Patent ID: 6956135

Claim:
A process for producing an aldehyde of the formula RO-PAG-O—(CH 2 ) z —O—(CH 2 ) w —CHO wherein R is lower alkyl, PAG is a divalent residue of polyalkylene glycol resulting from removal of the terminal hydroxy groups, having a molecular weight of from 1,000 to 100,000 Daltons, z is an integer of from 2 to 4, and w is an integer of from 2 to 8; from a hydroxy compound of the formula RO-PAG-O—(CH 2 ) z —OH wherein R, PAG are as above, and z is an integer of from 2 to 4; comprising esterifying said hydroxy compound to form an ester of the formula RO-PAG-O—(CH 2 ) z —OL wherein R and PAG are as above and OL is a sulfonic acid ester; by reacting said hydroxy compound with a sulfonating agent having the formula HaloL wherein L is a sulfonyl leaving group and Halo is a halogen; to form said sulfonate ester, and reacting said ester with an acetonide of the formula wherein R 13 is hydrogen, alkyl, or phenyl, w is as above and B is an alkali metal; to form a polymeric acetonide of the formula wherein R, PAG, R 13 , z and w are as above; and thereafter hydrolyzing said polymeric acetonide under acid conditions to remove the acetonide group, and thereafter subjecting said hydrolyzed acetonide to oxidation with a periodate oxidizing agent to form said aldehyde.