Benzene, alkylation Friedel-Crafts reactions

Laurino examined a similar method in which methanesulfonanilides were alkylated with bromoacetaldehyde diethyl acetal and then cyclized with TiCU[4J. 1 hese methods presumably involve generation of an electrophilic intermediate from the acetal functionality, followed by an intramolecular Friedel-Crafts reaction. As a consequence, the cyclization is favoured by ER substituents and retarded by EW groups on the benzene ring. 

Alkylation of benzene with alkyl halides m the presence of aluminum chloride was discovered by Charles Friedel and James M Crafts m 1877 Crafts who later became president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology collaborated with Friedel at the Sorbonne m Pans and together they developed what we now call the Friedel-Crafts reaction into one of the most useful synthetic methods m organic chemistry... 

Mechanism. The mechanism of alkylation and of other related Friedel-Crafts reactions is best explained by the carbocation concept. The alkylation of benzene with isopropyl chloride may be used as a general example ... 

Cumene as a pure chemical intermediate is produced in modified Friedel-Crafts reaction processes that use acidic catalysts to alkylate benzene with propylene (see Alkylation Friedel-CRAFTSreactions). The majority of cumene is manufactured with a soHd phosphoric acid catalyst (7). The remainder is made with aluminum chloride catalyst (8). 

There are relatively few kinetic data on the Friedel-Crafts reaction. Alkylation of benzene or toluene with methyl bromide or ethyl bromide with gallium bromide as catalyst is first-order in each reactant and in catalyst. With aluminum bromide as catalyst, the rate of reaction changes with time, apparently because of heterogeneity of the reaction mixture. The initial rate data fit the kinetic expression ... 

It should be noted that Scheme 5.1-44 shows idealized Friedel-Crafts allcylation reactions. In practice, there are a number of problems associated with the reaction. These include polyalkylation reactions, since the products of a Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction are often more reactive than the starting material. Also, isomerization and rearrangement reactions can occur, and can result in a large number of products [74, 75]. The mechanism of Friedel-Crafts reactions is not straightforward, and it is possible to propose two or more different mechanisms for a given reaction. Examples of the typical processes occurring in a Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction are given in Scheme 5.1-45 for the reaction between 1-chloropropane and benzene. 

Among the most useful electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions In the laboratory is alkylation—the introduction of an alkyl group onto the benzene ring. Called the Friedel-Crafts reaction after its discoverers, the reaction is carried out... 

Yet a final limitation to the Friedel-Crafts reaction is that a skeletal rearrangement of the alkyl carbocation electrophile sometimes occurs during reaction, particularly when a primary alkyl halide is used. Treatment of benzene with 1-chlorobutane at 0 °C, for instance, gives an approximately 2 1 ratio of rearranged (sec-butyl) to unrearranged (butyl) products. 

The carbocation electrophile in a Friedel-Crafts reaction can be generated in ways other than by reaction of an alkyl chloride with AICI3. For example, reaction of benzene with 2-methylpropene in the presence of H3PO4 yields tert-butylbenzene. Propose a mechanism for this reaction. 

Aromatic hydrocarbons substituted by alkyl groups other than methyl are notorious for their tendency to disproportionate in Friedel-Crafts reactions. This tendency has previously limited the application of the isomerization of para- or ortho-) m ky -benzenes to the corresponding meta compounds. At the lower temperature of the present modification, disproportionation can be minimized. 

Based on petrochemicals, linear alkyl benzene sulfonates (LAS) are the most important surfactants. First description can be found in patents from the mid-1930s [2] using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and Friedel-Crafts reactions. With the beginning of the 1950s the importance of the class of surfactants rose. The main use is in household and cleaning products. 

The LAB production process (process 1) is mainly developed and licensed by UOP. The N-paraffins are partially converted to internal /z-olefins by a catalytic dehydrogenation. The resulting mixture of /z-paraffins and n-olefins is selectively hydrogenated to reduce diolefins and then fed into an alkylation reactor, together with an excess benzene and with concentrated hydrofluoric acid (HF) which acts as the catalyst in a Friedel-Crafts reaction. In successive sections of the plant the HF, benzene, and unconverted /z-paraffins are recovered and recycled to the previous reaction stages. In the final stage of distillation, the LAB is separated from the heavy alkylates. 

