Benzyl alcohols steric effects

The alternative synthetic route using the sodium salt of benzyl alcohol and an isopropyl halide would be much less effective because of increased competition from elimination as the alkyl halide becomes more sterically hindered... 

Coordination numbers ranging from five to seven were observed, and they appeared to be controlled by the steric bulk of the supporting amidinate and coligands. Complexes 2-5 and 7 were found to be active catalysts for the pol3uneiization of D,L-lactide (e.g., with 2 and added benzyl alcohol, 1000 equiv of D,L-lactide were polymerized at room temperature in <1 h). The neutral complexes 2, 5, and 7 were more effective than the anionic complexes 3 and 4. ... 

A similar steric effect was observed in the reaction of benzyl carboxylate (44). When 44a-d were treated with Bu OK under solvent-free conditions at around 100 °C for 30 min, the corresponding condensation products 45a (75%), 45b (66%), 45c (64%), and 45d (84%) were obtained in the yields indicated [9] (Scheme 6). When the same reactions of 44a-d and Bu OH were carried out in toluene under reflux for 16 h, no condensation product was obtained and 44a-d were recovered unchanged. In solution reactions, exchange of the alkoxy group occurs among the substrate, reagent, and solvent. Therefore, the alkoxy groups of the ester, metal alkoxide, and alcohol used as a solvent should be identical. 

John Ward has functionalized an indane using method D in route to tetra-petalone A (46) (Fig. 4.24).25 The o-OBoc benzyl alcohol 44 undergoes addition with two equivalents of Grignard and affords after acidic workup the phenolic indane 45 in 73% yield. Because of steric effects, only one diastereomer is observed after hydrolysis of the enol ether and thermodynamic equilibration of the... 

The acyclic version of Larock s heteroannulation was successfully applied to the synthesis of highly substituted pyridines [166]. The annulation of rert-butylimine 210 with phenyl propargyl alcohol produced pyridine 211 regioselectively in excellent yield. The regiochemistry obtained was governed by steric effects. Furthermore, the choice of imines was crucial to the success of the heteroannulations. terr-Butylimine was the substrate of choice, since all other imines including methyl, isopropyl, allyl and benzyl imines failed completely to produce the desired heterocyclic products. 

Much emphasis has been placed on the selectivity of quaternary ammonium borohydrides in their reduction of aldehydes and ketones [18-20]. Predictably, steric factors are important, as are mesomeric electronic effects in the case of 4-substituted benzaldehydes. However, comparison of the relative merits of the use of tetraethyl-ammonium, or tetra-n-butylammonium borohydride in dichloromethane, and of sodium borohydride in isopropanol, has shown that, in the competitive reduction of benzaldehyde and acetophenone, each system preferentially reduces the aldehyde and that the ratio of benzyl alcohol to 1-phenylethanol is invariably ca. 4 1 [18-20], Thus, the only advantage in the use of the ammonium salts would appear to facilitate the use of non-hydroxylic solvents. In all reductions, the use of the more lipophilic tetra-n-butylammonium salt is to be preferred and the only advantage in using the tetraethylammonium salt is its ready removal from the reaction mixture by dissolution in water. 

Iodolactonization of y, o-unsaturated alcohols results in preferential formation of tram-2, 5-disubstituted tetrahydrofuranes. However, the corresponding benzyl ethers cyclize preferentially to the cis-isomers. The alkyl group must be bulky enough to exert a steric effect, but not to prevent cyclization. Substituted benzyl ethers are particularly useful. Examples of this steric control are illustrated for the preparation of tram- and c/s-linalyl oxide (equations I and II).10... 

In principle, there are two factors that will influence the catalytic activity First, the collapsed PNIPA layer probably presents a higher steric barrier for benzyl alcohol molecules to diffuse from bulk aqueous dispersion to the surface of AuNPs, causing the reaction to slow down (as shown in Fig. 8). Second, with the increase of temperature, water-soluble hydrophilic PNIPA networks become oil-soluble and hydrophobic, which is favorable for the diffusion of hydrophobic benzyl alcohol onto the AuNP surface (as shown in Fig. 14). Thus, the catalytic activity of Au composite particles should increase with increasing temperature. Figure 15 demonstrates that the second effect prevails over most of the temperature range the TOF value at 40°C... 

