Synthesis Of 5-Alkylfuran-2(5H)-ones And Optical A-hydroxymethylphenylpropionic Acid

In this thesis, a new synthetic methodology of 5-alkylfuran-2(5H)-ones was developed which involved condensation of methyl 3-nitropropanoate with the corresponding aldehydes catalyzed by Amberlyst A-21. As a result, some 5-alkylfuran-2(5H)-ones have been synthesized in one-pot with good yields.The mechanism of this one-pot reaction was studied. We choosed neutral alumina as catalyst and a series of intermediates---2a-2c and 3a-3c were obtained step by step. Thus, the one pot reaction was proposed through a Henry reaction-lactonization-elimination pathway.In addition, we prepared optical a-hydroxymethylphenylpropionic acid. The data including the D-, L-salts and optically active acids were also reported in this thesis.