Catalytic Cracking of Lactide and Poly(Lactic Acid) to Acrylic Acid at Low Temperatures.

Despite being a simple dehydration reaction, the industrially relevant conversion of lactic acid to acrylic acid is particularly challenging. For the first time, the catalytic cracking of lactide and poly(lactic acid) to acrylic acid under mild conditions is reported with up to 58 % yield. This transformation is catalyzed by strong acids in the presence of bromide or chloride salts and proceeds through simple SN 2 and elimination reactions.

3,3'-Diaryl-BINOL phosphoric acids as enantioselective extractants of benzylic primary amines.

We report that 3,3'-diaryl-BINOL phosphoric acids are effective enantioselective extractants in chiral separation methods based on reactive liquid-liquid extraction. These new extractants are capable of separating racemic benzylic primary amine substrates. The effect of the nature of the substituents at the 3,3'-positions of the host were examined as well as the structure of the substrate, together with important parameters such as the organic solvent, the pH of the aqueous phase, and the host stoichiometry. Titration of the substrate with the host was monitored by FTIR, NMR, UV-Vis, and CD spectroscopy, which provided insight into the structure of the host-guest complex involved in extraction.

Chiral separation by enantioselective liquid-liquid extraction.

The literature on enantioselective liquid-liquid extraction (ELLE) spans more than half a century of research. Nonetheless, a comprehensive overview has not appeared during the past few decades. Enantioselective liquid-liquid extraction is a technology of interest for a wide range of chemists and chemical engineers in the fields of fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, fragrances and foods. In this review the principles and advances of resolution through enantioselective liquid-liquid extraction are discussed, starting with an introduction on the principles of enantioselective liquid-liquid extraction including host-guest chemistry, extraction and phase transfer mechanisms, and multistage liquid-liquid extraction processing. Then the literature on enantioselective liquid-liquid extraction systems is reviewed, structured on extractant classes. The following extractant classes are considered: crown ether based extractants, metal complexes and metalloids, extractants based on tartrates, and a final section with all other types of chiral extractants.

Chiral separation of substituted phenylalanine analogues using chiral palladium phosphine complexes with enantioselective liquid-liquid extraction.

Chiral palladium phosphine complexes have been employed in the chiral separation of amino acids and phenylalanine analogues in particular. The use of (S)-xylyl-BINAP as a ligand for the palladium complex in enantioselective liquid-liquid extraction allowed the separation of the phenylalanine analogues with the highest operational selectivity reported to date. (31)P NMR, FTIR, FIR, UV-Vis, CD and Raman spectroscopy methods have been applied to gain insight into the binding mechanism of the amino acid substrates with the chiral palladium phosphine complexes. A complexation in a bidentate fashion is proposed.

Solution-phase racemization in the presence of an enantiopure solid phase.

Solution-phase racemization drives the evolution of single chirality in the solid phase by the "chiral amnesia" process first described by Viedma. The current investigations lay the basis for a better understanding of the mechanism of the solid-phase deracemization by uncoupling the chemical rate processes associated with the interconversion of enantiomers in the solution phase from the physical processes associated with solution-solid phase transfer via dissolution and reaccretion of molecules onto crystals. In addition, the enantiomer concentration profiles presented in this work, together with an analytical treatment of the racemization process in the presence of excess enantiopure solid, unequivocally reconfirm the validity of the Meyerhoffer double solubility rule for systems under solution racemization conditions.

Enantiomerically pure beta-phenylalanine analogues from alpha-beta-phenylalanine mixtures in a single reactive extraction step.

An efficient and selective method for the extraction of alpha-amino acids in preference over their beta-isomers using PdCl(2)(PPh(3))(2) was discovered, which enables the separation of product mixtures obtained in the enantioselective enzymatic formation of beta-amino acids.

Chiral separation of underivatized amino acids by reactive extraction with palladium-BINAP complexes.

In answer to the need for a more economic technology for the separation of racemates, a novel system for reactive enantioselective liquid-liquid extraction (ELLE) is introduced. Palladium (S)-BINAP complexes are employed as hosts in the separation of underivatized amino acids. The system shows the highest selectivity for the ELLE of tryptophan with metal complexes as hosts reported to date and shows a good selectivity toward a range of natural and unnatural amino acids. Furthermore, the host can be prepared in situ from commerically available compounds. Bulk-membrane transport in the form of U-tube experiments demonstrates the enantioselective and catalytic nature of the transport. The dependency of the system on parameters such as pH, organic solvent, and host-substrate ratio has been established. (31)P NMR spectroscopy has been used to confirm the preferred enantiomer in the extraction experiments. The intrinsic selectivity was deduced by determination of the association constants of the palladium complex with the tryptophan enantiomers.