Thursday, July 10, 2008

How to open a lactone?

1. MeOH/MeONa
forms methylester and free alcohol.

2. KOH/MeOH water
free acid and free alcohol.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its Friday, very late night, and Yamaguchi is knocking on the door of a lab. A postdoc eventually comes out and says: "Sorry, friend, but our macrolactones are already closed."

Electro said...

But wouldn't MeONa promote condensation reaction?