Cascade upgrading of bio-based 4閳?methoxypropiophenone to anethole enabled by hot-compressed alcohol over a Hf-phytic acid coordination catalyst was written by Tan, Jinyu;Wu, Hongguo;Huang, Jinshu;Jian, Yumei;Zhang, Li-Long;Zhang, Heng;Li, Hu;Yang, Song. And the article was included in Journal of Supercritical Fluids in 2022.Synthetic Route of C8H10O2 This article mentions the following:
Hot compressed solvents (alc., water) have been widely used in the production of value-added chems. from biomass due to their sufficiently low viscosity, high diffusivity, and environmentally-benign features. Anethole (AN) is a unique kind of natural aromatic compound, while its green synthesis method still requires to be explored. Herein, a novel porous acid-base bifunctional phytic acid (PA)-hafnium (Hf)(1:2.5) catalyst was prepared by a simple assembly of PA with Hf under a one-pot hydrothermal method (120 鎺矯, 24 h). The PA-Hf(1: 2.5) possessed outstanding catalytic activity for the synthesis of AN from 4閳?methoxypropiophenone (4-MOPP) at 220 鎺矯 and 15 bar in 2-pentanol (4-MOPP conversion: 99.8%, AN yield: 98.8%), which can be ascribed to its moderate surface area (95.3 m2/g), pore volume (0.18 cm3/g), mesopores (4.0 nm), and acid-base couple sites (d.: 3.6 vs 1.7 mmol/g). 2-Pentanol was determined to serve as the superior hydrogen donor and solvent for the overall conversion process, which can remarkably hinder side reactions in this hot-compressed medium. Moreover, the cooperative interaction of Lewis acid-base couple sites (Hf4+-O2–) and Bronsted acidic species (-OH) of PA-Hf(1:2.5) led to its excellent catalytic performance. PA-Hf(1:2.5) was highly reusable with constant activity after five reaction cycles. In the experiment, the researchers used many compounds, for example, (4-Methoxyphenyl)methanol (cas: 105-13-5Synthetic Route of C8H10O2).
(4-Methoxyphenyl)methanol (cas: 105-13-5) belongs to ethers. Ether is less polar than esters, alcohols or amines because of the oxygen atom that is unable to participate in hydrogen bonding due to the presence of bulky alkyl groups on both sides of the oxygen atom. The unique properties of ethers (i.e., that they are strongly polar, with nonbonding electron pairs but no hydroxyl group) enhance the formation and use of many reagents. For example, Grignard reagents cannot form unless an ether is present to share its lone pair of electrons with the magnesium atom. Complexation of the magnesium atom stabilizes the Grignard reagent and helps to keep it in solution.Synthetic Route of C8H10O2
Referemce:
Ether – Wikipedia,
Ether | (C2H5)2O – PubChem