Alkylation reaction mechanism

Our purposes in studying HF alkylation reaction mechanisms are several fold. The works of Ciapetta (1945) and Schmerling (1946,1955), although classic in the field of alkylation in their time, were limited by the then available analytical tools. Today, by using greatly improved analytical procedures, the product makeup can be much better defined. 

Olefin Isomerization. Olefin isomerization plays an important role in butene-isobutane alkylation reaction mechanisms. Normal butenes are largely isomerized to isobutene before alkylation. This is believed to take place in ionic form, i.e., immediately following olefin protonation, since a number of olefins have been found to odd HF across their double bonds quite readily at room temperature (Grosse and Linn, 1938). Thus, the likelihood of olefin molecules being present for very long under alkylation conditions is not great. 

The generally accepted alkylation reaction mechanism has four desirable key steps and four undesirable secondary readions. The four desirable steps are ... 

The procedures to be described m the remainder of this chapter use either an alkane or an alcohol as the starting material for preparing an alkyl halide By knowing how to prepare alkyl halides we can better appreciate the material m later chapters where alkyl halides figure prominently m key chemical transformations The preparation of alkyl halides also serves as a focal point to develop the principles of reaction mechanisms... 

The free radicals that we usually see in carbon chemistry are much less stable than these Simple alkyl radicals for example require special procedures for their isolation and study We will encounter them here only as reactive intermediates formed m one step of a reaction mechanism and consumed m the next Alkyl radicals are classified as primary secondary or tertiary according to the number of carbon atoms directly attached to the carbon that bears the unpaired electron... 

A key step in the reaction mechanism appears to be nucleophilic attack on the alkyl halide by the negatively charged copper atom but the details of the mechanism are not well understood Indeed there is probably more than one mechanism by which cuprates react with organic halogen compounds Vinyl halides and aryl halides are known to be very unreactive toward nucleophilic attack yet react with lithium dialkylcuprates... 

Chain-Growth Associative Thickeners. Preparation of hydrophobically modified, water-soluble polymer in aqueous media by a chain-growth mechanism presents a unique challenge in that the hydrophobically modified monomers are surface active and form micelles (50). Although the initiation and propagation occurs primarily in the aqueous phase, when the propagating radical enters the micelle the hydrophobically modified monomers then polymerize in blocks. In addition, the hydrophobically modified monomer possesses a different reactivity ratio (42) than the unmodified monomer, and the composition of the polymer chain therefore varies considerably with conversion (57). The most extensively studied monomer of this class has been acrylamide, but there have been others such as the modification of PVAlc. Pyridine (58) was one of the first chain-growth polymers to be hydrophobically modified. This modification is a post-polymerization alkylation reaction and produces a random distribution of hydrophobic units. 

The mechanism of the alkylation reaction is similar to curing. The methylo1 group becomes protonated and dissociates to form a carbonium ion intermediate which may react with alcohol to produce an alkoxymethyl group or with water to revert to the starting material. The amount of water in the reaction mixture should be kept to a minimum since the relative amounts of alcohol and water determine the final equiHbrium. 

The alkylation reactions of enolate anions of both ketones and esters have been extensively utilized in synthesis. Both very stable enolates, such as those derived from (i-ketoesters, / -diketones, and malonate esters, as well as less stable enolates of monofunctional ketones, esters, nitriles, etc., are reactive. Many aspects of the relationships between reactivity, stereochemistry, and mechanism have been clarified. A starting point for the discussion of these reactions is the structure of the enolates. Because of the delocalized nature of enolates, an electrophile can attack either at oxygen or at carbon. 

The reaction mechanism outlined below for phosphorous acid esters analogously applies for the other two cases. The first step is the addition of the alkyl halide 2 to the phosphite 1 to give a phosphonium salt 3 ... 

The rate of the alkylation reaction depends on the enolate concentration, since it proceeds by a SN2-mechanism. If the concentration of the enolate is low, various competitive side-reactions may take place. As expected, among those are E2-eliminations by reaction of the alkyl halide 2 with base. A second alkylation may take place with mono-alkylated product already formed, to yield a -alkylated malonic ester however such a reaction is generally slower than the alkylation of unsubstituted starting material by a factor of about 10. The monoalkylation is in most cases easy to control. Dialkylated malonic esters with different alkyl substituents—e.g. ethyl and isopropyl—can be prepared by a step by step reaction sequence ... 

