Alkyl halides in synthesis

Silver cyanide, reaction with alkyl halides in synthesis of iso-cyamdes, 46, 77... 

Silicon tetraisothiocyanate, reaction with 2,6-dimethylaniline to yield 2,6-diraethylphenyl thiourea, 46, 70 Silver cyanide, reaction with alkyl halides in synthesis of isocyanides, 46, 77... 

Quaternary ammonium compounds (quats) are prepared - by moderate heating of the amine and the alkyl halide in a suitable solvent - as the chlorides or the bromides. Subsequently conversion to the hydroxides may be carried out. Major applications of the quat chlorides are as fabric softeners and as starch cationizing agent. Several bio-active compounds (agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals) possess the quat-structure. Important applications of quat bromides are in phase transfer catalysis and in zeolite synthesis. 

B. By Hydrolysis Reactions.—Details have appeared of the synthesis of dibenzophosphorin oxides (15) from 5-alkyldibenzophospholes, by reaction with methyl propiolate in the presence of water, and of confirmatory syntheses from phosphinic acid chlorides, as shown below. Evidence for the suggested mechanism of the ring-expansion reaction is presented. The hydrolysis of enamine phosphine oxides is an efficient, although somewhat indirect, method for the preparation of j8-ketoalkylphosphine oxides (16) [see Section 3(iii), for the preparation of enamine oxides]. Reasonable yields (48—66%) of trialkylphosphine oxides (17) have been obtained by the alkaline hydrolysis of the products from the pyrolysis at 220 °C of red phosphorus with alkyl halides, in the presence of iodine. 

Alternatively, the Sn2 nucleophilic substitution reaction between alcohols (phenols) and organic halides under basic conditions is the classical Williamson ether synthesis. Recently, it was found that water-soluble calix[n]arenes (n = 4, 6, 8) containing trimethylammonium groups on the upper rim (e.g., calix[4]arene 5.2) were inverse phase-transfer catalysts for alkylation of alcohols and phenols with alkyl halides in aqueous NaOH solution to give the corresponding alkylated products in good-to-high yields.56... 

Imidazolium salts that can be prepared by the first procedure, the alkylation of imidazole, are easy to obtain and often used for metal complex synthesis. Potassium imidazolide is reacted with the first equivalent of alkyl halide in toluene to give the 1-alkylimidazole. Subsequent alkylation in 3-position is achieved by addition of another equivalent of alkyl halide [Eq. (2)]. " A variant of this approach employs commercially available A-trimethylsilyl imidazole with 2 equiv of an alkyl chloride, under elimination of volatile MesSiCl. The drawback of these simple routes is the fact that only primary alkyl halides can be reacted in satisfactory yields because secondary and tertiary alkyl halides give substantial amounts of elimination by-products. 

The reaction of alkyl halides with silver nitrate constitutes an extremely useful method for the synthesis of high purity nitrate esters on a laboratory scale. ° The driving force for these reactions is the formation of the insoluble silver halide. Reactions have been conducted under homogenous and heterogeneous conditions. For the latter a solution of the alkyl halide in an inert solvent like benzene or ether is stirred with finely powdered silver nitrate. However, this method has been outdated and reactions are now commonly conducted under homogeneous conditions using acetonitrile as solvent. 

Following these results with the salen complex, Bedford reported on the synthesis of a series of Fe(iii)-salen-type complexes and the use of one of them, 75 (Figure 14), for the coupling of aryl Grignard reagents with primary and secondary alkyl halides, in Et20 at 45 Fiirstner subsequently reported on the use of the tetrakis(ethylene)fer-... 

Reaction XLIII. (b) Formation of Ethyl Esters by the Action of Ethyl Chloroformate on Magnesium Alkyl Halide in Dry Ethereal Solution (Grignard).—This is another mode of application of the Grignard reaction to the synthesis of esters. It is more direct than the previous method. 

A much more general method for acyl silane synthesis involving silyl diazo intermediates is illustrated in Scheme 1688. The lithiated derivative of trimethylsilyl diazomethane reacts smoothly with alkyl halides in THF solution to give a-trimethylsilyl diazoalkanes in good yields. Oxidative cleavage of the diazo moiety is effected using 3-chloroperbenzoic acid in benzene solution, to give access to a wide variety of acyl silanes in yields of up to 71%. A phosphate buffer (pH 7.6) is used to prevent side reactions. Aromatic acyl silanes clearly cannot be prepared by this chemistry since an aromatic nucleophilic substitution reaction would be required. 

Aresta and Quaranta focused on the direct synthesis of carbamate esters by the reaction of aliphatic primary amines with alkyl halides in the presence of C02. Under the conditions used (293-353 K 0.1 MPa C02 solvent = tetrahydrofuran (THF), MeOH, PhCH3/CH2Cl2 mixtures), the formation of carbamate ester was... 

Scheme 6.5 Direct synthesis of carbamate esters from primary amines, C02, and alkyl halides in the presence of 18-crown-6-ether.

With respect to the synthesis from amines, C02 and alkyl halides, the synthesis of carbamates from amines, C02 and alcohols (Equation 6.10) is not only a phosgene-free, but also a halogen-free process. Moreover, water forms as the only reaction coproduct. Whilst these features make the route very attractive from the point of view of environmental sustainability, unfortunately the reaction suffers from both thermodynamic and kinetics limitations. Kinetic impediments make necessary the use of a suitable catalyst which, moreover, must be water-tolerant in order to avoid deactivation by cogenerated H20. Several strategies have been explored to overcome these restraints, based mainly on the use of alcohols in a dehydrated form (for instance, as ortho esters or ortho carbonates) [63], or on the use of dehydrating agents [64, 65]. 

