Selective chemistry of tripentaerythritol — Synthesis of acetals and their derivatives

Abstract

Tripentaerythritol was converted efficiently into 2′,2′′:6′,6′′:10′,10′′-tri-O-cyclohexylidene-2,2,6,6,10,10-hexakis(hydroxymethyl)-4,8-dioxa-1,11-undecandiol (4) by the toluenesulfonic acid catalysed reaction with cyclohexanone in a mixture of N,N-dimethylformamide and benzene. Reaction of tripentaerythritol with benzaldehyde under similar conditions gave an easily separated mixture of the four possible stereoisomers. Structures of these stereoisomers were assigned based on 1H and 13C NMR chemical shifts using trends previously observed for the dibenzylidene acetals of dipentaerythritol, whose structures had been established unambiguously by X-ray crystallography. It was found that reduction of the mixture of benzylidene acetals to 2,6,10-tris(benzyloxymethyl)-4,8-dioxa-1,11-undecanediol could be accomplished using triethylsilane with ethylaluminium dichloride as the Lewis acid after a number of commonly used conditions for this transformation failed.Key words: pentaerythritol, tripentaerythritol, dipentaerythritol, acetals, benzylidene acetals, reduction.