Alkyl halides reactivity

The order of alkyl halide reactivity in nucleophilic substitutions is the same as their order m eliminations Iodine has the weakest bond to carbon and iodide is the best leaving group Alkyl iodides are several times more reactive than alkyl bromides and from 50 to 100 times more reactive than alkyl chlorides Fluorine has the strongest bond to car bon and fluonde is the poorest leaving group Alkyl fluorides are rarely used as sub states m nucleophilic substitution because they are several thousand times less reactive than alkyl chlorides... 

Clearly the steric crowding that influences reaction rates in 8 2 processes plays no role in Stvfl reactions The order of alkyl halide reactivity in 8 1 reactions is the same as the order of carbocation stability the more stable the carbocation the more reactive the alkyl halide... 

The most important point about the alkyl halide reactivities in triphase catalysis is that the reactions which have the highest intrinsic rates are the most likely to be limited by intraparticle diffusion. The cyanide ion reactions which showed the greatest particle size and cross-linking dependence with 1-bromooctane had half-lives of 0.5 to 2 h and with benzyl bromide had half-lives of 0.13 to 0.75 h. The reactions of 1-bromooctane and of benzyl chloride which were insensitive to particle size and cross-linking had half-lives of 14 h and 3 h respectively. Practical triphase liquid/ liquid/solid catalysis with polystyrene-bound onium ions has intraparticle diffusional limitations. 

The polar C—X bond containing an electrophilic carbon makes alkyl halides reactive towards nucleophiles and bases (7.5). 

The Alkyl Halides. Ethyl bromide and iodide (see below) are typical alkyl halides. Compounds of this class are of very great importance in synthetic work, owing to the reactivity of the halogen atom. This is illustrated by the following reactions ... 

The mixed aliphatic - aromatic ethers are somewhat more reactive in addition to cleavage by strong hydriodio acid and also by constant b.p. hydrobromio acid in acetic acid solution into phenols and alkyl halides, they may be bromi-nated, nitrated and converted into sulphonamides (Section IV,106,2). 

Alkyl halides and sulfonates are the most frequently used alkylating acceptor synthons. The carbonyl group is used as the classical a -synthon. O-Silylated hemithioacetals (T.H. Chan, 1976) and fomic acid orthoesters are examples for less common a -synthons. In most synthetic reactions carbon atoms with a partial positive charge (= positively polarized carbon) are involved. More reactive, "free carbocations as occurring in Friedel-Crafts type alkylations and acylations are of comparably limited synthetic value, because they tend to react non-selectively. 

The carbonylation of some alkyl halides such as iodocyclohexane (911) can be carried out under neutral conditions in the presence of N,N,N.N-tetre,-methylurea (TMU), which is a neutral compound, but catches generated hydrogen halide. Molecular sieves (MS-4A) are used for the same pur-pose[768]. Very reactive ethyl 3-iodobutyrate (912) is carbonylated to give ethyl methylsuccinate (913) in the presence of TMU. The expected elimination of HI to form crotonate, followed by carbonylation, does not occur. 

The reactivity of sulfathiazoles has been reviewed (65). Methylation in alkaline solution with dimethyl sulfate gives only the ring methylated derivative (85). Mixtures of products are obtained with diazomethane as alkylating agent (see p. 37). Other alkyl halides in aqueous alkali lead also to ring-alkylated products (85. 251, 650. 669-671). 

The quatemization of the nitrogen atom of the thiazole ring (the Menschutkin s reaction) by alkyl halide or methyl tosylate can be used to measure the reactivity of this atom and thus to evaluate steric and electronic effects of ring substituents. 

Chemical reactivity and functional group transformations involving the preparation of alkyl halides from alcohols and from alkanes are the mam themes of this chapter Although the conversions of an alcohol or an alkane to an alkyl halide are both classi tied as substitutions they proceed by very different mechanisms... 

