Aryl methyl chlorides

Methyl chloride can be converted iato methyl iodide or bromide by refluxing ia acetone solution ia the presence of sodium iodide or bromide. The reactivity of methyl chloride and other aUphatic chlorides ia substitution reactions can often be iacteased by usiag a small amount of sodium or potassium iodide as ia the formation of methyl aryl ethers. Methyl chloride and potassium phthalimide do not readily react to give /V-methy1phtha1imide unless potassium iodide is added. The reaction to form methylceUulose and the Williamson synthesis to give methyl ethers are cataly2ed by small quantities of sodium or potassium iodide. 

The reaction is carried out by first reacting the alkyl or aryl halide with magnesium shavings in an ether suspension and then treating with silicon tetrachloride (prepared by passing chlorine over heated silicon). With methyl chloride the following sequence of reactions occur ... 

When sulfuryl chloride was used in this reaction instead of POCI3 or PCI3, imidoyl chlorides 17 were isolated as the products (89KGS120). By reduction of 17 with Na2S205 aryl methyl tellurides 18 are formed which readily eliminate a molecule of methyl chloride to give 2-arylbenzotellurazoles 12 (R = Ar) in 40-65% yields. 

Horner and Stohr (1952) found that in methanol the photolytic formation of the aryl methyl ether is rather a minor process, the main reaction being a hydro-de-di-azoniation. In a comparison between thermal and photolytic dediazoniation in water, Lewis et al. (1969 b) analyzed the percentages of chloro-de-diazoniations for three arenediazonium chlorides in aqueous solution in the presence of various concentrations of NaCl under both thermal and photolytic conditions. The authors came to the conclusion that these processes do not involve the same intermediates. 

This reaction is similar to 13-1 and, like that one, generally requires activated substrates. With unactivated substrates, side reactions predominate, though aryl methyl ethers have been prepared from unactivated chlorides by treatment with MeO in HMPA. This reaction gives better yields than 13-1 and is used more often. A good solvent is liquid ammonia. The compound NaOMe reacted with o- and p-fluoronitrobenzenes 10 times faster in NH3 at — 70°C than in MeOH. Phase-transfer catalysis has also been used. The reaction of 4-iodotoluene and 3,4-dimethylphenol, in the presence of a copper catalyst and cesium carbonate, gave the diaryl ether (Ar—O—Ar ). Alcohols were coupled with aryl halides in the presence of palladium catalysts to give the Ar—O—R ether. Nickel catalysts have also been used. ... 

The stereospecific conversion of menthyl arenesulphinates into chiral aryl methyl sulphoxides may also be achieved by means of methyllithium . The reaction of methyllithium with diastereoisomerically or enantiomerically pure arenesulph-inamides 283 was found to give optically active aryl methyl sulphoxides 284 (equation 156). The preparation of optically active sulphoxides 285 and 286, which are chiral by virtue of isotopic substitution (H - D and - respectively), involves the reaction of the appropriate non-labelled menthyl sulphinates with fully deuteriated methyl magnesium iodide (equation 157) and with benzylmagnesium chloride prepared from benzyl chloride labelled with carbon (equation 158). 

Conjugate addition of vinyl-, aryl-, heteroarylcuprates 90 to the cyclobutenedione 63, followed by in situ protection with (methoxyethoxy) methyl chloride of the enolates, provides a method for synthesizing substituted catechol derivatives 91 [44], Regiocontrolled synthesis is achieved by using cyclobutenedione monoacetals 92 as starting substrates. (Scheme 32)... 

The combination Et3SiH/(C6F5)3B reduces acid chlorides to methyl groups (Eq. 138).281,282 If a smaller amount of triethylsilane is used, the same combination reduces aryl acid chlorides to the trimethylsilyl ethers of the benzyl alcohols.281,282... 

This method was extensively reviewed in <84CHEC-I(4)545> and a brief summary is presented here interestingly, since the mid-1980s, this reaction has become less popular. A(-Aryl benzhydrazonyl chlorides react with thiobenzamides to form trisubstituted thiadiazolines which on treatment with alcohols furnish the 2-alkoxy derivative (Scheme 25). A-Arylbenzhydrazonyl chlorides also react with thioketenes to yield 5-methylene thiadiazolines (Equation (16)). Other examples involve the addition of the nitrileimine generated from A-trifluoroacetobenzhydrazonyl bromide to the 0=S of potassium isothiocyanate and methyl isocyanate <87JHC1391>. 

