Alkyl chlorides formation

The third, and, as far as carbohydrates are concerned, the most important type of side-reaction is that of alkyl-chloride formation or chlorination, in the sense... 

Alkyl and aryl iodides usually react with magnesium more rapidly than the corresponding bromides, and the bromides very much more rapidly than the chlorides. Aryl (as distinct from alkyl) chlorides have usually only a slow reaction with magnesium and are therefore very rarely used. With alkyl and aryl iodides in particular, however, a side reaction often occurs with the formation of a hydrocarbon and magnesium iodide ... 

The reaction of higher alkyl chlorides with tin metal at 235°C is not practical because of the thermal decomposition which occurs before the products can be removed from the reaction zone. The reaction temperature necessary for the formation of dimethyl tin dichloride can be lowered considerably by the use of certain catalysts. Quaternary ammonium and phosphonium iodides allow the reaction to proceed in good yield at 150—160°C (109). An improvement in the process involves the use of amine—stannic chloride complexes or mixtures of stannic chloride and a quaternary ammonium or phosphonium compound (110). Use of these catalysts is claimed to yield dimethyl tin dichloride containing less than 0.1 wt % trimethyl tin chloride. Catalyzed direct reactions under pressure are used commercially to manufacture dimethyl tin dichloride. 

Formation of Ethers. Very high ether yields can be obtained from alcohols and phenols with dialkyl sulfates in CH2CI2 and concentrated NaOH—tetrabutylammonium chloride at room temperature or slightly elevated temperature within 1—5 h (18). Using excess aqueous caustic—N(C4H2)4HS04, unsymmetrical aUphatic ethers can be prepared with alkyl chlorides at 25—70°C in 3—4 h (19) (see Ethers). 

In laboratory preparations, sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid have classically been used as esterification catalysts. However, formation of alkyl chlorides or dehydration, isomerization, or polymerization side reactions may result. Sulfonic acids, such as benzenesulfonic acid, toluenesulfonic acid, or methanesulfonic acid, are widely used in plant operations because of their less corrosive nature. Phosphoric acid is sometimes employed, but it leads to rather slow reactions. Soluble or supported metal salts minimize side reactions but usually require higher temperatures than strong acids. 

It has been possible to obtain thermodynamic data for the ionization of alkyl chlorides by reaction with SbFs, a Lewis acid, in the nonnucleophilic solvent S02C1F. It has been foimd that the solvation energies of the carbocations in this medium are small and do not differ much from one another, making comparison of the nonisomeric systems possible. As long as subsequent reactions of the carbocation can be avoided, the thermodynamic characteristics of this reaction provide a measure of the relative ease of carbocation formation in solution. 

The second point to explore involves carbocation stability. 2-Methyl-propene might react with H+ to form a carbocation having three alkyl substituents (a tertiary ion, 3°), or it might react to form a carbocation having one alkyl substituent (a primary ion, 1°). Since the tertiary alkyl chloride, 2-chloro-2-methylpropane, is the only product observed, formation of the tertiary cation is evidently favored over formation of the primary cation. Thermodynamic measurements show that, indeed, the stability of carbocations increases with increasing substitution so that the stability order is tertiary > secondary > primary > methyl. 

FIGURE 25. Mechanism of formation of radical anions M and cations M in frozen glasses of methyltetrahydrofuran (top) and alkyl chlorides (bottom), respectively... 

Synthetic organic chemistry applications employing alkane C-H functionalizations are now well established. For example, alkanes can be oxidized to alkyl halides and alcohols by the Shilov system employing electrophilic platinum salts. Much of the Pt(ll)/Pt(rv) alkane activation chemistry discussed earlier has been based on Shilov chemistry. The mechanism has been investigated and is thought to involve the formation of a platinum(ll) alkyl complex, possibly via a (T-complex. The Pt(ll) complex is oxidized to Pt(iv) by electron transfer, and nucleophilic attack on the Pt(iv) intermediate yields the alkyl chloride or alcohol as well as regenerates the Pt(n) catalyst. This process is catalytic in Pt(ll), although a stoichiometric Pt(rv) oxidant is often required (Scheme 6).27,27l 2711... 

These results are consistent with ionization of the cyclopropylcarbinyl chloride on the zeolite, with formation of the C4H7+ cation. Attack of the chloride ion (internal return) might then occur at the three possible positions, giving the rearranged alkyl chlorides. This hypothesis was supported by the data obtained with impregnation of the NaBr on the NaY zeolite. The observation of the three alkylbromides is consistent with a mechanism involving ionization and attack of the external bromide nucleophile. 

