Oxidative coupling, aromatic ethers

Poly(phenylene ether). The only commercially available thermoplastic poly(phenylene oxide) PPO is the polyether poly(2,6-dimethylphenol-l,4-phenylene ether) [24938-67-8]. PPO is prepared by the oxidative coupling of 2,6-dimethylphenol with a copper amine catalyst (25). Usually PPO is blended with other polymers such as polystyrene (see PoLYETPiERS, Aromatic). However, thermoplastic composites containing randomly oriented glass fibers are available. 

The oxidative cleavage of carbon-carbon bonds in vicinal diols [756, 759] is a reaction widely used in saccharide chemistry. Besides its application in this reaction, periodic acid achieves the oxidative coupling [757] or oxidation to quinones [758] of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, the oxidation of methyl groups in aromatic compounds to carbonyl groups [760], the conversion of epoxides into dicarbonyl compounds [761], and the oxidative cleavage of trimethylsilyl ethers of acyloins to carboxylic acids [755]. 

Birch reduction of aromatic ethers is well known to afford alicyclic compounds such as cyclohexadienes and cyclohexenones, from which a number of natural products have been synthesized. Oxidation of phenols also affords alicyclic cyclohexadienones and masked quinones in addition to C—C and/or C—O coupled products. All of them are regarded as promising synthetic intermediates for a variety of bioactive compounds including natural products. However, in contrast to Birch reduction, systematic reviews on phenolic oxidation have not hitherto appeared from the viewpoint of synthetic organic chemistry, particularly natural products synthesis. In the case of phenolic oxidation, difficulties involving radical polymerization should be overcome. This chapter demonstrates that phenolic oxidation is satisfactorily used as a key step for the synthesis of bioactive compounds and their building blocks. 

Silica-bound FeCls can act as a one-electron-transfer oxidant, which is very effective for oxidative coupling reactions of aromatic ethers and phenols. 1,2-Diarylethane 691 was oxidized with FeCF supported on silica gel in CH2CI2 to give the corresponding para-para coupled product 692 in almost quantitative yield (98%). Similar oxidation of 2-methoxy-p-hydroquinone (693) provided a dibenzofuran 694 (35%) (Scheme 136). ... 

The direct nucleophilic substitution of electron-rich phenol ethers using hypervalent iodine oxidants in the presence of Lewis acid or fluorinated alcohols and involving aromatic cation-radical intermediates was originally developed by Kita and coworkers in 1994 [362], Since then this procedure with some variations has been extensively applied by Kita and other researchers for various oxidative transformations. In the intermolecular mode, this reaction (Scheme 3.122) has been utilized for the preparation of the products 298 from N3, AcO , ArS, SCN , 3-dicarbony 1 compounds and other external nucleophiles [320]. The oxidative coupling reaction in the intramolecular mode provides a powerful synthetic tool for the preparation of various... 

Recent efforts in the synthesis of sulfonated aromatic polymers are directed to the polymerization of sulfonated monomers (such as (b), (d), (g), (j), (k), and (1) shown in Scheme 3) [14,15,53,54,96-102] or coupling reactions of sulfonated compoimds with fimctional groups attached to a polymer backbone [ 103,104]. In post-sulfonation, attachment of the sulfonic acid group is restricted to the activated position ortho to the aromatic ether bond, as indicated in Scheme 4a, while in direct polymerization of sulfonated monomers, the sulfonic acid groups are attached to the deactivated site on the ring (Scheme 4b). An enhancement of stabUity toward desulfonation and a modestly higher acidity are expected for the structure shown in Scheme 4b. Recently, polymerization of sulfonated monomers was also used to obtain sulfonated polysulfone (m) via oxidation of a sulfonated polysulfide-polysulfone copolymer [105]. 

The reaction is accompanied with the cleavage of O-isopropyl protecting group, which occured after addition of methanol. Anhydrous iron(lll) chloride efficiently affects the room temperature oxidative coupling reactions of electron-rich aromatics other than phenols and phenol-ethers, e.g. thiophenes [39], as well as the cross-eouplings, e.g. A-alkylcarbazoles with pyridine-A -oxides [40], ete. 

Poly(phenylene oxides) are produced by the oxidative coupling of 2,6-disubstituted phenols. The polymers are also known as poly(oxyphenylenes) or poly(phenyl ethers), and, in the case of dimethyl compounds, also as poly(xylenols). Copper (I) salts in the form of their complexes with amines catalyze the reaction. Primary and secondary aliphatic amines must be used at low temperatures, since otherwise they are oxidized. Primary aromatic amines are oxidized to azo compounds, and secondary aromatic compounds probably to hydrazo compounds. Pyridine is very suitable. 

The unique cataljdic oxidative coupling polymerization to high-molecular-weight, linear aromatic ethers is typically carried out at room temperature by bubbling oxygen through a solution of 2,6-xylenol monomer in the presence of a copper-based catalyst [1, 2, 4]. 

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