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Acid‐catalyzed Oxidation of Levulinate Derivatives to Succinates under Mild Conditions
Author(s) -
Wang Yuran,
Vogelgsang Ferdinand,
RománLeshkov Yuriy
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.201403014
Subject(s) - chemistry , methanol , catalysis , trifluoromethanesulfonate , organic chemistry , solvent , selectivity , branching (polymer chemistry) , lewis acids and bases , brønsted–lowry acid–base theory
Levulinate derivatives are an attractive platform for the production of renewable chemicals. Here we report on the oxidation of methyl levulinate into dimethyl succinate with peroxides under mild conditions using Brønsted and Lewis acid catalysts. Selectivities to succinate and acetate derivatives of approximately 60 and 40 %, respectively, were obtained with strong Brønsted acids in methanol. Although the molecular structure (i.e., carbon‐chain length and branching around the CO group) and the oxidant type affect the product distribution, solvent choice has the strongest impact on changing the location of oxygen insertion into the carbon backbone. Specifically, switching the solvent from methanol to heptane resulted in a decrease in the succinate/acetate ratio from 1.6 to 0.3. In contrast to Brønsted acids, we demonstrate that the nature of the metal cation is responsible for changing the reaction selectivity of water‐tolerant Lewis acidic triflate salts.