Transesterification with ester-bases

This work has been extended to transesterification with secondary alcohols [23], and of phosphonate esters [24], Movassaghi and co-workers have demonstrated that NHCs effectively catalyse the amidation of esters with amino alcohols, although an alternative mechanism involving the NHC acting as a Brpnsted base, resulting in nucleophilic activation of the alcohol for an initial transesterification event, followed by rapid O- to iV-acyl transfer, has been proposed [25, 26],... 

Esterification of tertiary alcohols poses several problems and expensive catalysts, like dimethylamino pyridine, are recommended. While esterification/transesterification/hydrolysis involving primary and secondary alcohols has been reported both with chemocatalysts and biocatalysts, terf-alcohol based esters have not found success. Recent work of Yeo et al. (1998) reports successful results for /er/-butyl octonoate using a new strain of lipase. This is a significant finding as the production of esters based on fert-alcohols (and reciprocally with hindered acids) may well be possible with biocatalysts, avoiding expensive catalysts and allowing easier separation. 

Since FAS can be produced either from vegetable oil based or petrochemical-based fatty alcohol (Fig. 4.9), both types have been evaluated in a life-cycle analysis with a positive overall result for the natural based product. With vegetable-based fatty alcohol sulfate, the analysis starts with the harvesting of the oil fruits (palm kernels or coconuts) and their processing to isolate the desired plant oil. Subsequent transesterification and hydrogenation of the methyl ester intermediates lead to the fatty alcohols, which are finally sulfated to produce the desired product. Based on this analysis the environmental impact of vegetable oil based fatty alcohol sulfate compared with the petrochemical based product is as follows ... 

Biodiesel is a mixture of methyl esters of fatty acids and is produced from vegetable oils by transesterification with methanol (Fig. 10.1). For every three moles of methyl esters one mole of glycerol is produced as a by-product, which is roughly 10 wt.% of the total product. Transesterification is usually catalyzed with base catalysts but there are also processes with acid catalysts. The base catalysts are the hydroxides and alkoxides of alkaline and alkaline earth metals. The acid catalysts are hydrochloride, sulfuric or sulfonic acid. Some metal-based catalysts can also be exploited, such as titanium alcoholates or oxides of tin, magnesium and zinc. All these catalyst acts as homogeneous catalysts and need to be removed from the product [16, 17]. The advantages of biodiesel as fuel are transportability, heat content (80% of diesel fuel), ready availability and renewability. The... 

These supported cycloadducts were then treated with a base (LiOH, NaOH) in a mixture of water and alcohol to give the expected free acid derivatives. However, while the latter compounds were readily recovered, the same was not true for the ionic liquid 4b, which was obtained as a dark brown liquid impure by NMR analysis. Very likely, the basic hydrolysis of the ester function caused the deprotonation of the imidazolium ring leading to a series of undesired side-reactions. Therefore, milder reaction conditions were explored to cleave the Diels-Alder product from the ionic liquid support. Handy and Okello found that the best method was the cyanide-mediated transesterification that gave the corresponding methyl esters 9-11 and allowed recover of 4b in at least 90% yield. It was also demonstrated that the recovered 4b could be used for further supported syntheses. In fact, in two subsequent mns the yields of the final ester compound were similar, indicating that the ionic liquid 4b could be efficiently recycled. 

Ester-based cascades (e.g., 107) have been prepared[77 80i by using 5-(tert-butyldime-thylsiloxy)isophthaloyl dichloride (108), which was synthesized in high yield from 5-hydroxy-isophthalic acid (Scheme 5.26). The dendron wedges were prepared by treatment of siloxane 108 with phenol to give bis(aryl ester) 109, which was hydrolyzed, or desilylated (HC1, acetone), to generate a new phenolic terminus. Treatment of this free phenolic moiety with monomer 108, followed by hydrolysis, afforded the next tier (110). Repetition of the sequence followed by reaction of the free focal phenols with a triacyl chloride core, (e.g., 86), afforded the fourth tier dendrimer 107 of the polyester aryl series. It was noted that the choice of base (N, A-dimethylaniline) used in the final esterification was critical, since with pyridine bases (pyridine or 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine) facile transesterification resulting in branch fragmentation occurred. 

