Kinetics and mechanism of the change of 2-chloromethyl benzoic acid and its 5-nitro derivative into the corresponding -lactones in neutral or alkaline aqueous dioxan

ABSTRACT

Although there is direct conjugation between the nitro-group and the chloromethyl group in 2-chloromethyI-5-nitrobenzoic acid, yet no base-catalyzed alpha-proton extraction step takes place. A bimolecular mechanism is proposed for the change of the title Compounds into the corresponding gamma-lactones