Alcohols Friedel-Crafts synthesis

Durene, pentamethyl benzene and hexamethyl benzene have usually been prepared from benzene or one of its methylated derivatives by the Friedel-Crafts synthesis.1 Durene has been made from bromine derivatives of methylated benzenes by the Fittig reaction.2 It has also been obtained in 20 per cent yield by passing methyl alcohol and acetone vapors over heated alu-... 

Preparation of Alkyl Halides from Olefins. There are two general methods for the synthesis of alkyl halides (1) by the interaction of an alcohol with a halogen hydride—a procedure that may reasonably be discussed under esterification or halogenation and, also, under the Friedel-Crafts synthesis when a metal halide is used to catalyze the reactions— and (2) by the addition of a halogen hydride to an unsaturated hydrocarbon. This reaction may be catalyzed by metal halides and by sulfuric acid. In the latter instance, the ethylsulfuric acid first formed is converted to the halide by gaseous chlorine or chlorine liberated in situ by action of sulfuric acid on a halide. 

Friedel-Crafts (Lewis) acids have been shown to be much more effective in the initiation of cationic polymerization when in the presence of a cocatalyst such as water, alkyl haUdes, and protic acids. Virtually all feedstocks used in the synthesis of hydrocarbon resins contain at least traces of water, which serves as a cocatalyst. The accepted mechanism for the activation of boron trifluoride in the presence of water is shown in equation 1 (10). Other Lewis acids are activated by similar mechanisms. In a more general sense, water may be replaced by any appropriate electron-donating species (eg, ether, alcohol, alkyl haUde) to generate a cationic intermediate and a Lewis acid complex counterion. 

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. 

Friedel-Crafts reaction remains unexplored, possibly due to the difficulty of the cycloalkyne formation. A mild, versatile, and efficient method for the one-step synthesis of substituted dihydro- and tetrahydroisoquinolines has been developed by the FeCl3-6H20-catalyzed intramolecular allenylation/cyclization reaction of benzylamino-substituted propargylic alcohols, representing the first example of the intramolecular Friedel-Crafts reaction of propargylic alcohols (Scheme 8) [24, 25]. FeCls, InCls, and Yb(OTf)3 also exhibit good catalytic activity for the reaction. 

For preparative purposes the method of obtaining aldehydes from the primary alcohols is preferable by far, at least in the aliphatic series. The simple aromatic aldehydes can be obtained by alkaline hydrolysis of the arylidene chlorides, R.CHC12, which are produced from the hydrocarbons by substitution with chlorine (technical method for the preparation of benzaldehyde). In addition to these methods the elegant synthesis of Gattermann and Koch should be mentioned here. This synthesis, which proceeds like that of Friedel-Crafts, consists in acting on the aromatic hydrocarbon with carbon monoxide and hydrogen chloride in the presence of aluminium chloride and cuprous chloride. 

The three-component synthesis of benzo and naphthofuran-2(3H)-ones from the corresponding aromatic alcohol (phenols or naphthols) with aldehydes and CO (5 bar) can be performed under palladium catalysis (Scheme 16) [59,60]. The mechanism involves consecutive Friedel-Crafts-type aromatic alkylation and carbonylation of an intermediate benzylpalla-dium species. The presence of acidic cocatalysts such as TFA and electron-donating substituents in ortho-position (no reaction with benzyl alcohol ) proved beneficial for both reaction steps. 

Among the simplest syntheses of this type are those of tetrahydro-quinolines or -iso-quinolines based on Friedel-Crafts cyclizations. The use of side-chain halides is shown by the synthesis of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines (158) (71CC799), and of 3,4-dihydroquinol-2-ones (159) (27CB858). Electrophilic carbon atoms can be developed from secondary or tertiary alcohols, or from alkenes or alkynes. In the synthesis of the tetrahydroisoquinoline... 

Figure 3.4 The synthesis of ibuprofen is initiated by a Friedel-Crafts acylation of an aUcyl-substituted benzene ring. The resulting ketone is then reduced to an alcohol with sodium boro-hydride. The alcohol functionality then undergoes a functional group interchange by conversion to a bromide. In turn, this permits the introduction of an additional carbon atom in the form of a nitrile introduced via an 8, 2 nucleophilic displacement. This is then hydrolyzed to give the target molecule.

