Alcohols Friedel-Crafts alkylation

Other catalysts which may be used in the Friedel - Crafts alkylation reaction include ferric chloride, antimony pentachloride, zirconium tetrachloride, boron trifluoride, zinc chloride and hydrogen fluoride but these are generally not so effective in academic laboratories. The alkylating agents include alkyl halides, alcohols and olefines. 

FRIEDEL - CRAFTS Alkylation-Acylation Alkylation or acylation ol aromatic compounds by means of alryl halides, alcohols.alkenes, acyl halides in the presence of Lewis acids... 

Benzyl and allyl alcohols which can generate stabilized caibocations give Friedel-Crafts alkylation products with mild Lewis acid catalysts such as scandium triflate. ... 

Friedel-Crafts alkylation Alcohols in combination with acids serve as sources of carbocations. Attack of a carbocation on the electron-rich ring of a phenol brings about its alkylation. 

The synthesis of an alkylated aromatic compound 3 by reaction of an aromatic substrate 1 with an alkyl halide 2, catalyzed by a Lewis acid, is called the Friedel-Crafts alkylation This method is closely related to the Friedel-Crafts acylation. Instead of the alkyl halide, an alcohol or alkene can be used as reactant for the aromatic substrate under Friedel-Crafts conditions. The general principle is the intermediate formation of a carbenium ion species, which is capable of reacting as the electrophile in an electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction. 

As catalysts Lewis acids such as AICI3, TiCU, SbFs, BF3, ZnCh or FeCl3 are used. Protic acids such as FI2SO4 or FIF are also used, especially for reaction with alkenes or alcohols. Recent developments include the use of acidic polymer resins, e.g. Nafion-Fl, as catalysts for Friedel-Crafts alkylations and the use of asymmetric catalysts. ... 

Furthermore, Jana et al. developed a FeCl3-catalyzed C3-selective Friedel-Crafts alkylation of indoles, using allylic, benzylic, and propargylic alcohols in nitromethane as solvent at room temperature. This method can also be used for the alkylation of pyrrole (Scheme 4). The reactions were complete within 2-3 h without the need of an inert gas atmosphere leading to the C-3-substitution product exclusively in moderate to good yields [20]. 

Scheme 4 FeCb catalyzed Friedel-Crafts alkylations of indoles with alcohols...

Bismuth tra-tri lluoromcthancsulfonate, Bi(OTf)3, and BiCh were found to be effective catalysts for the Friedel-Crafts acylation of both activated and deactivated benzene derivatives such as fluorobenzene.19 Ga(III) triflate is also effective for Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation in alcohols and can tolerate water.20 This catalyst is water-stable... 

A fourfold anionic sequence which is not initiated by a Michael but an aldol reaction has been reported by the group of Suginome and Ito (Scheme 2.129) [295]. In this approach, the borylallylsilane 2-573 reacts selectively in the presence of TiCl4 with two different aldehydes which are added sequentially to the reaction mixture. First, a Lewis acid-mediated allylation of the aldehyde with 2-573 takes place to form a homoallylic alcohol which reacts with the second aldehyde under formation of the oxenium ion 2-574. The sequence is terminated by a Prins-type cyclization of 2-574 and an intramolecular Friedel-Crafts alkylation of the intermediate 2-575 with formation of the fraws-1,2-be rizoxadeca lines 2-576 as single diastereomers. 

On the basis of these initial results, various rare earth metal triflates, including Sc(OTf)3, Hf(OTf)4 and Yb(OTf)3 were applied as catalysts [27-29]. Recently Beller and coworkers developed efficient Friedel-Crafts alkylations with catalytic amounts of Rh, W, Pd, Pt and Ir complexes [30] or FeCl3 [31-34] as Lewis acid catalysts. However, in the latter cases high catalyst loadings had to be applied. To overcome these major drawbacks, we decided to develop a Bi(III)-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts alkylation of arenes with benzyl alcohols. Although bismuth-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts acylations were well known at this time, Friedel-Crafts alkylations using benzyl alcohols had not been reported. 

Beside the Friedel-Crafts-type alkylation of arenes, the direct functionalization of 2,4-pentanediones is of great interest in Lewis acid catalysis. Although Pd-catalyzed Tsuji-Trost type allylations of 1,3-diketones are known, direct benzylation procedures catalyzed by Lewis acids are less explored [40-43]. Based on the previously described Friedel-Crafts alkylation of arenes and heteroarenes, the Rueping group developed a Bi(OTf)3-catalyzed benzylation of 2,4-pentanediones. Alcohols such as benzyl, allyl or cinnamyl alcohols were used as the electrophilic component to yield important 2-alkylated 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds. Initially, different Bi(III) salts were screened. In contrast... 

