Aromatization by dehydrogenation

The stronger directing effects present in the indoline ring can sometimes be used to advantage to prepare C-substituted indoles. The aniline type of nitrogen present in indoline favours 5,7-substitution. After the substituent is introduced the indoline ring can be aromatized by dehydrogenation (see Section 15.2 for further discussion). A procedure for 7-acylation of indoline... 

The isomerization reaction, which is acid-site controlled, includes the conversion of alkylcyclopentanes into alkylcyclohexanes, which, in turn, are quickly converted to aromatics by dehydrogenation. In addition, isomerization also includes the conversion of feed n-paraffms into higher octane I-paraffins. 

Isoquinoline synthesis Bischler-Napieralski synthesis is used to synthesize isoquinolines. (3-phenylethylamine is acylated, and then cyclodehy-drated using phosphoryl chloride, phosphorus pentoxide or other Lewis acids to yield dihydroisoquinoline, which can be aromatized by dehydrogenation with palladium, for example in the synthesis of papaverine, a pharmacologically active isoquinoline alkaloid. 

The ability of a catalyst to promote isomerization plays two roles in reforming it increases the amount of branched chain paraffins in the product and it converts naphthene hydrocarbons with cyclopentane rings into cyclohexane ring naphthenes which are necessary for the formation of aromatics by dehydrogenation. 

Although obtained only in low yields upon troublesome chromatography of product mixtures that contained much polymeric material, the tricyclic benzofuran and benzothiophene lactones (61) were shown to be isolable products from attempted Diels-Alder reactions on the allene ester precursors shown in Equation (32) <85JCS(Pl)747>. Although it was noted in the case of the two thiophenes that the tricyclics appeared to be forming from a precursor (presumably a dihydro form) on the chromatographic column, it was not possible to convert the crude suspected cycloaddition adducts directly into the aromatics by dehydrogenation with DDQ. Complex mixtures were obtained instead. It is possible that the actual dienophiles in these Diels-Alder reactions are alkynes. In a related study, the bis-lactone (62) was also obtained (Equation (33)) <86H(24)88l>. 

The Heck reaction followed by domino electrocyclization/dehydrogenation strategy works well for the benzo fusion of [2.2]paracyclophanediene as shown in Scheme 16.5 [7]. The in situ formed electrocyclization product was aromatized by dehydrogenation using either Pd/C or... 

Styrene is manufactured from ethylbenzene. Ethylbenzene [100-41-4] is produced by alkylation of benzene with ethylene, except for a very small fraction that is recovered from mixed Cg aromatics by superfractionation. Ethylbenzene and styrene units are almost always installed together with matching capacities because nearly all of the ethylbenzene produced commercially is converted to styrene. Alkylation is exothermic and dehydrogenation is endothermic. In a typical ethylbenzene—styrene complex, energy economy is realized by advantageously integrating the energy flows of the two units. A plant intended to produce ethylbenzene exclusively or mostly for the merchant market is also not considered viable because the merchant market is small and sporadic. 

Dehydrogenation is considered to occur on the corners, edges, and other crystal defect sites on the catalyst where surface vacancies aid in the formation of intermediate species capable of competing for hydrogen with ethylbenzene. The role of the potassium may be viewed as a carrier for the strongly basic hydroxide ion, which is thought to help convert highly aromatic by-products to carbon dioxide. 

The generation of caibocations from these sources is well documented (see Section 5.4). The reaction of aromatics with alkenes in the presence of Lewis acid catalysts is the basis for the industrial production of many alkylated aromatic compounds. Styrene, for example, is prepared by dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene made from benzene and ethylene. 

Research is also being conducted in Japan to aromatize propane in presence of carhon dioxide using a Zn-loaded HZSM-5 catalyst/ The effect of CO2 is thought to improve the equilibrium formation of aromatics by the consumption of product hydrogen (from dehydrogenation of propane) through the reverse water gas shift reaction. 

We have seen how an alkane may be converted into an aromatic by cyclization requiring the formation of a single C—C bond, followed by dehydrogenation. In principle it should be possible for cyclization to occur as a result of forming two C—C bonds, again followed by dehydrogenation to an aromatic. The overall reaction can be thermodynamically favorable, as the following data quoted by Csicsery (155) show. For the reaction... 

Naphthalene itself is solid at ambient temperatures (m.p. 80.5°C) but is dissolved easily in aromatic compounds such as toluene (refer Table 13.1) [10,12], so that the oily mixture can be handled as a "naphthalene oil." The naphthalene oil is catalytically hydrogenated to decalin and methylcyclohexane simultaneously. Decalin and methylcyclohexane are converted into hydrogen and naphthalene oil again by dehydrogenation catalysis. From the handling viewpoint, the naphthalene oil may be deemed as a preferential and practical material for hydrogen storage and transportation. 

Chemical catalysts for transfer hydrogenation have been known for many decades [2e]. The most commonly used are heterogeneous catalysts such as Pd/C, or Raney Ni, which are able to mediate for example the reduction of alkenes by dehydrogenation of an alkane present in high concentration. Cyclohexene, cyclo-hexadiene and dihydronaphthalene are commonly used as hydrogen donors since the byproducts are aromatic and therefore more difficult to reduce. The heterogeneous reaction is useful for simple non-chiral reductions, but attempts at the enantioselective reaction have failed because the mechanism seems to occur via a radical (two-proton and two-electron) mechanism that makes it unsuitable for enantioselective reactions [2 c]. 

Aromatization of the nucleoside analogue 134 has been achieved by dehydrogenation over palladium on carbon in refluxing cumene (Equation 14) <2004BMC4245>. 

Reaction of the iron complex salt 602 with the arylamine 921 in the presence of air led directly to the tricarbonyl(ri -4b,8a-dihydro-9H-carbazole)iron complex (923) by a one-pot C-C and C-N bond formation. Demetalation of complex 923 and subsequent aromatization by catalytic dehydrogenation afforded 3,4-dimethoxy-l-heptyl-2-methylcarbazole (924), a protected carbazoquinocin C. Finally, ether cleavage of 924 with boron tribromide followed by oxidation in air provided carbazoquinocin C (274) (640) (Scheme 5.120). 

Cyclo-paraffins, also referred to as naphthenes, are mainly produced by dehydrogenation of their equivalent aromatic compounds such as the production of cyclohexane by dehydrogenation of benzene. Cyclohexane is mostly used for the production of adipic acid and nylon manufacturing (Rudd et al., 1981). 

Fullerenes can also be obtained by pyrolysis of hydrocarbons, preferably aromatics. The first example was the pyrolysis of naphthalene at 1000 °C in an argon stream [58, 59], The naphthalene skeleton is a monomer of the Cjq structure. FuUerenes are formed by dehydrogenative coupUng reactions. Primary reaction products are polynaphthyls with up to seven naphthalene moieties joined together. FuU dehydrogenation leads to both Cjq as well as C7Q in yields less than 0.5%. As side products, hydrofuUerenes, for example CjqHjj, have also been observed by mass spectrometry. Next to naphthalene, the bowl-shaped corannulene and benzo[k]fluoranthene were... 

---