IE47130B1 - Preparation of methyl and ethyl esters of cyclopropane carboxylic acids - Google Patents

Preparation of methyl and ethyl esters of cyclopropane carboxylic acids

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Publication number
IE47130B1
IE47130B1 IE1441/78A IE144178A IE47130B1 IE 47130 B1 IE47130 B1 IE 47130B1 IE 1441/78 A IE1441/78 A IE 1441/78A IE 144178 A IE144178 A IE 144178A IE 47130 B1 IE47130 B1 IE 47130B1
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IE
Ireland
Prior art keywords
group
reaction
carbon atoms
process according
methyl
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Application number
IE1441/78A
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IE781441L (en
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Shell Int Research
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Publication date
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Publication of IE781441L publication Critical patent/IE781441L/en
Publication of IE47130B1 publication Critical patent/IE47130B1/en

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Abstract

Compounds of the general formula in which R<1> and R<2> in each case stand for an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms or together form an alkylene group having up to 5 carbon atoms, X<1> and X<2> in each case stand for a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms or for a halogen atom or, with one another, form an alkylene group having up to 5 carbon atoms or X<1> denotes a hydrogen atom and X<2> is a monohalovinyl, dihalovinyl or dimethylvinyl group and R stands for a methyl or ethyl group, are prepared. A procedure is used in which a cyclopropanenitrile of the general formula is reacted with methanol or ethanol under substantially anhydrous conditions at a temperature from 80 to 200 DEG C and in the presence of a mineral acid as a reaction catalyst and of a scavenging agent for the ammonia formed during the reaction. The compounds of the formula I are intermediates for the preparation of synthetic pyrethroids.

