Ammonium salts, alkyl halides

Of all the alkylating reagents used, saturated aliphatic halides are the most prone to react with the nitrogen atom and give a quaternary ammonium salt. Reactive halides of the allyl type, propargyl bromide,... 

Amines are powerful nucleophiles which react under neutral or slightly basic conditions with several electron-accepting carbon reagents. The reaction of alkyl halides with amines is useful for the preparation of tertiary amines or quaternary ammonium salts. The conversion of primary amines into secondary amines is usually not feasible since the secondary amine tends towards further alkylation. 

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

Ammonia can act as a nucleophile toward primary and some secondary alkyl halides to give primary alkylamines Yields tend to be modest because the primary amine IS itself a nucleophile and undergoes alkylation Alkylation of ammonia can lead to a mixture containing a primary amine a secondary amine a tertiary amine and a quaternary ammonium salt... 

Alkylation (Section 22 12) Amines act as nucleophiles toward alkyl halides Pri mary amines yield secondary amines secondary amines yield tertiary amines and tertiary amines yield quaternary ammonium salts... 

Methylsuccinic acid has been prepared by the pyrolysis of tartaric acid from 1,2-dibromopropane or allyl halides by the action of potassium cyanide followed by hydrolysis by reduction of itaconic, citraconic, and mesaconic acids by hydrolysis of ketovalerolactonecarboxylic acid by decarboxylation of 1,1,2-propane tricarboxylic acid by oxidation of /3-methylcyclo-hexanone by fusion of gamboge with alkali by hydrog. nation and condensation of sodium lactate over nickel oxide from acetoacetic ester by successive alkylation with a methyl halide and a monohaloacetic ester by hydrolysis of oi-methyl-o -oxalosuccinic ester or a-methyl-a -acetosuccinic ester by action of hot, concentrated potassium hydroxide upon methyl-succinaldehyde dioxime from the ammonium salt of a-methyl-butyric acid by oxidation with. hydrogen peroxide from /9-methyllevulinic acid by oxidation with dilute nitric acid or hypobromite from /J-methyladipic acid and from the decomposition products of glyceric acid and pyruvic acid. The method described above is a modification of that of Higginbotham and Lapworth. ... 

An alkyl halide 1 reacts with hexamethylenetetramine 2 to the quaternary ammonium salt 4, which crystallizes from the reaction mixture ... 

Generally the desired substituted carbonyl compound 3 is obtained after hydrolytic workup under acidic conditions. With simple alkyl halides an irreversible A-alkylation may take place as a side-reaction to give a quaternary ammonium salt 7 ... 

Ammonia and other amines are good nucleophiles in SN2 reactions. As a result, the simplest method of alkylamine synthesis is by Sn2 alkylation of ammonia or an alkylamine with an alky) halide. If ammonia is used, a primary amine results if a primary amine is used, a secondary amine results and so on. Even tertiary amines react rapidly with alkyl halides to yield quaternary ammonium salts, R4N+ X-... 

We ve already studied the two most general reactions of amines—alkylation and acylation. As we saw earlier in this chapter, primary, secondary, and tertiary amines can be alkylated by reaction with a primary alkyl halide. Alkylations of primary and secondary amines are difficult to control and often give mixtures of products, but tertiary amines are cleanly alkylated to give quaternary ammonium salts. Primary and secondary (but not tertiary) amines can also be acylated by nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction with an acid chloride or an acid anhydride to yield an amide (Sections 21.4 and 21.5). Note that overacylation of the nitrogen does not occur because the amide product is much less nucleophilic and less reactive than the starting amine. 

Tertiary aliphatic amines are also cleaved by HI, but useful products are seldom obtained. Tertiary amines can be cleaved by reaction with phenyl chloroformate R3N -h ClCOOPh —> RCl 4- R2NCOOPh. a-Chloroethyl chloroformate behaves similarly.Alkyl halides may be formed when quaternary ammonium salts are heated R4N+X" R3N -)- RX. ... 

The higher solubility of several quaternary ammonium salts of glyphosate in polar aprotic organic solvents such as acetonitrile was discovered (2), which permitted their reaction in solution with various alkyl halides. For example, GLY(n-Bu4N)2H reacted with either o-xylylene dichloride or 1,5-dibromopentane to produce the interesting quaternary glyphosate derivatives 81 and 82, whose structures have been confirmed by x-ray analysis (2). 

Tertiary amines react with alkyl halides to form quaternary ammonium salts... 

The alkyl halide (ethyl bromide in the above equation) can react further with the primary amine produced to give a secondary amine and with that to form a tertiary amine and finally a quaternary ammonium salt. Quaternary ammonium hydroxides are very strong bases like sodium hydroxide. Tetramethylammonium hydroxide is a very important chemical used in the manufacture of semiconductors and other electronic industry products. 

A thio-substituted, quaternary ammonium salt can be synthesized by the Michael addition of an alkyl thiol to acrylamide in the presence of benzyl trimethyl ammonium hydroxide as a catalyst [793-795]. The reaction leads to the crystallization of the adducts in essentially quantitative yield. Reduction of the amides by lithium aluminum hydride in tetrahydrofuran solution produces the desired amines, which are converted to desired halide by reaction of the methyl iodide with the amines. The inhibitor is useful in controlling corrosion such as that caused by CO2 and H2S. 

The alkylation of neutral amines by halides is complicated from a synthetic point of view by the possibility of multiple alkylation that can proceed to the quaternary ammonium salt in the presence of excess alkyl halide. 