Essentially the same route is followed for the synthesis of the triphenylethylene nitromifene (8-5). The sequence starts with Friedel-Crafts acylation of the alkylation product (8-1) from phenol and 1,2-dibromoethane with the acid chloride from anisic acid (8-2). The displacement of bromine in the product (8-3) with pyrrolidine leads to the formation of the basic ether and thus (8-4). Condensation of that product with benzylmagnesium bromide gives the tertiary alcohol (8-5). This product is then treated with a mixture of nitric and acetic acids. The dehydration products from the first step almost certainly consist of a mixture of the E and Z isomers for the same reasons advanced above. The olefin undergoes nitration under reaction conditions to lead to nitromifene (8-6) as a mixture of isomers [8] the separated compounds are reported to show surprisingly equivalent agonist/antagonist activities. 

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. 

The reactions of nitrones with indoles have been applied to die formation of several A -hydroxylamines and symmetrical and unsymmetrical diindolylalkanes.56 Chiral auxiliaries, alcohols derived from (15)-(—)-/ -pinene (R OH), lead to an enantio-selective synthesis when R acetoacetate reacts with 3-(2-hydroxyethyl)mdole in the presence of, for example, BF3.Et20, forming (27).57 Methyl migration follows Friedel-Crafts reaction of (CH3)3SiCCl3 with benzene in the present of A1C13 and (28) is formed.58... 

The asymmetric syntheses of tetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives were also reported. Optically pure 3,4-disubstituted tetrahydroisoquinolines such as 78 were prepared by Friedel-Crafts cyclization of amino alcohols 77 <02TL1885>. Enantioselective syntheses of dihydropyrrolo[2,l-a]isoquinolines via a highly diastereoselective, chiral auxiliary assisted N-acyliminium cyclization was disclosed <02SL593>. The enantioselective synthesis (-)-tejedine, a seco-bisbenzyltetrahydroisoquinoline was also reported. One key step in this synthesis involved a chiral auxiliary-assisted diastereoselective Bischler-Napieralski cyclization <02OL2675>. Additionally, an asymmetric Bischler-Napieralski was reported for the preparation of 1,3,4-trisubstituted 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines <02JCS(P1)116>. 

Regarding acylation reactions, acylation of alcohols produces esters and acylation of amines produces amides Both of these transformations are illustrated in Figure 8.2. These, in addition to the introduction of acyl groups adjacent to carbonyls (Scheme 8.11), only hint at the breadth of related acylation reactions available and useful in organic synthesis. One additional reaction is the Friedel-Crafts acylation illustrated in Scheme 8.12. Through this transformation, extended functionalization of aryl groups becomes accessible. 

Very early reports on these systems described them as polycondensates, consisting of broad molar-mass distributions with randomly branched topologies. The methods of synthesis included Friedel-Crafts coupling of benzyl alcohols [108] and the polymerization of 2,5,6-tribromophenol involving aryl ether formation [109], In addition, hyperbranched natural carbohydrate polymers, such as amylopectin, dextrin, and glycogen have been extensively studied [73-75]. 

Owing to its powerful Lewis acidity, BF3 is an effective reagent in organic synthesis, for example, promoting the conversion of alcohols and acids to esters, the polymerization of olefins and olefin oxides, and acylations and alkylations (in a manner similar to Friedel-Crafts processes). Mechanistic studies of some reactions of the latter type, such as the ethylation of benzene by QH5F, have shown that the BF3 functions as a scavenger for HF via the formation of HBF4 and thus participates stoichiometrically rather than catalytically. 

One exception to the amorphous structure has been reported [30]. Crystalline polybenzyl was obtained from the low temperature (- 125° C) polymerization of benzyl chloride. However, the reaction was difficult to reproduce [31,32]. Consequently this procedure is not an effective method for the synthesis of linear polybenzyls. The usual amorphous, highly branched structure is formed as a result of a lack of positional selectivity and multiple substitution of the arene rings. Similar polymeric structures are obtained upon the polymerization of other nonsubstituted benzyl halides and benzyl alcohol [29]. The highly branched structure is a consequence of the involvement of benzyl carbenium ions in the Friedel-Crafts reaction. Benzyl substituents activate the monosubstituted phenyl groups toward further benzylation reaction. However, monomers containing alkyl substituents that sterically hinder substitution at the ortho position have been polymerized to linear polybenzyls. For example, the following... 

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