Michael acceptors and 1,4-addiiion of alkyl group is a normal process. The reaction mechanism is not clear, but the process via addition of alkyl radicals and subsequent elimination of NO radical is one of the possible routes. Recently, several related reactions have been reported, as shown in Eq. 4.76, Eq. 4.77, and Eq. 4.78, in which alkyl radicals are involved. The reaction of trialky Igalliiim compounds with nitrostyrene gives also a similar snbsdtiidon product fEq. 4.791. ° ... 

It should be noted that Scheme 5.1-44 shows idealized Friedel-Crafts allcylation reactions. In practice, there are a number of problems associated with the reaction. These include polyalkylation reactions, since the products of a Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction are often more reactive than the starting material. Also, isomerization and rearrangement reactions can occur, and can result in a large number of products [74, 75]. The mechanism of Friedel-Crafts reactions is not straightforward, and it is possible to propose two or more different mechanisms for a given reaction. Examples of the typical processes occurring in a Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction are given in Scheme 5.1-45 for the reaction between 1-chloropropane and benzene. 

The mechanism of chemical modification reactions of PS were determined using toluene as a model compound with EC in the presence of BF3-0(C2H5)2 catalyst and the kinetics and mechanism of the alkylation reaction were also determined under similar conditions [53-55]. The alkylation reaction of toluene, with epichlorohydrin, underwent polymerization of EC in the presence of Lewis acid catalysis at a low temperature (273 K) as depicted in Scheme (9). 

Active Figure 8.6 MECHANISM A mechanism for the alkylation reaction of acetylide anion with bromomethane to give propyne. Sign in afwww.thomsonedu.com to see a simulation based on this figure and to take a short quiz. 

Mechanism of the Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction of benzene with 2-chloropropane to yield isopropylbenzene (cumene). 

Since the product of the alkylation reaction is the sulphonic acid, the reactions showed autocatalysis. The reaction mechanism was envisaged, therefore, as involving an intimate ion pair formed via equilibrium (185)... 

The low reactivity of alkyl and/or phenyl substituted organosilanes in reduction processes can be ameliorated in the presence of a catalytic amount of alkanethiols. The reaction mechanism is reported in Scheme 5 and shows that alkyl radicals abstract hydrogen from thiols and the resulting thiyl radical abstracts hydrogen from the silane. This procedure, which was coined polarity-reversal catalysis, has been applied to dehalogenation, deoxygenation, and desulfurization reactions.For example, 1-bromoadamantane is quantitatively reduced with 2 equiv of triethylsilane in the presence of a catalytic amount of ferf-dodecanethiol. 

Examples of the intermolecular C-P bond formation by means of radical phosphonation and phosphination have been achieved by reaction of aryl halides with trialkyl phosphites and chlorodiphenylphosphine, respectively, in the presence of (TMSlsSiH under standard radical conditions. The phosphonation reaction (Reaction 71) worked well either under UV irradiation at room temperature or in refluxing toluene. The radical phosphina-tion (Reaction 72) required pyridine in boiling benzene for 20 h. Phosphinated products were handled as phosphine sulfides. Scheme 15 shows the reaction mechanism for the phosphination procedure that involves in situ formation of tetraphenylbiphosphine. This approach has also been extended to the phosphination of alkyl halides and sequential radical cyclization/phosphination reaction. ... 

A general reaction mechanism for the grafting of MA onto EPM is given in Figure 13.3 [15,16]. Free-radical grafting of MA starts with the decomposition of the radical initiator, usually a peroxide [15,18]. The peroxide decomposes at elevated temperamres into the corresponding oxy radicals, which may further degrade to alkyl radicals and ketones. These oxy and alkyl radicals abstract... 

In this section, the reactivities of organosilicon compounds for the Friedel-Crafts alkylation of aromatic compounds in the presence of aluminum chloride catalyst and the mechanism of the alkylation reactions will be discus.sed, along with the orientation and isomer distribution in the products and associated problems such as the decomposition of chloroalkylsilanes to chlorosilanes.. Side reactions such as transalkylation and reorientation of alkylated products will also be mentioned, and the insertion reaction of allylsilylation and other related reactions will be explained. 

The mechanism for the production of 9-((chlorosilyl)alkyl)(luorenes from the Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction of biphenyl with (l,2-dichloroethyl)silane in the presence of aluminum chloride as catalyst is outlined in Scheme 4. At the beginning stage of the reaction, one of two C—Cl bondsof (1,2-dichloroethyl)silane (CICH2—CICH—SiXi) interacts with aluminum chloride catalyst to give intermediate 1 (a polar +C-CI - ( +C-C1—Al CI3) or a carbocation C AICU ... 

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