Description

This invention relates to a process for the preparation of methyl and ethyl esters of cyclopropane carboxylic acids.
Substituted cyclopropane carboxylic acids are useful intermediates in the preparation of pesticidally-active esters thereof, especially the 3-phenoxybenzyl and alphacyano-3-phenoxybenzyl esters; these pesticidally active compounds, the so-called synthetic pyrethroids, have exceptionally good insecticidal properties whilst possessing a very low mammalian toxicity. This combination of properties makes them of considerable interest to the agrochemical industry and much effort has been expended in determining economic routes to these synthetic pyrethroids, especially to the manufacture of substituted cyclopropane carboxylic acids which hitherto have no established synthetic routes available in the literature. m a search for economic routes to the cyclopropane acid the Applicant has successfully managed to synthesise the substituted cyclopropanenitrile but hitherto has been unable to convert satisfactorily the nitrile into the corresponding acid or ester.
The Applicant has attempted alcoholysis in the presence of an acid catalyst according to the many recommendations in standard text books but found that the yields of the corresponding alkyl ester were very poor and often resulted in the production of large quantities of lactones and other by-products. 713 0 ίο It is known to convert nitriles into esters by means of the Pinner Reaction (see Houben-Weyl Handbuch der Organischen Chemie H. Heneka, Book 8, p. 536-539 (1952) and Chemical Reviews Robert Roger and Douglas Neilson, p. 181—18U (1961)), involving the action of an alkanol and hydrogen bromide or chloride on a nitrile at ambient or lower temperatures under anhydrous conditions and hydrolysing the resulting watersensitive iminoether. In the case of cyclopropane nitriles, however, the Pinner Reaction conditions had no effect even after a period of 2h hours.
Surprisingly, the Applicant has now found that a modification of the Pinner conditions has resulted in a simple conversion of a substituted cyclopropane nitrile into the methyl or ethyl ester thereof.
The present invention, therefore, provides a process for the manufacture of a compound having the following general formula:- COOR H (I) (wherein each of and Rg is independently an alkyl group of 1 to 4 carbon atoms or R^ and Rg together represent an alkylene group of up to 5 carbon atoms; each of X^ and Xg is independently a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group of 1 to t carbon atoms or a. halogen atom, or X^ and Xg together represent an alkylene group of up to 5 carbon atoms; or X1 is a hydrogen atom and Xg is a itonohalovinyl group, a dihalovinyl group or a dimethyIvinyl group; and R is a methyl or ethyl group) which comprises reacting a cyclopropane nitrile having the general formula:- (ni with methanol or ethanol under substantially anhydrous conditions at a temperature in the range 80° to 200°C and in the presence of sulphuric acid acting as reaction catalyst and as scavenger for ammonia produced during the reaction.
Preferably the reaction temperature is maintained in the range 100°C to 200°C, more preferably in the range 14o°C to 200°C. With reaction mixtures employed in the process according to the invention, temperatures in the required range will not usually be obtainable at atmospheric pressure, and thus higher IQ pressures, for example in the range 1 to 10 atmospheres will often have to be used; generally speaking pressures in the range 1 to 5 atmospheres have been found to be sufficient.
It has been founi necessary to employ substantially anhydrous conditions, that is to say, conditions under which the amount of water present during the reaction is kept to a minimum for example, below about 5% by weight of the reaction mixture, preferably below 1% and suitably below 0.5% by weight of the reaction mixture. For example the reaction will tolerate the water normally present in concentrated sulphuric acid (2% by weight) at the concentrations of acid employed in the process, provided that the alcohol and the nitrile reactants are substantially dry.
As the reaction proceeds, ammonia is generated thereby neutralising the acid catalyst, and thus sufficient quantities of the acid must he present in order to provide the necessary catalytic action. In general terms, the amount of acid (based on the nitrile) present in the process according to the invention should lie in the range 3l1 to 1:1 by weight.
In the alcoholysis reaction, the Applicant has found that only ethanol and methanol under the conditions defined hereinbefore provide the corresponding ester of the nitrile of general formula II in satisfactory yields and in the substantial absence of unwanted by-products. Ethanol is the preferred reagent 713 0 because of the relatively short reaction time involved in ethanolysis according to the invention and also because of the economic attraction of using such a readily available product.
