Alkyl nitrate ester

Acyl nitrates react with low molecular weight aliphatic alcohols to give the alkyl nitrate ester and the corresponding carboxylic acid. " ... 

Unlike the direct nitration of amines under acidic conditions, nucleophilic nitration is an excellent route to both primary and secondary nitramines. In these reactions the amine or the conjugate base of the amine is used to attack a source of NO2. This source may be a nitrogen oxide, nitronium salt, cyanohydrin nitrate, alkyl nitrate ester or any other similar source of nitronium ion. 

Ordinarily, alkyl nitrate esters will not nitrate amines under neutral conditions. However, Schmitt, Bedford and Bottaro have reported the use of some novel electron-deficient nitrate esters for the direct At-nitration of secondary amines. The most useful of these is 2-(trifluoromethyl)-2-propyl nitrate, which nitrates a range of aliphatic secondary amines to the corresponding nitramines in good to excellent yields. Nitrosamine formation is insignificant in these reactions. 2-(Trifluoromethyl)-2-propyl nitrate cannot be used for the nitration of primary amines, or secondary amines containing ethylenediamine functionality like that in piperazine. Its use is limited with highly hindered amines or amines of diminished nucleophilicity due to inductive or steric effects. 

For alkyl nitrate esters, the relationship can be expressed as the following equation. 

Alkyl nitrites in a liquid phase readily undergo hydrolysis, etherification, and other equilibrium reactions in terms of the following scheme yielding alcohols, alkyl nitrate, esters of organic acids, ethers and olefins [4] ... 

Although the term ester used without a modifier is normally taken to mean an ester of a carboxylic acid alcohols can react with inorganic acids m a process similar to the Fis cher esterification The products are esters of inorganic acids For example alkyl nitrates are esters formed by the reaction of alcohols with nitric acid... 

Formation of esters of inorganic acids (Section 15 9) Alkyl nitrates dialkyl sulfates trialkyl phos phites and trialkyl phosphates are examples of alkyl esters of inor game acids In some cases these compounds are prepared by the direct reaction of an alcohol and the inorganic acid... 

The hydroxyl groups on glycols undergo the usual alcohol chemistry giving a wide variety of possible derivatives. Hydroxyls can be converted to aldehydes, alkyl hahdes, amides, amines, a2ides, carboxyUc acids, ethers, mercaptans, nitrate esters, nitriles, nitrite esters, organic esters, peroxides, phosphate esters, and sulfate esters (6,7). 

Mixtures of metal nitrates with alkyl esters may explode, owing to formation of alkyl nitrates. Mixtures of a nitrate with phosphorus, tin(II) chloride or other reducing agents (i.e. redox combinations) may react explosively. 

Feuer and co-workers ° conducted extensive studies into alkaline nitration with nitrate esters, exploring the effect of base, time, stoichiometry, concentration, solvent, and temperature on yields and purity. Reactions are generally successful when the substrate a-proton acidity is in the 18-25 p A a range. Alkoxide bases derived from simple primary and secondary aliphatic alcohols are generally not considered compatible in reactions using alkyl nitrates. Optimum conditions for many of these reactions use potassium tert-butoxide and amyl nitrate in THF at —30 °C, although in many cases potassium amide in liquid ammonia at —33 °C works equally well. 

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. 

The scope of these reactions is illustrated by the variety of functionalized nitrate esters which can be prepared (Table 3.1). In general, primary and secondary alkyl iodides and bromides... 

Synthesis of nitrate esters from the reaction of alkyl halides with silver nitrate... 

McKillop and Ford synthesized a range of primary and secondary alkyl nitrates in excellent yields by treating alkyl bromides with mercury (I) nitrate in 1,2-dimethoxyethane at reflux (Equation 3.9). This method has been used to synthesize substituted nitrate esters from both a-bromocarboxylic acid and a-bromoketone substrates. Unlike metathesis with silver salts, which are widely known to promote SnI reactions, this method is not useful for the synthesis of nitrate esters from tertiary alkyl halides. 

Alkyl hydroperoxides react with nitrous acid to give the corresponding nitrate ester. ... 

