Alkyl halide phosphonium salts from

If we view the Wittig reaction from an alkyl halide starting material (alkyl halide phosphonium salt phosphorus ylid alkene), the halogen-bearing carbon of an alkyl halide must contain at least one hydrogen as in 59 (for deprotonation at the phosphonium salt stage). 

Wittig reactions are versatile and useful for preparing alkenes, under mild conditions, where the position of the double bond is known unambiguously. The reaction involves the facile formation of a phosphonium salt from an alkyl halide and a phosphine. In the presence of base this loses HX to form an ylide (Scheme 1.15). This highly polar ylide reacts with a carbonyl compound to give an alkene and a stoichiometric amount of a phosphine oxide, usually triphenylphosphine oxide. 

The reaction of epoxides with C02 affords either CCs or polymers [119], and many reports have been made [120-125] and different active catalysts described [126-130] such as alkyl ammonium-, phosphonium-salts and alkali metal halides, in this respect. The main drawbacks here are the need for a high catalyst concentration, a high pressure (5 MPa of C02), and a temperature ranging from 370 to 400 K. The recovery of the catalysts for reuse is also a key issue, and in order to simplify the recovery process various hybrid systems have been developed, an example being that prepared by coupling 3-(triethoxysilyl)propyltriphenylphosphonium bromide with mesoporous silica [131]. In this case, the reaction was carried out in the absence of solvent, under very mild conditions (1 MPa, 263 K, 1 mol% loading of catalyst, 6h), such that the hybrid catalyst could be recovered and recycled several times. 

Show a preparation of this phosphonium salt from an alkyl halide ... 

Ethylene oxide or 1,2-epoxybutane may also be used for the synthesis of ylides. The resulting ylide is in equilibrium with its conjugated salt (equation 15). The use of ethylene oxide offers some advantages over more conventional bases used in Wittig reactions. The application is simple since ylides and most often also phosphonium salts (from phosphine and alkyl halide) need not to be prepared separately. The reaction medium is neutral, so that base-induced side reactions fail to appear. The method is however less applicable to weakly acid phosphonium salts, since deprotonation requires high temperatures (150 C). 

Many alkenes can be synthesized by two different Wittig reactions (as in the previous problem). The ones shown here form the phosphonium salt from the less hindered alkyl halide. 

In the Wittig reaction an aldehyde or ketone is treated with a phosphorus ylid (also called a phosphorane) to give an alkene. Phosphorus ylids are usually prepared by treatment of a phosphonium salt with a base, and phosphonium salts are usually prepared from the phosphine and an alkyl halide (10-44) ... 

Trippett and Stewart have shown that the phosphonium salts (11) derived from the reaction of phenyl di-t-butylphosphinite (12) with alkyl halides are highly resistant to hydrolysis and they suggest that this is due to the reluctance of phosphorus to accommodate two t-butyl groups in a trigonal-bipyramidal intermediate. 

Dielectric relaxation studies of phosphorylated polyethers from — 180° to 200 °C have been used to study their structures. The magnitude of the dielectric constants of high-phosphonic-acid-content polymers is much larger than predicted, which suggests a microphase-separated structure. Conductance studies on some aryl- and alkyl-phosphonium salts showed a higher conductance for the halides than for the nitrate. ... 

This is an extremely useful reaction for the synthesis of alkenes. It involves the addition of a phosphonium ylid, e.g. (136), also known as a phosphorane, to the carbonyl group of an aldehyde or ketone the ylid is indeed a carbanion having an adjacent hetero atom. Such species are generated by the reaction of an alkyl halide, RR CHX (137), on a trialkyl- or triaryl-phosphine (138)—very often Ph3P—to yield a phosphonium salt (139), followed by abstraction of a proton from it by a very strong base, e.g. PhLi ... 

Polymeric phosphonium salt-bound carboxylate, benzenesulphinate and phenoxide anions have been used in nucleophilic substitution reactions for the synthesis of carboxylic acid esters, sulphones and C/O alkylation of phenols from alkyl halides. The polymeric reagent seems to increase the nucleophilicity of the anions376 and the yields are higher than those for corresponding polymer phase-transfer catalysis (reaction 273). 

