Unsaturated esters, hydrogenation

A study of unsaturated ester hydrogenation by homogeneous and heterogeneous palladium catalysts reveals enhanced selectivity in serbate reduction catalysted by Pd(acac)2 compared with Pd/C . 

It may be pointed out that dehydration of p hydroxy esters with fused potassium hydrogen sulphate, acetic anhydride, phosphoric oxide or with tliionyl chloride in benzeue solution leads to ap unsiiturated esters containing some PY-unsaturated ester the proportion of the latter depends not only upon the structure of the ester but also upon the dehydrating agent used. Elehydration occasionally occurs during the reaction itself or upon attempted distillation. 

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 intermediate m hydrogenation formed by reaction of the unsaturated ester with the hydrogenated surface of the metal catalyst not only can proceed to the saturated fatty acid ester but also can dissociate to the original ester having a cis double bond or to its trans stereoisomer Unlike polyunsaturated vegetable oils which tend to reduce serum cholesterol levels the trans fats produced by partial hydrogenation have cholesterol raising effects similar to those of saturated fats... 

Under Favorskii conditions o. o -dihalo ketones 7, as well as a,a -dihdlo ketones, bearing one a -hydrogen, rearrange to give a ,/3-unsaturated esters 8 ... 

Hydrogenation of the a-unsaturated ester 32 was accompanied by extensive hydrogenolysis and NMR spectroscopy revealed that only 45% of a 3-deoxyhexose tetraacetate was present in the products and only one... 

In the presence of a strong base, the ot carbon of a carboxylic ester can condense with the carbonyl carbon of an aldehyde or ketone to give a P-hydroxy ester, which may or may not be dehydrated to the a,P-unsaturated ester. This reaction is sometimes called the Claisen reaction,an unfortunate usage since that name is more firmly connected to 10-118. In a modem example of how the reaction is used, addition of tert-butyl acetate to LDA in hexane at -78°C gives the lithium salt of ferf-butyl acetate, " (12-21) an enolate anion. Subsequent reaction a ketone provides a simple rapid alternative to the Reformatsky reaction (16-31) as a means of preparing P-hydroxy erf-butyl esters. It is also possible for the a carbon of an aldehyde or ketone to add to the carbonyl carbon of a carboxylic ester, but this is a different reaction (10-119) involving nucleophilic substitution and not addition to a C=0 bond. It can, however, be a side reaction if the aldehyde or ketone has an a hydrogen. 

Besides ordinary esters (containing an a hydrogen), the reaction can also be carried out with lactones and, as in 16-38, with the y position of a,p-unsaturated esters (vinylogy). There are also cases, where the enolate anion of an amide was condensed with an aldehyde. ... 

The radicals derived by hydrogen abstraction from 1,3-dithianes and 1,3-oxathianes undergo intramolecular addition to ot,P-unsaturated esters and hence facilitate the synthesis of cycloalkanones <96T9713>. 

Table 3 summarizes the scope and limitation of substrates for this hydrogenation. Complex 5 acts as a highly effective catalyst for functionalized olefins with unprotected amines (the order of activity tertiary > secondary primary), ethers, esters, fluorinated aryl groups, and others [27, 30]. However, in contrast to the reduction of a,p-unsaturated esters decomposition of 5 was observed when a,p-unsaturated ketones (e.g., trans-chalcone, trans-4-hexen-3-one, tra s-4-phenyl-3-buten-2-one, 2-cyclohexanone, carvone) were used (Fig. 3) [30],... 

Hexadecane-1 16-dicarboxylic acid. Dissolve 31 5 g. of methyl hydrogen sebacate in 140 ml. of absolute methanol to which 0-4 g. of sodium has been added. Electrolyse at 2-0 amps, until the pH of the electrolyte is 7-8-8-0 (3-5-4 hours). Work up as described for Sebacic acid. Upon distillation, an unsaturated ester passes over at 111-113°/ 20 mm. (4-6 g.), followed by dimethyl hexadecane-1 16-dicarboxylateat 212-219°/4 mm. (mainly at 214-215°/4 mm.), m.p. 56° (16-5 g.). 

Hydroformylation of a range of 1,1-di- and 1,1,2-trisubstituted unsatur-ated esters yields quaternary aldehydes (Table 1, entries 1-8). Hence, the regiochemistry-directing influence of the electron-withdrawing ester function overcompensates Keuleman s rifle. Furthermore, hydroformylation of 1,2-disubstituted unsaturated esters occurred with high a-selectivity and chemoselectivity (Table 1, entries 9 and 10). As a side reaction hydrogenation of the alkene has been observed [41]. 

The hydrogenations become analogous to those involving HMn(CO)5 (see Section II,D), and to some catalyzed by HCo(CN)53 (see below). Use of bis(dimethylglyoximato)cobalt(II)-base complexes or cobaloximes(II) as catalysts (7, p. 193) has been more thoroughly studied (189, 190). Alkyl intermediates have been isolated with some activated olefinic substrates using the pyridine system, and electronic and steric effects on the catalytic hydrogenation rates have been reported (189). Mechanistic studies have appeared on the use of (pyridine)cobaloxime(II) with H2, and of (pyridine)chlorocobaloxime(III) and vitamin B12 with borohydride, for reduction of a,/3-unsaturated esters (190). Protonation of a carbanion... 

The a./i-unsaturated ester shown in Figure 37.18, with a rather unusual substitution pattern, was hydrogenated successfully for the synthesis of candoxatril. 

Tetracyclic keto ester 467, prepared earlier (253), was treated with the anion of diethyl methoxycarbonylmethylphosphonate in dimethylformamide. The reaction supplied the unsaturated ester 492, which was catalytically hydrogenated to diester 493. Dieckmann condensation of 493 yielded two nonenolizable keto esters (494 and 495), which could be separated by fractional crystallization. Sodium borohydride reduction of 18a-methoxyyohimbinone (494) gave two alcohols (496 and 497) in a ratio of about 10 1 at the same time, reduction of 180-methoxyyohimbinone (495) furnished another two stereoisomeric alcohols (498 and 499) in approximately equal amounts. Demethylation of the four stereoisomers (496-499) resulted in the corresponding 18-hydroxyyohimbines (500-503)... 

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