In particular, it is not only the cinchona alkaloids that are suitable chiral sources for asymmetric organocatalysis [6], but also the corresponding ammonium salts. Indeed, the latter are particularly useful for chiral PTCs because (1) both pseudo enantiomers of the starting amines are inexpensive and available commercially (2) various quaternary ammonium salts can be easily prepared by the use of alkyl halides in a single step and (3) the olefin and hydroxyl functions are beneficial for further modification of the catalyst. In this chapter, the details of recent progress on asymmetric phase-transfer catalysis are described, with special focus on cinchona-derived ammonium salts, except for asymmetric alkylation in a-amino acid synthesis. 

Both alkyl groups in benzyl ethyl ether are primary, thus either may come from the alkyl halide in a Williamson ether synthesis. The two routes to benzyl ethyl ether are... 

The necessary alkyl halide in this synthesis is l-bromo-2-methylbutane. 

Attention has been directed to the development of selective procedures for electrophilic alkylation of 5-alkylte-trazole derivatives with an active methylene group in the a-position at C-5. Alkylation of Schiff base 340 was effected by treating an equimolar mixture of compound 340 and an alkyl halide in THF with 1 equiv of NaHMDS (—78 °C to room temperature). The highly versatile nature of this procedure allowed a facile synthesis of monoalkylated products 341 with alkyl, allyl, and benzyl halides in good yields (Equation 61) <1998TL3367>. 

Anyway, it is doubtful whether Letts and Collie thought about zinc as the catalyst of the reaction of tin with alkyl halides (in spite of their demonstration) since this fact was established considerably later. The authors also found that the reaction of EtI with a Sn—Zn alloy (33-50%) containing 5% of Cu gave a maximum yield of E Sn. Thus, long before Rochows s finding the catalytic influence of copper in the direct synthesis of organometallic compounds was observed636. 

Ethers For the synthesis of ether, the Williamson ether synthesis is considered as the best method. It involves the SN2 reaction between a metal alkoxide and a primary alkyl halide or tosylate. The alkoxide needed for the reaction is obtained by treating an alcohol with a strong base like sodium hydride. An alternative procedure is to treat the alcohol directly with the alkyl halide in the presence of silver oxide, thus avoiding the need to prepare the alkoxide beforehand. 

The overall reaction involves replacing the halogen atom of the alkyl halide with an NH, unit. Another method is the Gabriel synthesis of amines. This involves treating phthalimide with KOH to abstract the N-H proton. The N-H proton of phthalimide is more acidic (pK9) than the N-H proton of an amide since the anion formed can be stabilised by resonance with both neighbouring carbonyl groups. The phthalimide ion can then be alkylated by treating it with an alkyl halide in nucleophilic substitution. 

The synthesis of the cation is typically performed by alkylation of an amine, phosphine or sulfide, most commonly using an alkyl halide [ ]. In most cases the reaction is carried out with chloro-, bromo- and iodoalkanes as readily available alkylating reagents, with the reaction conditions becoming more gentle changing from chloride to bromide to iodide, as can be expected for nucleophilic substitution... 

Williamson synthesis of phenyl alkyl and dialkyl ethers. Phenols react with alkyl halides in 20% aqueous NaOH containing 1 equiv. of this surfactant at 80° to form phenolic ethers in 85-97% yield. There is no reaction in the absence of CTAB. This procedure is not useful for preparation of dialkyl ethers from alcohols and alkyl halides. Instead, the alkyl chloride, alcohol, a trace of water, and CTAB are heated in THF at 70° with NaOH (2 equiv.). 

The limited solubility of long-chain alkyl halides in liquid ammonia makes it advantageous to evaporate the ammonia after the disodium telluride has formed and to dissolve the residue in an appropriate organic solvent. Ethanolic solutions of disodium telluride that had been prepared in liquid ammonia were used for the synthesis of the following heterocyclic tellurium compounds1 ... 

Other methods are based on the reactions used in organic synthesis for the preparation of esters, which are modified for the purpose of GC. For example, esterification with an alkyl halide in the presence of potassium carbonate has been used (Scheme 4.6). 

Diethyl acetamidomalonate, CH3C0NHCH(C02Et)2 Reacts with alkyl halides in a common method of a-amino acid synthesis (Section 26.3). 

A recent, efficient, one-pot benzimidazole synthesis treats an o-nitroaniline with an allyl, benzyl or alkyl halide in the presence of sodium hydride as a base. The products are l-alkyloxy-2-alkyl-, l-benzyloxy-2-aryl- and l-al]yloxy-2-vinylbenzimidazoles in 75-98% yields. This novel sequence combines jV-alkylation, helerocyclization and 0-alkylations in the reaction vessel [137, 138]. 

Problem 17.4 (a) On what basis could you have predicted that methyl sulfate would be a good methylating agent in reactions like those presented above (Hint What is the leaving group See Sec. 14.6.) fb) Can you suggest another class of compounds that might serve in place of alkyl halides in the Williamson synthesis ... 

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