Lanthanoid-Catalyzed Aldehyde Dimerization and Its Application to Polyester Synthesis

Article abstract of DOI:10.1246/cl.1994.531

A wide variety of aldehydes are efficiently dimerized to esters by a catalytic amount of (C5Me5)2LnCH(SiMe3)2 (Ln=Nd, La).The reaction is applicable to the synthesis of polyesters from dialdehydes.A stoichiometric reaction of the lanthanum complex with benzaldehyde indicates the intermediacy of alkoxo complexes in the catalysis.