The rate at which alcohols are converted to alkyl halides depends on the rate of carbocation formation tertiary alcohols are most reactive primary alcohols and methanol are least reactive... 

The rate of elimination depends on the halogen the reactivity of alkyl halides increasing with decreasing strength of the carbon-halogen bond... 

Dehydrohalogenation of alkyl halides (Sections 5 14-5 16) Strong bases cause a proton and a halide to be lost from adjacent carbons of an alkyl halide to yield an alkene Regioselectivity is in accord with the Zaitsev rule The order of halide reactivity is I > Br > Cl > F A concerted E2 reaction pathway is followed carbocations are not involved and rearrangements do not occur An anti coplanar arrangement of the proton being removed and the halide being lost characterizes the transition state... 

As we have seen the nucleophile attacks the substrate m the rate determining step of the Sn2 mechanism it therefore follows that the rate of substitution may vary from nucleophile to nucleophile Just as some alkyl halides are more reactive than others some nucleophiles are more reactive than others Nucleophilic strength or nucleophilicity, is a measure of how fast a Lewis base displaces a leaving group from a suitable substrate By measuring the rate at which various Lewis bases react with methyl iodide m methanol a list of then nucleophihcities relative to methanol as the standard nucleophile has been compiled It is presented m Table 8 4... 

The relative reactivity of alkyl halides m 8 1 reactions is exactly the opposite of 8 2... 

Cyclohexyl bromide is less reactive than noncychc secondary alkyl halides toward 8 2 sub stitution Construct a molecular model of cyclohexyl bromide and suggest a reason for its low reactivity... 

Carbocations usually generated from an alkyl halide and aluminum chloride attack the aromatic ring to yield alkylbenzenes The arene must be at least as reactive as a halobenzene Carbocation rearrangements can occur especially with primary alkyl hal ides... 

The order of halide reactivity is I > Br > Cl > F and alkyl halides are more reac tive than aryl and vinyl halides Indeed aryl and vinyl chlorides do not form Grignard reagents m diethyl ether When more vigorous reaction conditions are required tetrahy drofuran (THF) is used as the solvent... 

The most frequently used organocuprates are those m which the alkyl group is pri mary Steric hindrance makes secondary and tertiary dialkylcuprates less reactive and they tend to decompose before they react with the alkyl halide The reaction of cuprate reagents with alkyl halides follows the usual 8 2 order CH3 > primary > secondary > tertiary and I > Br > Cl > F p Toluenesulfonates are somewhat more reactive than halides Because the alkyl halide and dialkylcuprate reagent should both be primary m order to produce satisfactory yields of coupled products the reaction is limited to the formation of RCH2—CH2R and RCH2—CH3 bonds m alkanes... 

Organozmc reagents are not nearly as reactive toward aldehydes and ketones as Grig nard reagents and organolithium compounds but are intermediates m certain reactions of alkyl halides... 

In media such as water and alcohols fluoride ion is strongly solvated by hydro gen bonding and is neither very basic nor very nucleophilic On the other hand the poorly solvated or naked fluoride 10ns that are present when potassium fluoride dis solves m benzene m the presence of a crown ether are better able to express their anionic reactivity Thus alkyl halides react with potassium fluoride m benzene containing 18 crown 6 thereby providing a method for the preparation of otherwise difficultly acces sible alkyl fluorides... 

The critical carbon-carbon bond forming step requires nucleophilic substitution on an alkyl halide by an ester enolate Methyl halides are more reactive than... 

Because of its high reactivity toward nucleophilic substitution methyl iodide is the alkyl halide most often used to prepare quaternary ammonium salts... 

The value of alkyl halides as starting materials for the preparation of a variety of organic functional groups has been stressed many times In our earlier discussions we noted that aryl halides are normally much less reactive than alkyl halides m reactions that involve carbon-halogen bond cleavage In the present chapter you will see that aryl halides can exhibit their own patterns of chemical reactivity and that these reac tions are novel useful and mechanistically interesting... 

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