With these two esters, the choice of base is important nucleophilic addition can occur at the ester carbonyl, which could lead to transesterification (with alkoxides), hydrolysis (with hydroxide), or amide formation (with amide anions). The best choice is usually an alkoxide Identical with the alkoxide component of the ester (that is, ethoxide for diethyl malonate methoxide for dimethyl malonate). Alkoxides (pKd 16) are basic enough to deprotonate between two carbonyl groups but, should substitution occur at C=0, there is no overall reaction. 

Methyl Ester-Based Processes. The fatty methyl esters are produced predominantly by the transesterification of fats and oils with methanol in the presence of an alkaline catalyst under very mild reaction conditions.l5a,b They are used in the production of lauric-type (Cl2) alcohols. The short-chain fatty methyl esters (C8-Cl0), produced as by-products via the fractional distillation of crude lauric-type (coconut, palm kernel) methyl esters, are converted to fatty acids via acidic or alkaline hydrolysis (Fig. 36.12). The hydrolysis of short-chain fatty methyl esters by stream splitting or Twitchell-type processes is not very efficient because of unfavorable equilibrium constants.16a,b... 

Sulfonic acid resins can be used as solid catalysts for esterifications and other acid-catalyzed reactions. Am-berlyst 15 was a more effective catalyst for the preparation of esters of phenethyl alcohol and cyclohexanol than sulfated zirconia, an acid clay, and dodecatungstophos-phoric acid.113 (Amberlyst and Amberlite are trademarks of Rohm Haas.) (See Chap. 6 for more detail on solid acids and bases.) The same catalyst gave 86-96% yields of hydroxyesters when a lactone was stored with a hy-droxyacid.114 Diols can be monoacylated in 58-92% yields by transesterification with ethyl propionate in the presence of Dowex 50W (a product of the Dow Chemical Co.).115 Modification of the sulfonic acid resin with 2-mercaptoethylamine produced a catalyst for the reaction of phenol with acetone to produce bisphenol A (5.30) in 99.5% yield.116 After 20 cycles the yield was still 98.7%. When used as catalysts, ion-exchange resins can last for 6 months to 2 years. 

The coupling reactions went to completion within 12 h at room temperature in the 3-hydroxypropyltrimethylammonium triflimide ([(OH)PrMe3N][NTf2j) used as the solvent in the presence of powdered potassium carbonate base. Under these conditions, 1% or less homocoupling occurred. The corresponding symmetrical biphenyl was washed out before transesterification with methanol had been conducted, which gave the biphenyl esters in yields ranging from 90 to 95% and in excellent purities. 

The key structural feature of POST-1 - the presence of dangling pyridine groups in the channels - affords a unique opportunity to perform asymmetric heterogeneous catalysis. Thus, potentially, any base catalyzed reactions (e.g., esterification or hydrolysis) can be performed with POST-1. Moreover, chiral pores should induce a degree of enantioselectivity in the final product mixture. The catalytic activity of POST-1 in the transesterification reaction was examined. Although the reaction of 16 and ethanol in the presence of POST-1 in carbon tetrachloride produced ethyl acetate in 11% yield, little or no transesterification occured without POST-1 or with the iV-methylated POST-1 (Sect. 2.2). The post chemical modification of the pyridine groups in POST-1 proves the role of free pyridine moiety in transesterification reaction. Transesterification of ester 16 with bulkier alcohols such as isobutanol, neopentanol, and 3,3,3-triphenyl-l-propanol occurs at a much slower rate under otherwise identical reaction conditions. Such size selectivity suggests that catalysis mainly occurs in the channels. 

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