Oxacyclopropane Synthesis by Peroxycarboxylic Acid

Oxacyclopropane synthesis by peroxycarboxylic acid requires an alkene and a peroxycarboxylic acid as well as an appropriate solvent. The peroxycarboxylic acid has the unique property of having an electropositive oxygen atom on the COOH group. The reaction is initiated by the electrophilic oxygen atom reacting with the nucleophilic carbon-carbon double bond. The mechanism involves a concerted reaction with a four-part, circular transition state. The result is that the originally electropositive oxygen atom ends up in the oxacyclopropane ring and the COOH group becomes COH.

Mechanism

Peroxycarboxylic acids are generally unstable. An exception is meta-chloroperoxybenzoic acid, shown in the mechanism above. Often abbreviated MCPBA, it is a stable crystalline solid. Consequently, MCPBA is popular for laboratory use. However, MCPBA can be explosive under some conditions.

Peroxycarboxylic acids are sometimes replaced in industrial applications by monoperphthalic acid, or the monoperoxyphthalate ion bound to magnesium, which gives magnesium monoperoxyphthalate (MMPP). In either case, a nonaqueous solvent such as chloroform, ether, acetone, or dioxane is used. This is because in an aqueous medium with any acid or base catalyst present, the epoxide ring is hydrolyzed to form a vicinal diol, a molecule with two OH groups on neighboring carbons. (For more explanation of how this reaction leads to vicinal diols, see below.) However, in a nonaqueous solvent, the hydrolysis is prevented and the epoxide ring can be isolated as the product. Reaction yields from this reaction are usually about 75%. The reaction rate is affected by the nature of the alkene, with more nucleophilic double bonds resulting in faster reactions.