One exception to the amorphous structure has been reported [30]. Crystalline polybenzyl was obtained from the low temperature (- 125° C) polymerization of benzyl chloride. However, the reaction was difficult to reproduce [31,32]. Consequently this procedure is not an effective method for the synthesis of linear polybenzyls. The usual amorphous, highly branched structure is formed as a result of a lack of positional selectivity and multiple substitution of the arene rings. Similar polymeric structures are obtained upon the polymerization of other nonsubstituted benzyl halides and benzyl alcohol [29]. The highly branched structure is a consequence of the involvement of benzyl carbenium ions in the Friedel-Crafts reaction. Benzyl substituents activate the monosubstituted phenyl groups toward further benzylation reaction. However, monomers containing alkyl substituents that sterically hinder substitution at the ortho position have been polymerized to linear polybenzyls. For example, the following... 

In systems where Brownian motion is significant, the relative viscosity decreases with the increase in the particle size. Figure 8 shows Krieger s data (31) for a 50% monodispersion of polystyrene spheres in benzyl alcohol in the absence of both steric and electroviscous forces. At a given shear stress, the relative viscosity decreases with the increase in the particle size. This result implies that the importance of the Brownian motion decreases with increase in particle size. Krieger (3i) showed that the effect of the... 

Due to the steric environment presented by the ortho piperidine group, displacement of the benzylic alcohol proved problematic. Although displacement of the alcohol could be effected when R was less sterically imposing, this route was less desirable due to the need to tolerate a benzylic amine during introduction of the piperidine fragment. The most efficient protocol for introduction... 

Competitive oxidation experiments were carried out in order to confirm this high selectivity towards primary alcohols. Thus, mixtures of benzyl alcohol with octan-2-ol or 1-phenylethanol were reacted and no carbonyl products resulting from the oxidation of the secondary alcohols were observed (Table XIV). This lack of reactivity of secondary alcohols may be explained by two factors affecting the catalytic cycle. (1) Steric effects between the methyl groups of TEMPO and the alkyl group of the secondary alcohol can hinder the formation of the active species III (Fig. 34a), crucial for the C-H abstraction. (2) In addition, in the case of primary alcohols, the... 

Oxidation of Alcohols to Aldehydes and Ketones. Hyper-valent iodine compounds have powerful oxidizing capabilities. However, IBX possesses different properties than many similar oxidants, such as the related analogs iodoxybenzene and m-iodoxybenzoic acid. Until recently, the major application of IBX was its use in DMSO for the oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes at room temperature, without the danger of over-oxidation to carboxylic acids. The related iodo-oxy reagents oxidize benzyl alcohols to benzaldehydes at elevated temperatures in benzene (80 °C, 5-10 h) or in acetic acid (rt, 24 h), while IBX oxidizes the same compounds in 15 min (or less) at room temperature. IBX is equally effective for the oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones under analogous conditions. Even sterically hindered alcohols are readily oxidized. Bomeol undergoes smooth oxida-... 

By adding one equivalent of alcohol to CDI at room temperature with or without base it is possible to isolate the imidazole-iV-carboxylate, which then reacts with a second mole of ROH to yield the carbonate. As in the case of alcoholysis of imidazolides, the reaction can be accelerated so effectively with catalytic amounts of NaOC2H5 or ImNa that it takes place in most cases exothermically, even at room temperature. However, tert-butyl alcohol, even when in excess, affords with CDI and base catalysis at room temperature only the imidazole-N-tert-butylcarboxylate, obviously for steric reasons. At higher temperature the carbonic ester is formed. Mixed carbonates such as ethyl benzyl carbonate or ethyl terf-butyl carbonate can be prepared with two different alcohols added sequentially.C9],[229]... 

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