Among the wide variety of organic reactions in which zeolites have been employed as catalysts, may be emphasized the transformations of aromatic hydrocarbons of importance in petrochemistry, and in the synthesis of intermediates for pharmaceutical or fragrance products.5 In particular, Friede 1-Crafts acylation and alkylation over zeolites have been widely used for the synthesis of fine chemicals.6 Insights into the mechanism of aromatic acylation over zeolites have been disclosed.7 The production of ethylbenzene from benzene and ethylene, catalyzed by HZSM-5 zeolite and developed by the Mobil-Badger Company, was the first commercialized industrial process for aromatic alkylation over zeolites.8 Other typical examples of zeolite-mediated Friedel-Crafts reactions are the regioselective formation of p-xylene by alkylation of toluene with methanol over HZSM-5,9 or the regioselective p-acylation of toluene with acetic anhydride over HBEA zeolites.10 In both transformations, the p-isomers are obtained in nearly quantitative yield. 

Many important reactions involve catalysis by Lewis acids or bases. One of the most important of these is the type of reaction carried out by Charles Friedel and James Crafts. These reactions, known as the Friedel-Crafts reactions, actually involve several types of important processes. One of these is alkylation, which is illustrated by the reaction of benzene with an alkyl halide in the presence of A1C13, a strong Lewis acid. 

Friedel became internationally known for the synthetic method called the Friedel-Crafts Reaction using aluminum chloride as a catalyst in the the introduction of an alkyl or acyl group into benzene. James Mason Crafts was an American professor from MIT working with Friedel in 1877 at the Sorbonne. Crafts later became president of MIT. 

Alkylation of benzene is old technology. The French chemist, Charles Friedel, with his American partner, James Crafts, in 1877, stumbled (almost literally) across the technique for alkylating benzene with amyl chloride (C5H11CI). The use of a metallic catalyst, in this case aluminum, was the key. The Friedel-Crafts reaction is classical and remains a principal route for alkylating benzene with ethylene to make EB. 

The Friedel-Crafts reaction has one major drawback. It doesn t stop at the mono-substitution stage. That is, the catalyst works so well, that the benzene will pick up two, three, or more ethylene molecules, forming diethylbenzene, triethylbenzene, or higher polyethylbenzenes. See Figure 8 2.) The problem is that chemically its easier to alkylate EB than it is benzene. One way to control the problem is to carry out the reaction in the presence of a large excess of benzene. When an ethylene molecule is in the neighborhood of one..EB molecule and 20 benzene molecules, chances are that the ethylene will hook up with benzene, even though it prefers EB. 

The other 60% of the alkyl groups for LAS detergents are made through linear a-olefins. n-Alkanes can be dehydrogenated to a-olefins, which then can undergo a Friedel-Crafts reaction with benzene as described above for the nonlinear olefins. Sulfonation and basification gives the LAS detergent. 

Rearrangement can also occur after the initial alkylation. The reaction of 2-chloro-2-methylbutane with benzene under Friedel-Crafts conditions is an example of this behavior.30 With relatively mild Friedel-Crafts catalysis such as BF3 or FeCl3, the main... 

Alkylation. Friedel-Crafts alkylation (qv) of benzene with ethylene or propylene to produce ethylbenzene [100-41 -4], CgH10, or isopropylbenzene [98-82-8], C9H12 (cumene) is readily accomplished in the liquid or vapor phase with various catalysts such as BF3 (22), aluminum chloride, or supported polyphosphoric acid. The oldest method of alkylation employs the liquid-phase reaction of benzene with anhydrous aluminum chloride and ethylene (23). Ethylbenzene is produced commercially almost entirely for styrene manufacture. Cumene [98-82-8] is catalytically oxidized to cumene hydroperoxide, which is used to manufacture phenol and acetone. Benzene is also alkylated with C1Q—C20 linear alkenes to produce linear alkyl aromatics. Sulfonation of these compounds produces linear alkane sulfonates (LAS) which are used as biodegradable deteigents. 

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