Oxalyl chloride → Butanoic acid, 4-chloro-4-oxo-, methyl ester

Participants

Reaction Steps

Mono-methyl succinate (1), wherein alk is methyl, was chlorinated with oxalyl chloride in dimethyl formamide and methylene chloride to afford 3-carbomethoxypropionyl chloride (2). Compound (2) was catalytically hydrogenated over palladium-charcoal catalyst in the presence of 2,6-lutidine to yield 3-carbomethoxypropionaldehyde (3) which was reacted with formylmethylene triphenylphosphorane under Wittig reaction conditions to obtain 5-carbomethoxy-2-pentanal (4). Compound 4 was epoxidized with aqueous hydrogen peroxide in the presence of 1N sodium bicarbonate to afford methyl-4,5-epoxy-6-oxohexanoate (5). Compound (5) was reacted with tridecyltriphenylphosphonium ylid to give methyl-4,5-epoxy-6(Z)-nonadecenoate (6).

Provenance & Evidence