Alkyl halides solvent effects

A carbonium ion is formed by proton-transfer from the complex acid to the olefin. The polymerisation is initiated by the carbonium ion, and the growing end of the polymer consists of an ion-pair. For reactions in alkyl halide solvents the situation was less clear. Early experiments [8] suggested that the addition of water had little or no effect. This prompted Pepper [8] to suggest that the alkyl halide solvent itself was acting as co-catalyst ... 

Subsequent to his discovery that alkylaluminum compounds in conjunction with suitable alkyl halides are effective initiator systems for synthesizing high molecular weight polyisobutylene (/), Kennedy in 1970 (6) studied the reaction between alkyl and aryl halides with tri-methylaluminum using methyl chloride solvent at —78° C. The results... 

Nylons 46, 6, 66, 610, 11 and 12 are polar crystalline materials with exceptionally good resistance to hydrocarbons. Esters, alkyl halides, and glycols have little effect. Alcohols generally have some swelling action and may in fact dissolve some copolymers (e.g. nylon 66/610/6). There are few solvents for the nylons, of which the most common are formic acid, glacial acetic acid, phenols and cresols. 

Various sources of fluoride ion have been investigated, of which highly nucleophilic tetraalkylammonium fluorides ate the most effective Thuf, fluoro alkyl halides and N (fluoroalkyl)amines are efficiently synthesized by treatment of the corresponding trifluoromethanesulfonic esters with tetrabutylammonium fluoride trihydrate in aprotic solvents [5fl] (equation 34) The displacement reactions proceed quantitatively at room temperature within seconds, but tail with hydrogen fluoride-pyridine and give reasonable yields only with hydrogen fluo ride-alkylamine reagents... 

The dynamics of carbon-halogen bond reductive cleavage in alkyl halides was studied by MP3 ab initio calculations, using pseudopotentials for the halogens and semidiffuse functions for the heavy atoms [104], The effect of solvent was treated by means of the ellipsoidal cavity dielectric continuum model. Both a concerted (i.e., a one-step) and a stepwise mechanism (in which an anion radical is formed at first) were... 

In chemistry, the term complex can mean many things. The belief, which I shared, that complexes of the metal halides with monomers or with alkyl halides are important in CP induced me to undertake several difficult but fruitful investigations. Complexes between RX and MtXn were well known [see References in [24]] and they were being studied at about that time by several workers, such as H. C. Brown at Purdue University with regard to the A1 halides and Fairbrother at Manchester University was concerned with similar systems and with the ionisation of trityl halides by metal halides. I was concerned with TiCl4, my then favourite catalyst , and its interaction with the alkyl chlorides which were used as solvents for CP. The theory first suggested by Pepper [46] and adopted by us was that if a CP was initiated in an alkyl chloride RC1, and there was no evident effect of water, then the initiation was most likely akin to a Friedel-Crafts alkylation. This was represented by the equations (7) and (8) ... 

The DPs obtained in cationic polymerizations are affected not only by the direct effect of the polarity of the solvent on the rate constants, but also by its effect on the degree of dissociation of the ion-pairs and, hence, on the relative abundance of free ions and ion-pairs, and thus the relative importance of unimolecular and bimolecular chain-breaking reactions between ions of opposite charge (see Section 6). Furthermore, in addition to polarity effects the chain-transfer activity of alkyl halide and aromatic solvents has a quite distinct effect on the DP. The smaller the propagation rate constant, the more important will these effects be. 

Rate constants and products have been reported for solvolysis of benzhydryl chloride and /7-methoxybenzyl chloride in 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE)-water and-ethanol, along with additional kinetic data for solvolysis of r-butyl and other alkyl halides in 97% TFE and 97% hexafluoropropan-2-ol. The results are discussed in terms of solvent ionizing power Y and nucleophilicity N, and contributions from other solvation effects are considered. Comparisons with other 3 nI reactions show that the solvolyses of benzhydryl chloride in TFE mixtures are unexpectedly fast an additional solvation effect influences solvolysis leading to delocalized cations. 

DMSO and /V, A- dime th y I fo nn a in i d c (DMF) are particularly effective in enhancing the reactivity of enolate ions, as Table 1.2 shows. Both of these compounds belong to the polar aprotic class of solvents. Other members of this class that are used as solvents in reactions between carbanions and alkyl halides include N-mcthyI pyrro I i donc (NMP) and hexamethylphosphoric triamide (HMPA). Polar aprotic solvents, as their name implies, are materials which have high dielectric constants but which lack hydroxyl groups or other... 

One of the major advantages of oxonium salts is that alkylations can be effected under reaction conditions that are generally much milder than those necessary with the more conventional alkyl halides or sulfonates. Triethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate, for example, has usually been employed at room temperature in dichloromethane or dichloroethane solution. Occasionally chloroform16-22 or no solvent at all4-20 is used. Difficult alkylations can be effected in refluxing dichloroethane.29 30 The less soluble trimethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate has been used as a suspension in dichloromethane or dichloroethane, or as a solution in nitromethane or liquid sulfur dioxide. Reports of alkylations in water23 and trifluoroacetic acid21 have also appeared. Direct fusion with trimethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate has succeeded in cases where other conditions have failed.25-30... 

A more familiar example is Sn2 addition of an anionic nucleophile to an alkyl halide. In the gas phase, this occurs without activation energy, and the known barrier for the process in solution is a solvent effect (see discussion in Chapter 6). Finally, reactions of electron-deficient species, including transition-metal complexes, often occur with little or no energy barrier. Processes as hydroboration and 3-hydride elimination are likely candidates. 

Compared to many other types of synthetic intermediates, acetylides, RC=CM (M = Li, Na, K), show a moderate reactivity towards alkyl halides in the usual organic solvents E O and THF and in liquid ammonia [2], In this respect acetylides resemble enolates >C=COM. In the absence of dipolar aprodc co-solvents (DMSO or HMPT), lithium alkynylides, RC=CLi, react sluggishly in Et O or THF with most alkyl halides [2]. In liquid ammonia the alkylation of alkali acetylides with the lower (up to C-5) alkyl bromides or iodides proceeds at a satisfactory rate [5]. A certain amount of DMSO added to the reaction mixture increases the solubility of halides with a longer carbon chain. A second effect of the addition of this co-solvent is that the temperature of the reaction mixture can gradually rise as more ammonia evaporates. In this way, the reaction can proceed gradually over the range from -33 C (b.p. NH3) to room temperature. Specific alkylation on the acetylenic carbon takes place if an equivalent amount of an alkyl halide is added to dilithiated propargvl alcohol in liquid ammonia... 

In view of the limited stability of the "carbenoid" LiCsCCP Cl, functionalization reactions have to be carried out a temperatures Lhat are as low as possible. Silylations of meiallated acetylenes are usually rather slow in Et20 at temperatures below -20 C. A small amount of HMPT appears to cause a considerable enhancement of the rates of silylatton with tri-methylchlorosilane. It is not known whether this effect is only due 10 the typical properties of HMPT as a dipolar aprotic solvent (also shown in alkylation with alkyl halides) or whether it is a result of active participation of this solvent in the reaction as depicted in the following equations ... 

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