PRODUCTION OF 4-HYDROXYMETHYL-GAMMA-BUTYRO-LACTONE, INTERMEDIATE USEFUL FOR THE PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTION OF THE INTERMEDIATE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain the subject 4-hydroxymethyl-γ-butyrolactone that is useful as a synthetic starting substance for a variety of nucleic acids advantageously in an industrial scale by oxidizing a specific diacyloxypentanal with a hypochlorite in the presence of an N-oxy radical and hydrolyzing the oxidation product. SOLUTION: (A) A 4,5-diacyloxypentanal of formula I (R is a saturated aliphatic hydrocarbon or an aromatic hydrocarbon) (for example, 4,5- diacetoxypentanal or the like) is oxidized with (C) a hypochlorite salt (for example, sodium hypochlorite) in the presence of an N-oxy radical (for example, 2,2,6,6,-tetra-methyl-1-piperidine-oxy or the like) to a compound of formula II, and the product is hydrolyzed to the objective 4-hydroxymethyl-γ- butyrolactone of formula III. In a preferred embodiment, the amount of the component C is 1-1.5 mole per mole of the component A. The amount of the component B is >=0.01 mol.%, preferably 0.1-2 mol.% based on the component A.