Synthesis of Unsaturated Dibasic Acid Esters from Five-, Six-, and Seven-Membered Cycloalkanones

A new route to diesters of symmetrical octene-, decene-, and dodecenedioic acids was proposed. The ratio of the cis/trans-isomers was 1: 4. The synthesis involved oxidative splitting of five-, six-, and seven-membered cycloalkanones with hydrogen peroxide into the corresponding ω-alkenoic acids followed by esterification and metathesis over Re2O7/B2O3-Al2O3-SnMe4.