Regioselective Alkoxylation of 2,2,4-Trimethyl-1,3-pentanediol

An efficient procedure for the regioselective synthesis of secondary alcohol alkoxylates from 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,3-pentanediol (TMPD) is described. TMPD was reacted with propylene oxide followed by ethylene oxide in the presence of a catalytic amount of alkali metal hydroxide to form secondary alcohol alkoxylates. Instead of a mixture of compounds resulting from the reaction of TMPD and propylene oxide, the primary hydroxyl group of the TMPD reacted to form predominantly 2,2,4-trimethyl-3-hydroxypentylpropoxylate as the major product. On further ethoxylation the less hindered secondary hydroxyl group of the 2,2,4-trimethyl-3-hydroxypentylpropoxylate reacted predominantly. ¹³C NMR indicated that the secondary hydroxyl group (96.2 mol%) of TMPD remained unreacted during alkoxylation.     

Characterization of the micellar structure of a barium nonylphenolate/Barium carbonate complex by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

The micellar structure of a barium nonylphenolate/barium carbonate complex was characterized by ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Several NMR techniques, including measurement of spin-lattice relaxation time, chemical shift variation, and line width of the ¹H NMR signal and solid-state ¹³C NMR data, were used in this study. NMR results indicate that the prepared barium nonylphenolate and barium carbonate complex formed a micelle structure with the oxygen atom of the nonylphenolate ring oriented toward the solid-state center core of barium carbonate while the highly branched aliphatic chain pointed outward to the hydrocarbon solvent.