ from aqueous NaOCl and acetic acid (109,110). Selective oxidation in the presence of a primary alcohol is possible. In methanol, aldehydes are oxidized to methyl esters (110). Under the proper conditions, alcohols can be esterified with HOCl forming isolable alkyl hypochlorites. 

The reaction of alcohols and acid chlorides in the presence of magnesium has been described (68). With primary and secondary alcohols the reaction is very smooth, and affords high and sometimes quantitative yields. Difficulty esteritiable hydroxy compounds such as tertiary alcohols and phenols can be esteritied by this method. The reaction carried out in ether or benzene is usually very vigorous with evolution of hydrogen. 

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