In the compounds of general formula I preferably R^ and B^ are methyl groups; X^ and X2 are chlorine or bromine atoms or methyl groups; or X^ is a hydrogen atom and Xg is a dichlorovinyl group, a dihromovinyl group, a difluorovinyl group, a chlorofluorovinyl group, or a dimethylvinyl group; and R is methyl or ethyl.
As has been stated hereinbefore, the alcoholysis reaction enables a cyclopropane nitrile to be converted into the corresponding methyl or ethyl ester which may then be converted to a synthetic pyrethroid via the free acid or the acid chloride by reaction with 3-phenoxybenzyl alcohol or alphacyano-3-phenoxybenzyl alcohol. The following nitriles are the most important in that they are intermediates for the pyrethroids of greatest pesticidal activity:2.2.3.3- tetramethylcyclopropane nitrile: 3.3- dimethy1-2-(2,2-dimethylvinylCyclopropane nitrile; 3.3- dimethyl-2-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane nitrile; and 3.3- dimethyl-2-(2,2-dibromovinyl)cyclopropane nitrile.
It will be appreciated that, since the nitrile starting materials and the ester end-products in the process according to the invention possess asymmetric carbon atoms, the nitriles and esters can exist in a corresponding number of stereoisomeric forms. The process according to the invention, therefore, also includes the manufacture of compounds of formula (I) which are in the form of single stereoisomers or mixtures thereof.
The invention is further illustrated by reference to the following Examples, Example I Preparation of methyl 3.3 dimethyl-2-(2,2-dichlorovinyl) cyclopropane earboxylate A mixture of 2.0 g (0.1] mol) of substantially d’-y 3,3dimethyl-2-(2,2~dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane nitrile and 12 ml of a sulphuric acid/methanol solution (20? weight of concentrated sulphuric acid, in dried methanol) was autoclaved at 100°C (5 atmospheres) for 32 hours. Water was then added and the product extracted, with methylene chloride. The organic phase was washed with dilute sodium bicarbonate, dried over magnesium sulphate and evaporated to give methyl 3j3-dimethyl-2-(2,2dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate (95% conversion; 100% selectivity to the methyl ester).
Examples II-IV Preparation of ethyl 3,3-diinethyl-2-(2,2-diehlorovinyl) cyclopropane carboxylate The procedure of Example I was repeated using ethanol rather than methanol as the alcoholysis reagent and using various concentrations of the nitrile. The reaction conditions and the results are shown in Table A. w t> iw o o 0) CQ .9 S & o Λ o o kO o TABLE A W 4) 4) ii iw ®> 3 Λ CQ P< (0 (0 4) O h s fk -P S Cw^ 8S -=r σ ω OJ W o λ o CJ Φ H •r) h P & ii & o H O H Λ o r-| >» Λ P 4) a Λ 07130 Comparative Examples A number of comparative experiments were carried out employing methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, and ιι-butanol as the alcoholysis reagent and three different acid catalysts; the same nitrile (DCTIT) as used in the preceding Examples was employed.
The reaction conditions and results are shown in Table B.
It will be seen that the yields of DCVA-ester are considerably lower than those produced by the process according to the invention and are invariably accompanied hy unwanted by-products, especially the corresponding amide and a lactone by-product, the latter probably resulting from acid-catalysed ring opening followed by alcoholysis and ring closure to form a lactone. Moreover in the case of ethanolysis the reaction time is also much longer than the process employed in Examples II to IV. 713 0 COMPARATIVE EXPERIMENTS .%) data) Lactone by-product 1 LA Vt CM Cd t— cn ti CM ft υ A Α Α Ο !3τ, * § φ ft ίζ} U Be •g3 W U. WK 3 o CM o O co ti 1 Α § 1 h r· CM CM ^--· Ο ft w fl > 1 ft ο o s h A ft «Η β o ft ti *·* ΈΛ X **. «. o ift O ft- O IA O LA IA cn o ti co CM A ti - ti ti £ la o' cn O o o o •η n) 3 4) ti ^z ft VO O o •rt o CM ΰ g ti ti k ft B ti e< ti o <** •rt ft ti » Ί ft IA O Ο β ti rrt 3 co o IA □ CM ft- CO IA ti Ed ft ffi on O *d Ό ti ft- ft- ft· ft· o o o o CO fi ft CQ to ft ti Si Si woj W -fl on w CM ft CM ft tri 5>, to ao a •P ft • > □ Co o o o o •ti ft CJ o a + g β « ti » w O o 0 0 o o o o 0 o rd o o rd g 0 3 0 rd rd g ft o ti 0 O 3 o ft o ti 43 o q § § s F-t ft a ft ti ft ft ft f ti ft ft ft O 3 fl ft ti ti β ti ti •rt ___- •p · —. «—» ft 0 X—\ • rt •rt r> r"* 'S j? 525 • id •rt •rd ί» « **** ft o A g* rd & o k rd ft I Cd Λ δ ΐ s Λ A cn •p •Zi c ft a ti I ft ω ύ) Ή ft •rl s o ft h ω ΰ ti U ti *σ Ό ti ti s σ* -Η ft £ ft φ δ U2 Φ Pt rd b 0 0 O β rt ti ft & a 3 ft β ft ft ft ft ti ft ft 'ϋ ft ti ο •rt rd ti O ft ft ft O o c3 Ό ti ω ω o ti ft CM Cd ft ft μ κ ti ti β Fd •rt 3 ti o o ft s β β O ti 0 0 0 ft ti ti o o o ., ,—. ,-V ti £ o *d ti

