Abstract

In this chapter, recent advances in the synthesis of carboxylic acid esters are summarized based on the utilization of carboxylic acids as electrophiles or nucleophiles in reactions. Condensation reagents or catalysts connect the carboxylic acids with the alcohols to afford the corresponding esters, together with the formation of 1 equiv. of H2O, in which the carboxylic acids can be regarded as the electrophile. In contrast, the carboxylate ion intermediates derived from the carboxylic acids react with alkyl halides, carbocations, or their equivalents to produce the esters, in which the carboxylate ions from the carboxylic acids can be regarded as the nucleophile. This chapter mainly introduces the recent progress in this field of the formation of esters, based on the classification of the role of carboxylic acids in reactions.

Highlights

  • In organic chemistry, the development of the efficient synthesis of carboxylic acid esters using carboxylic acids is still one of central research topics, because the organic material compounds, drug molecules, and natural products often contain ester unit as the functional group [1–3]

  • As for the view point of the synthesis of esters, the corresponding carboxylic acids are usually utilized as the key starting material and play an important role [1–3]

  • The typical and traditional method for the synthesis of carboxylic acid esters is the reaction of carboxylic acids with an excess amount of alcohols in the presence of a catalytic amount of H2SO4 by using Dean-Stark apparatus [1–3], in which H2SO4 catalyzes the addition of the alcohol to the carboxylic acid, and the H2O generated is removed by Dean-Stark apparatus (Scheme 1 (a))

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Summary

Introduction

The development of the efficient synthesis of carboxylic acid esters using carboxylic acids is still one of central research topics, because the organic material compounds, drug molecules, and natural products often contain ester unit as the functional group [1–3]. As for the view point of the synthesis of esters, the corresponding carboxylic acids are usually utilized as the key starting material and play an important role [1–3]. Many kinds of synthetic methods for the esters from carboxylic acids are well recognized and utilized, but a lot of researchers still have studied to investigate the new methods or aspects, because the synthesis of esters is important from the point of view of green

Synthesis of carboxylic acid esters using carboxylic acids as electrophiles
The use of bases and ionic liquids
The use of electrochemical reduction methods
The use of the functionalization of C-–H bonds
The use of metal catalysts
The addition of carboxylic acids onto alkynes
Findings
Conclusion

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