Desymmetrization of disubstituted aromatic crown ethers via intramolecular Cannizzaro reactions†
Abstract
We report a high-yielding metal templated Cannizzaro reaction for converting symmetrical aromatic crown ether dialdehydes of various types [dibenzo and bis(meta-phenylene)] and sizes (20–32 atom rings) to acid–alcohol functionalized crown ethers in 70–98% yields.