Claims (6)

1. A process for the manufacture of a compound having the following general formula:- ΙΟ (wherein each of R 1 and Rg.is independently an alkyl group of 1 to U carhon atoms or R^ and Rg together represent an alkylene group of up to 5 carbon atoms; each of X^ and Xg is independently a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group of 1 to H carbon atoms, or a halogen atom, or X^ and Xg together represent an alkylene group of up to 5 carbon atoms; or X^ is a hydrogen atom and Xg is a monohalovinyl group, a dihalovinyl group or a dimethylvinyl grot®; and R is a methyl or ethyl group) which comprises reacting a cyclopropane nitrile having the general formula:- with methanol or ethanol under substantially anhydrous conditions at a temperature in the range 80° to 200°C and in the presence c£ sulphuric acid acting as reaction catalyst and. as scavenger for ammonia produced during the reaction. 471
2. A process according to claim -1 wherein the reaction temperature is in the range 300® to 200°C.
3. A process according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the reaction is carried out at a pressure in the range 1 to 5 atmospheres.
4. A process according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the amount of water present in the reaction mixture is below If by weight thereof.
5. A process according to any one of the preceding claims wherein and are methyl groups; and X £ are chlorine or bromine atoms or methyl groups; or is a hydrogen atom and X„ is a dichlorovinyl group, a dibromovinyl group, a difluorovinyl group, a chlorofluorovinyl group, or a dimethylvinyl group; and R is methyl or ethyl. 6. A process according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the cyclopropane nitrile of formula (II) Is:2.2.3.3- tetramethylcyclopropane nitrile; 3.3- dimethy1-2-(2,2-dimethylvinyl)cyclopropane nitrile; 3.3- dimethy1-2-(2,2-di chlorovinyl)cyclopropane nitrile; or 3.3- dimethyl-2-(2,2-dibromovinyl)cyclopropane nitrile. 7. A process according to claim 3 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Examples I to XV,
6. Compounds of the general formula (I) when prepared according fc the process claimed in any one of the preceding claims. Dated this the 18th day of
IE1441/78A 1977-07-20 1978-07-18 Preparation of methyl and ethyl esters of cyclopropane carboxylic acids IE47130B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB30470/77A GB1599888A (en) 1977-07-20 1977-07-20 Preparation of methyl and ethyl esters of cyclopropane carboxylic acids

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
IE781441L IE781441L (en) 1979-01-20
IE47130B1 true IE47130B1 (en) 1983-12-28

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IE1441/78A IE47130B1 (en) 1977-07-20 1978-07-18 Preparation of methyl and ethyl esters of cyclopropane carboxylic acids

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JP (1) JPS5422345A (en)
BE (1) BE868901A (en)
BR (1) BR7804637A (en)
CA (1) CA1123004A (en)
CH (1) CH635064A5 (en)
DE (1) DE2831555A1 (en)
DK (1) DK158343C (en)
FR (1) FR2398042A1 (en)
GB (1) GB1599888A (en)
IE (1) IE47130B1 (en)
IT (1) IT1097870B (en)
LU (1) LU79993A1 (en)
NL (1) NL7807658A (en)

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* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
NZ185635A (en) * 1976-11-18 1980-04-28 Ici Ltd Preparation of 3-dihalovinyl-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane carboxylic acid derivatives
AU4839279A (en) * 1978-07-18 1980-01-24 Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. Cyclopropane carboxylic acids
JPS5793493U (en) * 1980-11-28 1982-06-09

Family Cites Families (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB1553818A (en) * 1975-07-24 1979-10-10 Nat Res Dev Synthesis of cyclopropane carboxylic acids
NZ185635A (en) * 1976-11-18 1980-04-28 Ici Ltd Preparation of 3-dihalovinyl-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane carboxylic acid derivatives

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE2831555C2 (en) 1987-09-10
DK158343B (en) 1990-05-07
DE2831555A1 (en) 1979-02-01
LU79993A1 (en) 1979-04-09
NL7807658A (en) 1979-01-23
JPS5422345A (en) 1979-02-20
CH635064A5 (en) 1983-03-15
BE868901A (en) 1979-01-11
DK321978A (en) 1979-01-21
CA1123004A (en) 1982-05-04
FR2398042A1 (en) 1979-02-16
FR2398042B1 (en) 1983-04-29
DK158343C (en) 1990-10-01
IE781441L (en) 1979-01-20
IT1097870B (en) 1985-08-31
JPS6145612B2 (en) 1986-10-08
BR7804637A (en) 1979-04-17
GB1599888A (en) 1981-10-07
IT7825820A0 (en) 1978-07-18

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