Alkyl lV,lV-dinitramines (154) have been prepared from the reaction of the tetraalkylam-monium salts (155) of primary nitramines with nitryl fluoride in acetonitrile at subambient temperature. The same reaction with the primary nitramine or its alkali metal salts yields the corresponding nitrate ester. Treatment of the ammonium, potassium, or lithium salts of primary nitramines (156) with a solution of nitronium tetrafluoroborate in acetonitrile at subambient temperature yield alkyl iV,iV-dinitramines. ° The same reactions in ether or ester solvents enables the free nitramine to be used. The nitrolysis of A-alkylnitramides (157) and N,N-diacylamines with nitronium tetrafluoroborate in acetonitrile, and the nitration of aliphatic isocyanates with nitronium tetrafluoroborate and nitric acid in acetonitrile, also yield alkyl A,A-dinitramines (154). 

Alkyl azides are conveniently prepared from the reaction of alkali metal azides with an alkyl halide, tosylate, mesylate, nitrate ester or any other alkyl derivative containing a good leaving group. Reactions usually work well for primary and secondary alkyl substrates and are best conducted in polar aprotic solvents like DMF and DMSO. The synthesis and chemistry of azido compounds is the subject of a functional group series. ... 

Mannitol hexanitrate is obtained by nitration of mannitol with mixed nitric and sulfuric acids. Similarly, nitration of sorbitol using mixed acid produces the hexanitrate when the reaction is conducted at 0—3°C and at —10 to —75°C, the main product is sorbitol pentanitrate (117). Xylitol, ribitol, and L-arabinitol are converted to the pentanitrates by fuming nitric acid and acetic anhydride (118). Phosphate esters of sugar alcohols are obtained by the action of phosphorus oxychloride (119) and by alcoholysis of organic phosphates (120). The 1,6-dibenzene sulfonate of D-mannitol is obtained by the action of benzene sulfonyl chloride in pyridine at 0°C (121). To obtain 1,6-dimethanesulfonyl-D-mannitol free from anhydrides and other by-products, after similar sulfonation with methane sulfonyl chloride and pyridine the remaining hydroxyl groups are acetylated with acetic anhydride and the insoluble acetyl derivative is separated, followed by deacetylation with hydrogen chloride in methanol (122). Alkyl sulfate esters of polyhydric alcohols result from the action of sulfur trioxide—trialkyl phosphates as in the reaction of sorbitol at 34—40°C with sulfur trioxide—triethyl phosphate to form sorbitol hexa(ethylsulfate) (123). 

When olefins are treated with N204 in an ether, ester, or alkane as solvent, vtc-dinitro compounds and 3-nitro alkyl nitrites are produced.803 The reaction can be successfully performed with all kinds of olefins and acetylenes. Generally, both products are produced. The dinitro compound is usually stable, but the ester is quite reactive. Upon addition of water or alcohol it is hydrolyzed to a 3-nitro alcohol. If oxygen is added, it is oxidized to a 3-nitro alkyl nitrate or an a-nitro aldehyde or ketone. 

Investigating the types of reaction between nitric acid esters and hydrazine Merrow and van Dolah endeavoured first of all to solve the problem of how nitric acid is formed since the answer could in effect make it possible to establish the position of the linkage to be broken off in an ester molecule. They have established experimentally that during the reaction between alkyl nitrates and hydrazine the nitrite ion is produced very quickly. Later it dwindles away as reaction proceeds. The creation of NO in this process can never arise from the removal of a hydrogen atom in the a-posi-tion, since only an insignificant amount of ester can follow the reaction (31) to form an aldehyde ... 

Fleury, Brissaud and Lhoste [12] also prepared alkyl glucoside esters, using the nitrating mixture described above, composed of nitric acid, acetic anhydride and acetic acid ... 

Many compounds have been tested as ignition quality improvers—additives which shorten the ignition delay to a desirable duration. An extensive review in 1944 (6, 43) listed 303 references, 92 dealing with alkyl nitrates and nitrites 61 with aldehydes, ketones, esters, and ethers 49 with peroxides 42 with aromatic nitro compounds 29, with metal derivatives 28 with oxidation and oxidation products 22 with polysulfides 16 with aromatic hydrocarbons nine with nitration and four with oximes and nitroso compounds. In 1950, tests at the U. S. Naval Engineering Experiment Station (48) showed that a concentration of 1.5% of certain peroxides, alkyl nitrates, nitroaikanes, and nitrocarbamates increased cetane number 20 or more units. 

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