Benzaldehyde

Abstract: Mesoporous carbon nitride (mpg-C3N4) polymer can function as a metal-free photocatalyst to activate O2 for the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohols with visible light, avoiding the cost, toxicity, and purification problems associated with corresponding transition-metal systems. By combining the surface basicity and semiconductor functions of mpg-C3N4, the photocatalytic system can realize a high catalytic selectivity to generate benzaldehyde. The metal-free photocatalytic system also selectively converts other alcohol substrates to their corresponding aldehydes/ketones, demonstrating a potential pathway of accessing traditional mild radical chemistry with nitroxyl radicals.

Abstract: Pseudomonas putida (arvilla) mt-2 carries genes for the catabolism of toluene, m-xylene, and p-xylene on a transmissible plasmid, TOL. These compounds are degraded by oxidation of one of the methyl substituents via the corresponding alcohols and aldehydes to benzoate and m- and p-toluates, respectively, which are then further metabolised by the meta pathway, also coded for by the TOL plasmid. The specificities of the benzyl alcohol dehydrogenase and the benzaldehyde dehydrogenase for their three respective substrates are independent of the carbon source used for growth, suggesting that a single set of nonspecific enzymes is responsible for the dissimilation of the breakdown products of toluene and m- and p-xylene. Benzyl alcohol dehydrogenase and benzaldehyde dehydrogenase are coincidently and possible coordinately induced by toluene and the xylenes, and by the corresponding alcohols and aldehydes. They are not induced in cells grown on m-toluate but catechol 2,3-oxygenase can be induced by m-xylene.

Abstract: The mechansim of the three-component Biginelli dihydropyrimidine synthesis was reinvestigated using 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. Condensation of benzaldehyde, ethyl acetoacetate, and urea (or N-methylurea) in CD3OH according to the procedure described by Biginelli produced the expected 6-methyl-2-oxo-4-phenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidine-5-carboxylates. According to NMR measurements, there is no evidence that the first step in the Biginelli reaction is an acid-catalyzed aldol reaction of ethyl acetoacetate and benzaldehyde leading to a carbenium ion intermediate, as has been suggested previously. In contrast, all experimental evidence points to a mechanism involving an N-acyliminium ion as the key intermediate, formed by acid-catalyzed condensation of benzaldehyde and urea (or N-methylurea). Interception of this iminium ion by ethyl acetoacetate produces open-chain ureides which subsequently cyclize to the Biginelli dihydropyrimidines.