Water → Methyl 2-hydroxy-4-octadecenoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

Methyl glyoxalate (8.80 g, 0.1 mol, 1.0 eq) and 1-hexadecene (44.80 g, 0.2 mol, 2.0 eq) are dissolved in dry dichloromethane (200 ml, freshly distilled from calcium hydride) under a nitrogen atmosphere. Stannic chloride (3.51 ml, 0.03 mol, 0.3 eq) is added dropwise with stirring and cooling at 0° C. (ice/water bath). After half an hour the reaction mixture is allowed to warm to room temperature and stirred for a further 21 hours before being neutralised with triethylamine (4.2 ml, 0.03 mol, 0.3 eq) with a further 5 minutes stirring. Water (50 ml) and dichloromethane (100 ml) are added, the organic layer is separated, washed in turn with water (50 ml) and brine (50 ml), dried over anhydrous magnesium sulphate and evaporated. The crude oil is purified by short path distillation (bp 220-230° C./0.7 mm Hq) to furnish the ester product as a colourless liquid.

Provenance & Evidence