Substituted alcohols

C) Carboxylic adds For aryl-substituted alcohols, such as benzyl alcohol, oxidation readily gives the corresponding add (c/. p. 336). 

Epoxide opening with nucleophiles occurs at the less substituted carbon atom of the oxlrane ting. Cataiytic hydrogenolysis yields the more substituted alcohol. The scheme below contains also an example for trons-dibromination of a C—C double bond followed by dehy-drobromination with strong base for overall conversion into a conjugated diene. The bicycKc tetraene then isomerizes spontaneously to the aromatic l,6-oxido[l0]annulene (E. Vogel, 1964). 

Some esters of substituted alcohols have been synthesized by transesterification. Treatment of 4-methyl-5-thiazolecarboxylic acid (14) with 3-chloroethyldiethylamine in acetone in the presence of anhydrous potassium carbonate gives the desired ester (15) in good vield (60%) (Scheme 10) (163). 

This mechanism explains the observed formation of the more highly substituted alcohol from unsymmetrical alkenes (Markownikoff s rule). A number of other points must be considered in order to provide a more complete picture of the mechanism. Is the protonation step reversible Is there a discrete carbocation intermediate, or does the nucleophile become involved before proton transfer is complete Can other reactions of the carbocation, such as rearrangement, compete with capture by water ... 

Borohydrides reduce a-substituted ketones to the corresponding a-substituted alcohols, and such products can be further reduced to olefins (see section VIII). Other reagents serve, through participation of the carbonyl group, to remove the substituent while leaving the ketone intact. The zinc or chromous ion reduction of a-halo ketones is an example of this second type, which is not normally useful for double bond introduction. However, when the derivative being reduced is an a,jS-epoxy ketone, the primary product is a -hydroxy ketone which readily dehydrates to the a,jS-unsaturated ketone. Since... 

Figure 7.3 Mechanism of the oxymercuration of an alkene to yield an alcohol. The reaction involves a mercurinium ion intermediate and proceeds by a mechanism similar to that of halohydrin formation. The product of the reaction is the more highly substituted alcohol, corresponding to Markovnikov regiochemistry.

NMR can be used to help identify the product of nearly every reaction run in the laboratory. For example, we said in Section 7.5 that bydroboration/oxidation ol alkenes occurs with noo-Markovnikov regiochemistry to yield the less highly substituted alcohol. With the help of NMR, we can now prove this statement. 

Especially in the early steps of the synthesis of a complex molecule, there are plenty of examples in which epoxides are allowed to react with organometallic reagents. In particular, treatment of enantiomerically pure terminal epoxides with alkyl-, alkenyl-, or aryl-Grignard reagents in the presence of catalytic amounts of a copper salt, corresponding cuprates, or metal acetylides via alanate chemistry, provides a general route to optically active substituted alcohols useful as valuable building blocks in complex syntheses. 

Allylic silanes react with aldehydes, in the presence of Lewis acids, to give an allyl-substituted alcohol. In the case of benzylic silanes, this addition reaction has been induced with Mg(C104)2 under photochemical conditions. The addition of chiral additives leads to the alcohol with good asymmetric induction. In a related reaction, allylic silanes react with acyl halides to produce the corresponding carbonyl derivative. The reaction of phenyl chloroformate, trimethylallylsilane, and AICI3, for example, gave phenyl but-3-enoate. ... 

Catalytic partial oxidation of a substituted alcohol to Knoechel (1994)... 

FIGURE 2.13 Schematic presentation of the self-associated chain-like w-mer of the phenyl-substituted alcohol. 

FIGURE 2.14 A possibility to self-associate involving both the hydroxyl functionalities and the aromatic jr-electrons in the case of phenyl-substituted alcohols. 

The manner in which alcohols self-associate is different. Unlike carboxyhc acids, alcohols form the long chain-like structures of the self-associated -mers. Schematic presentation of the self-associated chain of the phenyl-substituted alcohol molecules is given in Figure 2.13. Moreover, an alternative possibility of the self-association with the aforementioned alcohols is shown in Figure 2.14. 

This substituted alcohol has been used at 0.5% concentration, but in addition to its weak activity it has several limitations. It is volatile and will lose activity by permeation through a plastic package. It has limited water solubility, can be salted out of solution, and can produce burning and stinging sensations in the eye. It has been recommended primarily for use in combination preservative systems. 

Phenylthio)carbene,18 a heteroatom-substituted carbene, reacts similarly with a variety of alkoxides to give a-thiomethyl-substituted alcohols 14 (Scheme 8... 

In comparison to the N- and S-counterparts, alkoxides possess lower nucleophilicity. Therefore, the reductive elimination process to form the C—O bond is much slower than those to form C— N and C—S bonds [103]. Palucki, Wolfe and Buchwald developed the first intramolecular Pd-catalyzed synthesis of cyclic aryl ethers from o-haloaryl-substituted alcohols [104]. For example, 3-(2-bromophenyl)-2-methyl-2-butanol (91) was converted to 2,2-dimethylchroman (92) under the agency of catalytic Pd(OAc)2 in the presence (S)-(-)-2,2 -bis(di-p-tolylphosphino)-l,r-binaphthyl (Tol-BINAP) as the ligand and K2CO3 as the base. The method worked well for the tertiary alcohols, moderately weE for cychc secondary alcohols, but not for acyclic secondary alcohols. 

The second reaction proceeds much more energetically than the first, especially if preformed phosphorus halide is used. This is, however, not always necessary, at least not in the case of replacements by bromine and iodine in many cases the procedure is rather to produce the halide only during the reaction, either by dropping bromine from a separating funnel into a mixture of alcohol and red phosphorus or, as above, by adding finely powdered iodine. Like the former, this reaction can also be applied to polyhydric and to substituted alcohols indeed, it is possible to replace all the OH groups by halogens, and in particular also by chlorine. 

Scheme 5 Cathodic 1 2-elimination of jS-arylthio- and jS-arylsulfonyl-substituted alcohols R R, R ...

Scheme 6 Cathodic 1,3-elimination of -substituted alcohols R R aliphatic, H, yields 65-75%.

Dillingham, E.O., Mast, R.W., Bass, G.E., and Autian, J. Toxicity of methyl- and halogen-substituted alcohols in tissue culture relative to structure-activity models and acute toxicity in mice, J. Pharm. Sci., 62(l) 22-30, 1973. 

Reagents of choice for reduction of epoxides to alcohols are hydrides and complex hydrides. A general rule of regioselectivity is that the nucleophilic complex hydrides such as lithium aluminum hydride approach the oxide from the less hindered side [511, 653], thus giving more substituted alcohols. In contrast, hydrides of electrophilic nature such as alanes (prepared in situ from lithium aluminum hydride and aluminum halides) [653, 654, 655] or boranes, especially in the presence of boron trifluoride, open the ring in the opposite direction and give predominantly less substituted alcohols [656, 657,658]. As far as stereoselectivity is concerned, lithium aluminum hydride yields trans products [511] whereas electrophilic hydrides predominantly cis products... 

---