Unsaturated groups oxidative attack

The method is simple, and has the additional virtue of great versatility. The requisite ally lie alcohol can be prepared via the Favorskii reaction of a 20-ketopregnane, or via ethoxyacetylene addition to a 17-ketoandrostane. Additional functional groups may be present prior to these reactions or introduced into the A17(20)-compound later. An aromatic A-ring, A-ring unsaturated ketones and the 11 /1-hydroxyl group are all stable to the oxidative attack on the A17(20)-olefln, and the 21-acetate is not hydrolyzed during the reaction. 

Synthetic rubbers are produced as commodities. Polybutadiene, polybutylene, polychloroprene and polyepichlorohydrin are examples of elastomeric homopolymers. Copolymeric rubbers comprise poly-(butadiene-co-styrene), poly(butadiene-co-acryloni-trile), poly(ethylene-co-propylene-co-diene), and poly-(epichlorohydrin-co-ethylene oxide). The unsaturated group in the comonomer provides reactive sites for the crosslinking reactions. Copolymers combine resilience with resistance to chemical attack, or resilience in a larger temperature range, and thermoplastic-like properties. There are several studies in the literature describing the preparation of blends and composites of elastomers and conductive polymers. A description of some significant examples is given in this section. 

Oxidation of Fatty Acids.— The molecule of an unsaturated fatty acid such as oleic, is most likely to undergo oxidative attiack at the point of unsaturation the saturated acids, stearic and palmitic, are degraded by terminal oxidation. Fat oxidation occurs chiefly, if not entirely, in the liver, and under normal conditions the process is complete, and ends in COg and HjO. However, in diabetes and other conditions of carbohydrate inadequacy, fat oxidation in the liver is unable to proceed beyond acetoacetic acid, which suggests that this compound is an intermediate in fat metabolism. The natural fatty acids almost without exception contain an even total number of carbon atoms, and to explain the process of acetoacetic formation, Knoop proposed, in 1904, his theory of /5-oxidation of the fatty acids, according to which, the point of oxidative attack is the carbon atom in the /5-position, or next but one to the terminal carboxyl group. By this means the fatty acids are degraded two carbon atoms at a time. 

Polyisobutylene has the chemical properties of a saturated hydrocarbon. The unsaturated end groups undergo reactions typical of a hindered olefin and are used, particularly in the case of low mol wt materials, as a route to modification eg, the introduction of amine groups to produce dispersants for lubricating oils. The in-chain unsaturation in butyl mbber is attacked by atmospheric ozone, and unless protected can lead to cracking of strained vulcanizates. Oxidative degradation, which leads to chain cleavage, is slow, and the polymers are protected by antioxidants (75). 

Like NR, SBR is an unsaturated hydrocarbon polymer. Hence unvulcanised compounds will dissolve in most hydrocarbon solvents and other liquids of similar solubility parameter, whilst vulcanised stocks will swell extensively. Both materials will also undergo many olefinic-type reactions such as oxidation, ozone attack, halogenation, hydrohalogenation and so on, although the activity and detailed reactions differ because of the presence of the adjacent methyl group to the double bond in the natural rubber molecule. Both rubbers may be reinforced by carbon black and neither can be classed as heat-resisting rubbers. 

The selectivity of RNH2 on M/A1203 and Raney catalysts decreased in the order Co Ni Ru>Rh>Pd>Pt. This order corresponds to the opposite sequence of reducibility of metal-oxides [8] and standard reduction potentials of metalions [9], The difference between Group VIII metals in selectivity to amines can probably been explained by the difference in the electronic properties of d-bands of metals [3], It is interacting to note that the formation of secondary amine, i.e. the nucleophilic addition of primary amine on the intermediate imine can also take place on the Group VIII metal itself. Therefore, the properties of the metal d-band could affect the reactivity of the imine and its interaction with the amine. One could expect that an electron enrichment of the metal d-band will decrease the electron donation from the unsaturated -C=NH system, and the nucleophilic attack at the C atom by the amine [3], Correlation between selectivity of metals in nitrile hydrogenation and their electronic properties will be published elsewhere. 

The transformation of the cyano group could also introduce a new chiral center under diastereoselective control (Figure 5.13). Grignard-transimination-reduction sequences have been employed in a synthesis of heterocyclic analogues of ephedrine [81]. The preferential formation of erythro-/3-amino alcohols may be explained by preferential hydride attack on the less-hindered face of the intermediate imine [82], and hydrocyanation of the imine would also appear to proceed via the same type of transition state. In the case of a,/3-unsaturated systems, reduction- transimination-reduction may be followed by protection of the /3-amino alcohol to an oxazolidinone, ozonolysis with oxidative workup, and alkali hydrolysis to give a-hydroxy-/3-amino acids [83]. This method has been successfully employed in the synthesis L-threo-sphingosine [84]. 

The attack of peroxyl radicals on 0-CH2 groups produces the same functional groups (hydroperoxyl, hydroxy, oxo) as in the case of subsequent hydrocarbon oxidation. The oxidation of unsaturated acids proceeds similarly to the oxidation of olefins [4,7]. 

The photochemical formation of these complexes generally occurs from initial loss of CO or some similarly photolabile substituent from the transition metal centre. A common mode of attack of the Group 14 organometallic on the unsaturated species thus formed is by oxidative addition. There are many examples of such reactions, the most common involve E—H cleavage88 equations 40 and 41 show typical reactions. 

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