Problem Set 9
Chapters 10 and 11
The Chemistry of Alcohols
You have two weeks for this Problem Set. There will be one more.
1) Review the Alcohol module in ORGO. 2) Design a synthesis of racemic 3R*, 4S*-1,3,4- hexanetriol, using only ethylene and acetylene as your source of carbon atoms. All other reagents are available to you. [Note: The * designates relative configuration. The 3S*, 4R* enantiomer is also present.] 3) Compound A (C6H12) reacts with OsO4 to form achiral B (C6H14O2). Treatment of B with H2SO4 gives ketone C (C6H12O). The reaction of the Grignard reagent, tert-butyl magnesium bromide, with acetaldehyde forms D. Jones oxidation of D affords ketone C. What are the structures of A-D? Provide a mechanism for B ---> C.
4) A student attempts to convert (±)-5-bromo-2- pentanol (1) into (±)-2-methyl-2,6-heptanediol (2) by treating 1 with magnesium in ether
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Victor Grignard (1871-1935) Nobel Prize (1912) shared with Paul Sabatier (catalytic hydrogenation)
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detect any 2 but he did isolate compound 3. A classmate suggests that he first treat 1 with isobutylene in
the presence of a catalytic amount of sulfuric acid to form 4. She tells him to run his Grignard reaction in
the same way [ 1) Mg, ether; 2) acetone; 3) H3O+] using 4 in order to prepare 2. He does so and to his
delight he isolates 2. Help him understand what went wrong and how she figured out how to solve the
problem. What are the structures of 3 and 4? What is the critical role of isobutylene? [Hint: Think SN1.]
5) The oxidation of alcohols with Cr+6 or Mn+7 give Cr+3 and Mn+4 (MnO2) as reduction products,
respectively. The KMnO4 oxidation on p.462 is not balanced. Write a redox balanced equation for this
reaction. How many grams of KMnO4 are required to oxidize 0.1 moles of 1-phenylethanol to the ketone,
acetophenone? Does the reaction mixture become more or less acidic?
6) A student finds a bottle of Grignard reagent labeled "1.0 M RMgBr in ether". To determine its structure,
she decides to add an excess of the Grignard reagent to 0.1 moles of the ester, methyl n-butyrate (the
methyl ester of n-butyric acid). What is the minimum number of mLs of Grignard reagent she needs to
add to the ester to obtain complete reaction [p. 438]? She isolates a single compound A (C12H26O) after aqueous workup, which
when heated with a catalytic amount of H2SO4, forms a mixture of three compounds (B, C, and D) all of
which have the formula C12H24. Ozonolysis of the mixture produces two carbonyl compounds which
she separates upon careful distillation: 2-methyl-4-heptanone (from B and C) and 2,6-dimethyl-4-
heptanone (from D). From the structure of these two ketones (actually, one will suffice) she is able to
determine the structure of the Grignard reagent. She also recognizes that two of the ozonolysis products E
and F were too volatile to isolate. What are the structures of A-F and of the Grignard reagent? Explain
and illustrate her reasoning. [Hint: You can't distinguish between B and C nor E and F.]
7) When optically-active compound A (C12H22) reacts with ozone followed by zinc reduction to give 4-tert-
butylcyclohexanone and D. [Note: At this point you should know the structure of A. Assign one of the
enantiomers to A. Why is A optically active? There are no asymmetric carbons! How is this compound like
an allene!] Hydroboration of A followed by H2O2/NaOH gives two optically active, diastereomeric
compounds B and C (C12H24O). [You can't distinguish between B and C; assign them arbitrarily.]
When the tosylate of B or C is heated with C2H5ONa/C2H5OH, the enantiomer of A (ent-A) is formed.
On the other hand, when B or C reacts with PBr3, the optically active bromides E and F (C12H23Br) are
formed, respectively. Treatment of either E or F with refluxing C2H5ONa/C2H5OH affords A , not its
enantiomer, ent-A. Explain and illustrate these results.
8) Provide reaction conditions for each of the following chemical transformations. In a-c, where the number
of carbon atoms in the starting material and the product remain the same, verify the total change in
oxidation level.