Aryl phenoxide

N-heterocyclic carbene catalysis has become one of the major categories in orga-nocatalysis. Azolium salts are ready deprotonated by weak bases to generate a carbene, which then adds to an aldehyde to form an acyl anion equivalent, generally called the Breslow intermediate. The reactive acyl anion attacks an electrophile to promote the various transformations such as benzoin, Stetter, and redox reactions [107]. Recently, an interesting approach for NHC-catalyzed generation of an enol/enolate intermediate was reported. Enantio-enriched (i-amino acid derivatives (217) are formed by the reaction between the a-aryloxyaldehyde 214 and N-tosyl-imines (215) in the presence of phenyalanine-derived azoUum salt 216 as a pre-catalyst and aryl phenoxide as a base (Scheme 28.28) [108]. 

Aryl ethers are best prepared by the Williamson method (Section 16 6) Alkylation of the hydroxyl oxygen of a phenol takes place readily when a phenoxide anion reacts with an alkyl halide... 

Section 24 11 Phenoxide anions are nucleophilic toward alkyl halides and the prepara tion of alkyl aryl ethers is easily achieved under 8 2 conditions... 

Detailed mechanistic studies have been carried out on aminolysis of substituted aryl acetates and aryl carbonates. Aryl esters are considerably more reactive than alkyl esters because the phenoxide ions are better leaving groups than alkoxide ions. The tetrahedral intermediate formed in aminolysis can exist in several forms which differ in extent and site of protonation ... 

A variant for the synthesis of diaryl ethers—e.g. diphenyl ether 9, where an aryl halide and a phenoxide are reacted in the presence of copper or a copper-(I) salt, is called the Ullmann ether synthesis. ... 

Unlike the acid-catalyzed ether cleavage reaction discussed in the previous section, which is general to all ethers, the Claisen rearrangement is specific to allyl aryl ethers, Ar—O—CH2CH = CH2. Treatment of a phenoxide ion with 3-bromopropene (allyl bromide) results in a Williamson ether synthesis and formation of an allyl aryl ether. Heating the allyl aryl ether to 200 to 250 °C then effects Claisen rearrangement, leading to an o-allylphenol. The net result is alkylation of the phenol in an ortho position. 

Reactions of aryl halides with phenoxides or phenols (Equation (30)) and base catalyzed by complexes of these ligands occurred in significantly higher yields than did the same reactions catalyzed by complexes of DPPF or BINAP. For example, a large number of diaryl ethers have... 

Bolm et al. (130) reported the asymmetric Baeyer-Villiger reaction catalyzed by Cu(II) complexes. Aerobic oxidation of racemic cyclic ketones in the presence of pivalaldehyde effects a kinetic resolution to afford lactones in moderate enan-tioselectivity. Aryloxide oxazolines are the most effective ligands among those examined. Sterically demanding substituents ortho to the phenoxide are necessary for high yields. Several neutral bis(oxazolines) provide poor selectivities and yields in this reaction. Cycloheptanones and cyclohexanones lacking an aryl group on the a carbon do not react under these conditions. 

The arylation of potassium phenoxide has been studied by Litvak and Shein (1976). In the absence of crown ether the rate of reaction with p-nitrobromobenzene in various solvents increases in the order dioxan < methanol < pyridine < DMSO. In the presence of either 18-crown-6 [3] or dibenzo-18-crown-6 [11], the order of the reaction rates in dioxan and methanol is reversed (Table 22). The effect of crown ether addition on the rate... 

The rate of reaction of phosphorus oxychloride with phenols to produce triaryl phosphates is increased by the addition of quaternary ammonium salts and the reaction temperature can be reduced without loss of overall yield [1,2]. The analogous reaction between phenoxide anions and thiophosphoryl chloride produces aryl phosphoro-dichloridothoates [3]. As with the acylation of enolizable (3-dicarbonyl compounds (3.3.12), phosphorylation leads to the predominant formation of the E-O-phos-phoryiated derivatives [4,5]. 

Under favourable circumstances, the initially formed /V-ylid reacts further through C-N cleavage. Thus, in the presence of a strong nucleophile, such as a phenoxide anion, the quaternary dichloromethylammonium cation forms an ion-pair with the phenoxide anion (Scheme 7.27), which decomposes to yield the alkyl aryl ether and the /V-formyl derivative of the secondary amine [22, 23]. Although no sound rationale is available, the reaction appears to be favoured by the presence of bulky groups at the 4-position of the aryl ring. In the absence of the bulky substituents, the Reimer-Tiemann reaction products are formed, either through the breakdown of the ion-pair, or by the more direct attack of dichlorocarbene upon the phenoxide anion [22,23],... 

Of particular interest was the reaction of two equivalents of potassium phthalimide with PFB using 18-crown-6 in refluxing acetonitrile. This reaction with either small molecules or the polymeric analogs represents a novel approach to arylimide synthesis via PTC. After 4 hr. under nonoptimized PTC reaction conditions, disubstitution afforded the bisimide 6 in ca. 50% yield. This shows that phthalimide anion, a considerably poorer nucleophile than either the phenoxide or thiophenoxide, is a strong enough nucleophile in the presence of 18-crown-6 to displace aryl fluoride with facility, and demonstrates that the synthesis of polyimides, an important class of thermally stable polymers, is feasible by this PTC polycondensation route. 

Alkoxide or aryloxide anions are also reputed to be inactive in Sr I reactions. There is, however, one example of such a reaction at an sp carbon the nitro-derivative of 4-nitrocumyl reacts with phenoxide and 1-methyl-2-naphthoxide ions yielding the corresponding ethers (Kornblum et al., 1967). A similar reaction has been reported for halobenzenes in t-butyl alcohol upon stimulation by sodium amalgam (Rajan and Sridaran, 1977). This reaction could not, however, be reproduced (Rossi and Pierini, 1980) and other attempts to make phenoxide ions react at sp carbons have been equally unsuccessful (Ciminale et al, 1978 Rossi and Bunnett, 1973 Semmelhack and Bargar, 1980). It has been found, more recently, that phenoxide ions react with a series of aryl halides under electrochemical induction, but that the coupling occurs at the p- or o-phenolic carbon rather than at the phenolic oxygen (Alam et al, 1988 Amatore et al, 1988). This is... 

Aryloxy groups are much easier to displace compared to primary and secondary alkox-ide anions and so, aryl ethers are generally more useful in displacement reactions. Amine nucleophiles react with unsymmetrical aryl ethers to form the amine of the heavier nitrated moiety.Accordingly, 2,4,6-trinitrodiphenyl ether reacts with ammonia to expel phenoxide... 

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