From a mechanistic point of view, it can be envisaged that this reaction proceeds via the desired benzylated pentanedione intermediate 14f. The subsequent intramolecular Friedel-Crafts alkylation of the electron-rich arene results in the quaternary benzyl alcohol II, which readily eliminates water to give the highly substituted indene 16 (Scheme 14). 

In addition to 1-phenylethanol and benzyl alcohol, cinnamyl alcohol has also been utilized as alkylating reagent. In contrast to the Bi(OTf)3-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts alkylation of benzyl alcohols, in which the corresponding acetate was shown to be more reactive than the free benzyl alcohol (Scheme 8), in this case the alkylation with cinnamyl alcohol or the corresponding acetate provided almost similar results. With 5 mol% BifOTfh. the desired allylated 2,4-pentanediones were isolated in good yields (Scheme 15). 

The concept of a diastereoselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation of a-chiral benzyl alcohols was first examined by Bach and coworkers [62, 63]. The initial protocol required stoichiometric amounts of strong Brpnsted acids like HBF4 and was followed by a more valuable methodology in which catalytic amounts of AuC L were employed for the diastereoselective functionalization of chiral benzyl alcohols [64], Beside arenes, allyl silanes, 2,4-pentanediones and silyl enol ethers have been used as nucleophiles. Depending on the diastereodiscriminating group and on the catalyst (Brpnsted or Lewis acid), the authors observed either the syn or the anti diastereoisomer as the major product. 

The Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction usually involves the interaction of an alkylation agent such as an alkyl halide, alcohol, or alkene with an aromatic compound, to form an alkylated aromatic compound (Scheme 5.1-44). 

Besides aluminum chloride, the most often used and studied Friedel-Crafts catalyst, many other acid catalysts are effective in alkylation. Although Friedel-Crafts alkylation was discovered and explored mainly with alkyl halides, from a practical point of view, alkenes are the most important alkylating agents. Others include alcohols, ethers, and esters. 

A novel mesoporous intercalate belonging to the class of mesostructured solid acids known as porous clay heterostructures (PCH) has been synthesized through the surfactant - directed assembly of silica in the two - dimensional galleries of saponite. The new saponite PCH, denoted SAP-PCH, exhibits a basal spacing of 32.9 A, a BET surface area of 850 m2/g and pore volume of 0.46 cm3/g. SAP-PCH is an effective catalyst for the condensed phase Friedel-Crafts alkylation of bulky 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol (DBP) with cinnamyl alcohol to produce a large flavan, namely, 6,8-di-tert-butyl-2,3-dihydro[4H]benzopyran. 

Here we report the synthesis and catalytic application of a new porous clay heterostructure material derived from synthetic saponite as the layered host. Saponite is a tetrahedrally charged smectite clay wherein the aluminum substitutes for silicon in the tetrahedral sheet of the 2 1 layer lattice structure. In alumina - pillared form saponite is an effective solid acid catalyst [8-10], but its catalytic utility is limited in part by a pore structure in the micropore domain. The PCH form of saponite should be much more accessible for large molecule catalysis. Accordingly, Friedel-Crafts alkylation of bulky 2, 4-di-tert-butylphenol (DBP) (molecular size (A) 9.5x6.1x4.4) with cinnamyl alcohol to produce 6,8-di-tert-butyl-2, 3-dihydro[4H] benzopyran (molecular size (A) 13.5x7.9x 4.9) was used as a probe reaction for SAP-PCH. This large substrate reaction also was selected in part because only mesoporous molecular sieves are known to provide the accessible acid sites for catalysis [11]. Conventional zeolites and pillared clays are poor catalysts for this reaction because the reagents cannot readily access the small micropores. 

Supercritical hydrogenation is just one example of continuous reactions which can be carried out in SCCO2 solution. Other reactions which have been carried out successfully include Friedel-Crafts alkylation of aromatics by alcohols [64], the dehydration of alcohols to form ethers [65] (using acid catalysts), and the hydroformylation of alkenes [52] (using rhodium catalysts immobilized on Si02). In each of these reactions, it is possible to obtain a selectivity which is at least as good, and often better, than with conventional solvents. However, the precise role of the scCC>2 in these reactions is not as obvious as in supercritical hydrogenation. 

The 3-acylbenzo[6]thiophenes, separated from the mixture obtained on acylation of benzo[6]thiophene (Section 3.14.2.4), are readily reduced to 3-alkylbenzo[6]thiophenes. 3-Benzo[6 ]thienyllithium can be prepared from 3-bromobenzo[6]thiophene at -70 °C (68JCS2733) and this may serve as a source of 3-acylbenzo[Z>]thiophenes. In certain instances, Friedel-Crafts alkylation gives the 3-substituted benzo[6]thiophenes nearly exclusively. For example, 3-t-amylbenzo[6]thiophene was the exclusive product of alkylation of benzo[6 Jthiophene with t-amyl alcohol in the presence of tin(IV) chloride <70AHC(11)177). 

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