The nitrogen atom in quinolizidine derivatives behaves as a tertiary amine and hence it can undergo quaternization by reaction with alkyl halides. For instance, berberine derivative 101 was transformed into 102 by treatment with 3-iodopropanol followed by anion exchange. Compound 102 was then transformed into intermediate 103, which was employed as a precursor for the the preparation of bis-ammonium salt 104 (Scheme 10). This compound showed ultrashort curare-like activity in rhesus monkeys <2001JOC3495>. 

Dithiophosphato metal complexes are usually prepared by metathesis of metal halides with alkali metal or ammonium salts. A convenient method uses the redox reaction of his th iophosphory 1 )d is ulfanes (RO)2(S)PSSP(S)(OR)2, with metal species in low oxidation states resulting in the insertion of the metal into the sulfur-sulfur bond.24 Recently it was used for the synthesis of long alkyl chain, liquid platinum(II) dithiophosphates25 and for the synthesis of Ru (CO)2[S2P(OPr%]2 from Ru3(CO)i2 with (Pr 0)2(S)PSSP(S)(0Pr,)2.26... 

The primary amine formed will react further with alkyl halide giving a secondary amine and by repeating the process a tertiary and finally a quaternary ammonium salt will be formed. 

Sandmeyer s synthesis of aromatic nitriles is far more elegant than the removal of water from the ammonium salts of carboxylic acids, which latter reaction is also applicable to benzene derivatives. In particular, the former synthesis permits of the preparation of carboxylic acids via the nitriles, and so provides a complete substitute for Kolbe s synthesis (alkyl halide and potassium cyanide), which is inapplicable to aromatic compounds. The simplest example is the conversion of aniline into benzoic add. The converse transformation is Hofmann s degradation (benzamide aniline, see p. 152). 

The formation of S-alkyl thiosulfate (Bunte salt) by the reaction of alkyl halide and sodium thiosulfate has been well known. Whereas a patent claimed the formation of Bunte salt from PECH and sodium thiosulfate (23), the reaction hardly proceeded in DMF owing to low solubility of sodium salt. On the other hand, both ammonium thiosulfate and PECH were soluble in HMPA-H20 (7 1 vol/vol) and the reaction proceeded homogeneously. Water soluble Bunte salt (j2, v(S0), 1200, 1020 cm-1) was isolated by pouring the reaction mixture into water and salting out with ammonium chloride. The DS based on the mercuric nitrate titration was in nearly accord with that on elemental analysis. The DS values depended on the thiosulfate concentration were shown below. 

The application of phase-transfer catalysis to the Williamson synthesis of ethers has been exploited widely and is far superior to any classical method for the synthesis of aliphatic ethers. Probably the first example of the use of a quaternary ammonium salt to promote a nucleophilic substitution reaction is the formation of a benzyl ether using a stoichiometric amount of tetraethylammonium hydroxide [1]. Starks mentions the potential value of the quaternary ammonium catalyst for Williamson synthesis of ethers [2] and its versatility in the synthesis of methyl ethers and other alkyl ethers was soon established [3-5]. The procedure has considerable advantages over the classical Williamson synthesis both in reaction time and yields and is certainly more convenient than the use of diazomethane for the preparation of methyl ethers. Under liquidrliquid two-phase conditions, tertiary and secondary alcohols react less readily than do primary alcohols, and secondary alkyl halides tend to be ineffective. However, reactions which one might expect to be sterically inhibited are successful under phase-transfer catalytic conditions [e.g. 6]. Microwave irradiation and solidrliquid phase-transfer catalytic conditions reduce reaction times considerably [7]. 

The reaction of methylenesulphones with allyl halides in the presence of quaternary ammonium salts produces the 1-allyl derivatives [52], unlike the corresponding reaction in the absence of the catalyst in which the SN- product is formed (Scheme 6.5). In contrast, alkylation of resonance stabilized anions derived from allyl sulphones produces complex mixtures [51] (Scheme 6.6). Encumbered allyl sulphones (e.g. 2-methylprop-2-enyl sulphones) tend to give the normal monoalkyl-ated products. Methylene groups, which are activated by two benzenesulphonyl substituents, are readily monoalkylated hydride reduction leads to the dithioacetal and subsequent hydrolysis affords the aldehyde [61]. 

Alkylation of P-dicarbonyl compounds and p-keto esters occurs preferentially on the carbon atom, whereas acylation produces the 0-acyl derivatives (see Chapter 3). There are indications that C- and 0-alkylated products are produced with simple haloalkanes and benzyl halides, but only C-alkylated derivatives are formed with propargyl and allyl halides [e.g. 90]. Di-C-alkylation frequently occurs and it has been reported that the use of tetra-alkylammonium 2-oxopyrrolidinyl salts are more effective catalysts (in place of aqueous sodium hydroxide and quaternary ammonium salt) for selective (-90%) mono-C-alkylation of p-dicarbonyl compounds [91]. 

You have read (Unit 10, Class Xll) that the carbon - halogen bond In alkyl or benzyl haUdes can be easily cleaved by a nucleophile. Hence, an allqrl or ben l haUde on reaction with an ethanollc solution of ammonia undergoes nucleophilic substitution reaction m which the halogen atom Is replaced by an amino (-NHJ group. This process of cleavage of the C-X bond by ammonia molecule Is known as ammonolysis. The reaction Is carried out In a sealed tube at 373 K. The primary amine thus obtained behaves as a nucleophile and can further react with allqrl halide to form secondary and tertiary amines, and finally quaternary ammonium salt. 

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