Alkoxides association

Quantitative Analysis of All llithium Initiator Solutions. Solutions of alkyUithium compounds frequentiy show turbidity associated with the formation of lithium alkoxides by oxidation reactions or lithium hydroxide by reaction with moisture. Although these species contribute to the total basicity of the solution as determined by simple acid titration, they do not react with allyhc and henzylic chlorides or ethylene dibromide rapidly in ether solvents. This difference is the basis for the double titration method of determining the amount of active carbon-bound lithium reagent in a given sample (55,56). Thus the amount of carbon-bound lithium is calculated from the difference between the total amount of base determined by acid titration and the amount of base remaining after the solution reacts with either benzyl chloride, allyl chloride, or ethylene dibromide. 

Much work has been done on the structure of the metal alkoxides (49). The simple alkaU alkoxides have an ionic lattice and a layer stmcture, but alkaline earth alkoxides show more covalent character. The aluminum alkoxides have been thoroughly studied and there is no doubt as to their covalent nature the lower alkoxides are associated, even in solution and in the vapor phase. The degree of association depends on the bulkiness of the alkoxy group and can range from 2 to 4, eg, the freshly distilled isopropylate is trimeric (4) ... 

The vibrational overtones and combinations of hydroxyl groups and thek associated molecular water occurring in the spectra of various gel siUca materials are summarized in Table 2 and discussed in References 3, 5, and 22. These peaks and bands found in the preparation of alkoxide-derived siUca gel monoliths are identical to those described for siUca gel powders (41). 

Even polyalkoxy-s-triazines are quite prone to nucleophilic substitution. For example, 2,4,6-trimethoxy-s-triazine (320) is rapidly hydrolyzed (20°, dilute aqueous alkali) to the anion of 4,6-dimethoxy-s-triazin-2(l )-one (331). This reaction is undoubtedly an /S jvr-4r2 reaction and not an aliphatic dealkylation. The latter type occurs with anilines at much higher temperatures (150-200°) and with chloride ion in the reaction of non-basified alcohols with cyanuric chloride at reflux temperatures. The reported dealkylation with methoxide has been shown to be hydrolysis by traces of water present. Several analogous dealkylations by alkoxide ion, reported without evidence for the formation of the dialkyl ether, are all associated with the high reactivity of the alkoxy compounds which ai e, in fact, hydrolyzed by usually tolerable traces of water. Brown ... 

Like the three-coordinate aluminum and gallium alkoxides, the corresponding thiolates, selenolates, and tellurolates require very bulky substituents at the chalcogen atom to ensure a low metal coordination number. In addition, the steric requirements associated with the preservation of the low coordination number at the metal are increased by the longer M—S and M—Se bond lengths. The ten examples of low-coordinate,... 

The problems associated with the synthesis and handling of chloropolymer were a major barrier to the development of these polymers until Allcock and Kugel found that chloropolymer could be obtained as a soluble, gel-free polymer If conversions were limited to less than fifty percent (3). Subsequent replacement of the chlorines with metal alkoxides or aryloxldes yielded organo-substituted polyphosphazenes which were both thermally and hydrolytically stable (4). 

The conclusions derived from the preceding experiments may be summarized with the aid of the reaction mechanism illustrated in Scheme II. The ester undergoes a rapid, reversible association with the cycloamylose, C—OH. An alkoxide ion derived from a secondary hydroxyl group of the cycloamylose may then react with an included ester molecule to liberate a phenolate ion and produce an acylated cycloamylose. This reaction is characterized by a rate constant, jfc2(lim), the maximal rate constant for the appearance of the phenolate ion from the fully complexed ester in the pH range where the cycloamylose is completely ionized. Limiting rates are seldom achieved, however, because of the high pK of cycloamylose. 

The second approach (Equation(3)) has a number of advantages over the first one (Equation(2)). The alkyl complexes are more reactive than the related alkoxides, the latter being for group 4 elements generally associated into dimers or trimers 48 also, reaction (2) liberates an alcohol which may further react with the surface of silica, whereas the alkane ( Equation(3)) is inert. It was demonstrated by various spectroscopic techniques and elemental analysis that with a silica dehydroxylated at 500 °C under vacuum, the stoichiometry of reaction (3) corresponds to n = 1.45,46 Moreover, a better control of the surface reaction was achieved with the procedure represented in Equation(3). 

Association of sodium hydride and alkali alkoxides with nickel salts has been reported to be effective in many hydrogenations and selective reductions of organic halides (211, 221). 

The solubility of normal lithium alkoxides in hydrocarbon solvents is much lower than that of the branched ones. This can be attributed to formation of insoluble associated species in the case of the normal alkoxides. The solubility of lithium diaUcylamides is lower than that of the analogous alkoxides . 

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