Lithium fluoride cannot displace less reactive halogens from aryl chlorides and bromides. However, a high-temperature reaction of lithium fluoride with bromoform gives a few percent exchange along with considerable side products.3 By passing a stream of methyl chloride in a lithium fluoride/sodium fluoride/potassium fluoride melt at 500 C a conversion rate of 42% to methyl fluoride in 85% yield is observed.4... 

When the thiosemicarbazones of benzaldehyde, 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde, methyl phenyl ketone, or methyl 2-hydroxyphenyl ketone were reacted with aryl tellurium trichlorides, reduction to the aryl tellurium chlorides occurred. The aryl tellurium chlorides were stabilized by coordination to excess thiosemicarbazone2. 

Methyl trimethylsilyl tellurium, generated from lithium methanetellurolate and trimethylsilyl chloride in tetrahydrofuran, reacted with 4-methylbenzenesulfonylazoarenes in acetonitrile at 20° to produce aryl methyl tellurium products in moderate yields2. 

The main methodologies developed until now for enantioselective oxidation of sulfides are effective only in the oxidation of alkyl aryl sulfoxides. Dialkyl sulfoxides on the other hand are generally oxidized with only poor selectivity. In an attempt to solve this problem, Schenk s group69 recently reported a stereoselective oxidation of metal-coordinated thioethers with DMD. The prochiral thioether is first coordinated to a chiral ruthenium complex by reaction with the chloride complexes [CpRu[(S,S)-chiraphos]Cl], 36. Diastereoselective oxygen transfer from DMD produces the corresponding sulfoxides in high yield and selectivity. The chiral sulfoxides 37 are liberated from the complexes by treatment with sodium iodide. Several o.p. aryl methyl sulfoxides have been obtained by this method in moderate to high ee (Scheme 12). 

Direct synthesis is the reaction of alkyl or aryl chloride and silicon in the presence of a proper catalyst. Mostly, methyl chloride is snbjected to the reaction at 250 350 °C in a flnid bed with fine particles of silicon mixed with a copper catalyst (eqnation 2). ... 

The organomercurials, 2-(aryl mercurithio)-5-[4 -methylquinolinyl-2-oxy methyl]- ,3,4-oxadiazoles (x) were synthesized by reacting 2-mercapto-5-[4 -methylquinolinyl-2-oxymethyl]-l,3,4-oxadiazole (viii) in DMF, anhydrous K2CO3 and aryl mercuric chloride (ix) under microwave irradiation [20]. 

The Rochow Process. Rochow found that alkyl and aryl halides react directly with silicon when their vapors contacted silicon at elevated temperatures to produce complex mixtures of organosilicon halides. The reaction is promoted by a wide variety of metals from both the main group and the transition series, but the most efficient catalyst is copper. The most studied reaction of this type is the reaction between methyl chloride and silicon to give dimethyldichlorosilane and methyltrichlorosilane. Dimethyldichloro-silane is major feedstock silane for methylsilicon polymers. 

Subsequent to his discovery that alkylaluminum compounds in conjunction with suitable alkyl halides are effective initiator systems for synthesizing high molecular weight polyisobutylene (/), Kennedy in 1970 (6) studied the reaction between alkyl and aryl halides with tri-methylaluminum using methyl chloride solvent at —78° C. The results... 

This reaction is similar to 13-1 and, like that one, generally requires activated substrates. ° ° With unactivated substrates, side reactions predominate, though aryl methyl ethers have been prepared from unactivated chlorides by treatment... 

Methylation of aryl thiols. PTC methylation of l C-aryl thiols with methyl Iodide (2 ) Is very useful for microscale synthesis of C-labeled aryl methyl sulfides (2j ). The reaction, using tetrabutylammonlum hydrogensulfate as catalyst and sodium hydroxide as base In methylene chloride and water, proceeds at ambient temperature In 50-100Z yield. 

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