Alkenes reaction with acids, mechanisms

We have seen this situation before m the reaction of alcohols with hydrogen halides (8ection 4 11) m the acid catalyzed dehydration of alcohols (8ection 5 12) and m the conversion of alkyl halides to alkenes by the El mechanism (8ection 5 17) As m these other reactions an electronic effect specifically the stabilization of the carbocation intermediate by alkyl substituents is the decisive factor The more stable the carbo cation the faster it is formed... 

When applied to the synthesis of ethers the reaction is effective only with primary alcohols Elimination to form alkenes predominates with secondary and tertiary alcohols Diethyl ether is prepared on an industrial scale by heating ethanol with sulfuric acid at 140°C At higher temperatures elimination predominates and ethylene is the major product A mechanism for the formation of diethyl ether is outlined m Figure 15 3 The individual steps of this mechanism are analogous to those seen earlier Nucleophilic attack on a protonated alcohol was encountered m the reaction of primary alcohols with hydrogen halides (Section 4 12) and the nucleophilic properties of alcohols were dis cussed m the context of solvolysis reactions (Section 8 7) Both the first and the last steps are proton transfer reactions between oxygens... 

Alkylaziridines can be stereospecifically deaminated to alkenes by reaction with m-chioroperbenzoic acid (70AG(E)374). The reaction and work-up are carried out in the dark to avoid isomerization of the cw-alkene, and the mechanism is thought to involve an initial oxidation to an amine oxide followed by a concerted elimination. Aziridine oxides have been generated by treating aziridines with ozone at low temperatures (71JA4082). Two... 

Before beginning a detailed discussion of alkene reactions, let s review briefly some conclusions from the previous chapter. We said in Section 5.5 that alkenes behave as nucleophiles (Lewis bases) in polar reactions. The carbon-carbon double bond is electron-rich and can donate a pair of electrons to an electrophile (Lewis acid), for example, reaction of 2-methylpropene with HBr yields 2-bromo-2-methylpropane. A careful study of this and similar reactions by Christopher Ingold and others in the 1930s led to the generally accepted mechanism shown in Figure 6.7 for electrophilic addition reactions. 

Reaction of 2-methylpropene with CH3OH in the presence of H2SO4 catalyst yields methyl tert-butyl ether, CP OQCHT, by a mechanism analogous to that of acid-catalyzed alkene hydration. Write the mechanism, using curved arrows for each step. 

When double bonds are reduced by lithium in ammonia or amines, the mechanism is similar to that of the Birch reduction (15-14). ° The reduction with trifluoro-acetic acid and EtsSiH has an ionic mechanism, with H coming in from the acid and H from the silane. In accord with this mechanism, the reaction can be applied only to those alkenes that when protonated can form a tertiary carbocation or one stabilized in some other way (e.g., by a OR substitution). It has been shown, by the detection of CIDNP, that reduction of a-methylstyrene by hydridopenta-carbonylmanganese(I) HMn(CO)5 involves free-radical addition. ... 

There are, however, serious problems that must be overcome in the application of this reaction to synthesis. The product is a new carbocation that can react further. Repetitive addition to alkene molecules leads to polymerization. Indeed, this is the mechanism of acid-catalyzed polymerization of alkenes. There is also the possibility of rearrangement. A key requirement for adapting the reaction of carbocations with alkenes to the synthesis of small molecules is control of the reactivity of the newly formed carbocation intermediate. Synthetically useful carbocation-alkene reactions require a suitable termination step. We have already encountered one successful strategy in the reaction of alkenyl and allylic silanes and stannanes with electrophilic carbon (see Chapter 9). In those reactions, the silyl or stannyl substituent is eliminated and a stable alkene is formed. The increased reactivity of the silyl- and stannyl-substituted alkenes is also favorable to the synthetic utility of carbocation-alkene reactions because the reactants are more nucleophilic than the product alkenes. 

The technology and chemistry of isoalkane-alkene alkylation have been thoroughly reviewed for both liquid and solid acid catalysts (15) and for solid acid catalysts alone (16). The intention of this review is to provide an up-to-date overview of the alkylation reaction with both liquid and solid acids as catalysts. The focus is on the similarities and differences between the liquid acid catalysts on one hand and solid acid catalysts, especially zeolites, on the other. Thus, the reaction mechanism, the physical properties of the individual catalysts, and their consequences for successful operation are reviewed. The final section is an overview of existing processes and new process developments utilizing solid acids. 

The impact which was made by the writer s revival of the old ester mechanism in the context of polymerisations is attested by the number of polymer chemists who set about examining the validity of the theory experimentally. For example, Bywater in Canada confirmed that during the progress of a polymerisation of styrene by perchloric acid the acid could not be distilled out of the reaction mixture, but after exhaustion of the monomer it could be. This regeneration of the initiating acid after the consumption of the monomer is an often attested characteristic of pseudocationic polymerisations with many different protonic acids it is most simply explained by the decomposition of the ester to an alkene and the acid, i.e., a reversal of the initiation, when the monomer has been consumed. Enikolopian in the USSR found that the effect of pressure on the rate of polymerisation in the same system was not compatible with the propagation step involving an ion, and... 

Note This reaction involves a polar acidic mechanism, not a free-radical mechanism It is a Friedel-Crafts alkylation, with the slight variation that the requisite carbocation is made by protonation of an alkene instead of ionization of an alkyl halide. Protonation of C4 gives a C3 carbocation. Addition to Cl and fragmentation gives the product. 

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