This reaction, generally known as solvent transfer , probably involves a solvent molecule in the solvation shell of the cation and is thus not to be regarded as termolecular. For energetic reasons it is very unlikely to involve the formation of a free cation R+ as reaction intermediate, if RC1 is any one of the alkyl chlorides which are commonly used as solvents it may involve the species P +C1R [120]. Very little is known about this type of transfer reaction [118] it is closely related to solvent co-catalysis (see p.l 12). 

With the bulky metallo-organic Pd(II) catalyst 98, on the other hand, selective formation of 99 was possible here functional groups are tolerated that would react with an Ag(I) catalyst (for example, terminal alkynes, alkyl chlorides, alkyl bromides and alkyl iodides) [59]. With l,n-diallenyl diketones (100), easily accessible by a bidirectional synthesis, up to 52-membered macrocycles (101) could be prepared in an end-group differentiating intramolecular reaction (Scheme 15.26) [60], For ring sizes lager than 12 only the E-diastereomer is formed overall yields of the macrocydes varied between 17 and 38%. Only with tethers shorter than 11 carbon atoms could the Z-diastereomer of the products be observed, a stereoisomer unknown from the intermolecular dimerization reactions of 96. 

NMR investigations of the BC13 systems with TMP and TBP indicate the formation of chelates and of alkyl chloride. 

Perdeuteriated isopropyl, t-butyl, and t-pentyl fluorides were prepared from the corresponding deuteriated alkyl chlorides (bromides) by halogen exchange. The perdeuteriated alkyl fluorides were then used in the formation of the deuteriated carbonium ions under similar conditions as those for the protium complexes. The resonance spectra were obtained at 9 2 Mc/s and the data are summarized in Table 7... 

The direct reduction of haloalkynes using either mercury or vitreous carbon as the cathode has been examined in considerable detail [80-84] one example is portrayed in Eq (77). The influence of reduction potential, current consumption, proton donor, electrode, and substrate concentration on the course of the process has been examined. Vitreous carbon electrodes are preferred, though mercury has been used in many instances. Unfortunately, these reactions suffer from the formation of diorganomercurials. While both alkyl iodides and bromides can be used, the former is generally preferred. Because of their higher reduction potential, alkyl chlorides react via a different mechanism, one involving isomerization to an allene followed by cyclization [83]. 

The treatment of alkyl chlorides with aqueous KOH leads to the formation of alcohols but In the presence of alcoholic KOH, alkenes are major products. Explain. 

Primary alkyl iodides and bromides are excellent substrates for the Victor Meyer reaction, providing a route to both substituted and unsubstituted nitroalkanes (Table i. i).63,65,70,7i formation of the corresponding nitrite ester is a side-reaction and so the nitroalkane is usually isolated by distillation when possible. The reaction of primary alkyl chlorides with silver nitrite is too slow to be synthetically useful. Secondary alkyl halides and substrates with branching on... 

The prominent role of alkyl halides in formation of carbon-carbon bonds by nucleophilic substitution was evident in Chapter 1. The most common precursors for alkyl halides are the corresponding alcohols, and a variety of procedures have been developed for this transformation. The choice of an appropriate reagent is usually dictated by the sensitivity of the alcohol and any other functional groups present in the molecule. Unsubstituted primary alcohols can be converted to bromides with hot concentrated hydrobromic acid.4 Alkyl chlorides can be prepared by reaction of primary alcohols with hydrochloric acid-zinc chloride.5 These reactions proceed by an SN2 mechanism, and elimination and rearrangements are not a problem for primary alcohols. Reactions with tertiary alcohols proceed by an SN1 mechanism so these reactions are preparatively useful only when the carbocation intermediate is unlikely to give rise to rearranged product.6 Because of the harsh conditions, these procedures are only applicable to very acid-stable molecules. 

Intramolecular methanesulfonamide anion alkylation and aldol condensation reactions have been employed for the synthesis of 2,1-benzothiazine 2,2-dioxides. For instance, Blondet and Pascal have utilized such a process for the formation of compounds 225 and 226 from ortV o-substituted aldehyde 227 and alkyl chloride 228, respectively (Scheme 30) <1994TL2911>. 

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