The phosphonium salts derived from an o -hydroxybenzyl halide and triphenylphosphine react with a variety of a-halogenated carbonyl compounds in the presence of sodium methoxide to yield chromenes. The speed of the alkylation and the simplicity of the work-up make this an attractive route to 2- and 3-substituted chromenes. 

Preparation of alkyldiphenylphosphine oxides. General procedure from phospho-nium salts. Triphenyl phosphine is heated under reflux with an excess of alkyl halide. The precipitated phosphonium salt is filtered off, washed well with ether, and then heated with 30 per cent w/w aqueous sodium hydroxide (c. 4 ml/g) until all the benzene has distilled out. The mixture is cooled and extracted with dichloromethane, and the extracts are dried (magnesium sulphate) and evaporated to dryness. In this way ethyldiphenylphosphine oxide is obtained from triphenyl phosphine (65.6 g, 0.25 mol) and iodoethane (42.9 g, 0.275 mol) in dry toluene (250 ml) to give first the phosphonium salt (102.4 g, 97.9%) after 3.5 hours, from which the phosphine oxide is obtained as needles (53.2 g, 92.5%), m.p. 123-124 °C (from ethyl acetate) p.m.r. 5 (CDC13, TMS) 1.9-13 (m, 10H, Ph2PO), 2.3 (m, 2H, CH2) and 1.2 (dt, 3H, JHm, = 7 Hz, JMeP = 17 Hz, Me). 

The phosphorus-stabilized carbanion is an ylide (pronounced ilL-id )—a molecule that bears no overall charge but has a negatively charged carbon atom bonded to a positively charged heteroatom. Phosphorus ylides are prepared from tri-phenylphosphine and alkyl halides in a two-step process. The first step is nucleophilic attack by triphenylphosphine on an unhindered (usually primary) alkyl halide. The product is an alkyltriphenylphosphonium salt. The phosphonium salt is treated with a strong base (usually butyllithium) to abstract a proton from the carbon atom bonded to phosphorus. 

Phosphorus ylides are prepared from phosphonium salts by deprotonating them with a strong base. The method consists of the alkylation of triphenylphosphine with alkyl halide. The resulting phosphonium salt is treated with a strong base (phenyUithium or n-butyllithium) to give a phosphorus ylide. The simplest ylide is methylenetriphenylphos-phorane (3.50), which is prepared by the abstraction of a proton from methyltriphenylphos-phonium iodide. 

A publication discussing the uses of reactive arsonium ylides for the stereospecific preparation of epoxides draws attention to the fact that arsonium salts are less readily prepared than phosphonium salts because of the poorer nucleophilicity of arsenic compared to phosphorus, and suggests methods for obtaining them. Primary salts were made from alkyl triflates, while a-branched salts were prepared from alkyldiphenylarsines, obtained from iodo compounds as, for example, in equation 23. Reaction of alkyl halides with arsines to form arsonium salts is also promoted by the presence of silver tetra-fluoroborate . 

The reaction of ylides with saturated aliphatic alkyl halides (like methyl iodide, ethyl iodide etc.) usually stops at the stage of the alkylated salt because the +/ effect of the aliphatic substituent causes the resulting salt to be a weaker acid than the conjugated salt of the original ylide (which would result in the course of a transylidation reaction). However since partial transylidation also occurs between al-kylidenephosphoranes and phosphonium salts with equal or not very different base and acid strength, mixtures may result from Ae reaction with saturated aliphatic alkyl halides. At this point it should be mentioned that the synthesis of dialkylated ylides via the salt method is also difficult since the preparation of the necessary phosphonium salt is accompanied by -elimination. The successful synthesis of dialkylated ylides may be achieved by fluoride ion induced desilylation of a-trimethylsilylphosphonium salts (see equation 18). There is no doubt about the course of ylide alkylation in cases where the inductive effect of the new substituent leads to complete transylidation (e.g. equation 54). ... 

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