Butyl cations, alkylation with

This alkylation is a typical electrophilic aromatic substitution, with the ferf-butyl cation acting as the electrophile. The ferf-butyl cation is formed by reaction of ferf-butyl chloride with the catalyst, aluminum chloride. The ferf-butyl cation reacts with benzene to form a sigma complex. Loss of a proton gives the product, fm-butylbenzenc. The aluminum chloride catalyst is regenerated in the final step. 

An Eli Lilly group developed a mild procedure for protecting and deprotecting hindered phenols as their Boc derivatives [Scheme 4.354].673 The protection was carried out in hexane, which gave better results than acetonitrile or dichloro-methane routinely used in this type of transformation. In the case of phenols with a free ortho or para position, standard deprotection conditions (trifluoro-acetic acid) caused the formation of a substantial amount of a by-product (21 % in case of 354 2) in which the liberated fm-butyl cation alkylated the aromatic ring — a reaction that was completely suppressed by using 3 M aqueous hydrochloric acid in dioxane. 

We can extend the general principles of electrophilic addition to acid catalyzed hydration In the first step of the mechanism shown m Figure 6 9 proton transfer to 2 methylpropene forms tert butyl cation This is followed m step 2 by reaction of the car bocation with a molecule of water acting as a nucleophile The aUcyloxomum ion formed m this step is simply the conjugate acid of tert butyl alcohol Deprotonation of the alkyl oxonium ion m step 3 yields the alcohol and regenerates the acid catalyst... 

When usiag HF TaF ia a flow system for alkylation of excess ethane with ethylene (ia a 9 1 molar ratio), only / -butane was obtained isobutane was not detectable even by gas chromatography (72). Only direct O -alkylation can account for these results. If the ethyl cation alkylated ethylene, the reaction would proceed through butyl cations, inevitably lea ding also to the formation of isobutane (through /-butyl cation). 

Less reactive electrophilic reagents like those involved in acylation or alkylation apparently do not react with phenyl-substituted pyrylium salts the p-acylation of a phenyl group in position 3 of the pyrylium salt obtained on diacylation of allylbenzene (Section II, I), 3, a), and the p-l-butylation of phenyl groups in y-positions of pyrylium salts prepared by dehydrogenation of 1,5-diones by means of butyl cations (Section II, B, 2, f) probably occur in stages preceding the pyrylium ring closure. 

The most stable of all alkyl cations is the tert-butyl cation. Even the relatively stable tert-pentyl and fen-hexyl cations fragment at higher temperatures to produce the tert-butyl cation, as do all other alkyl cations with four or more carbons so far studied. Methane,ethane, and propane, treated with superacid, also yield ten-butyl cations as the main product (see 2-17). Even paraffin wax and polyethylene give the ten-butyl cation. Solid salts of frrf-butyl and rerf-pentyl cations (e.g., MeaC" SbFg ) have been prepared from superacid solutions and are stable below -20°C. ... 

There is direct evidence, from IR and NMR spectra, that the re/T-butyl cation is quantitatively formed when tert-butyl chloride reacts with AICI3 in anhydrous liquid HCl. In the case of alkenes, Markovnikov s rule (p. 984) is followed. Carbocation formation is particularly easy from some reagents, because of the stability of the cations. Triphenyhnethyl chloride and 1-chloroadamantane alkylate activated... 

Replacing an a-alkyl snbstituent by an a-aryl group is expected to stabilize the cationic center by the p-Jt resonance that characterizes the benzyl carbocations. In order to analyze such interaction in detail, the cumyl cation was crystallized with hexafluoroantimonate by Laube et al. (Fig. 13) A simple analysis of cumyl cation suggests the potential contributions of aromatic delocalization (Scheme 7.3), which should be manifested in the X-ray structure in terms of a shortened cationic carbon—aromatic carbon bond distance (C Cat). Similarly, one should also consider the potential role of o-CH hyperconjugation, primarily observable in terms of shortened CH3 distances. Notably, it was found experimentally that the Cai distance is indeed shortened to a value of 1.41 A, which is between those of typical sp -sp single bonds (1.51 A) and sp -sp double bonds (1.32 A). In the meantime, a C -CH3 distance of 1.49 A is longer than that observed in the tert-butyl cation 1 (1.44 A), and very close to the normal value for an sp -sp single bond. 

The direct protonation of isobutane, via a pentacoordinated carbonium ion, is not likely under typical alkylation conditions. This reaction would give either a tertiary butyl cation (trimethylcarbenium ion) and hydrogen, or a secondary propyl cation (dimethylcarbenium ion) and methane (37-39). With zeolites, this reaction starts to be significant only at temperatures higher than 473 K. At lower temperatures, the reaction has to be initiated by an alkene (40). In general, all hydrocarbon transformations at low temperatures start with the adsorption of the much more reactive alkenes, and alkanes enter the reaction cycles exclusively through hydride transfer (see Section II.D). 

Theoretically, even the direct alkylation of carbenium ions with isobutane is feasible. The reaction of isobutane with a r-butyl cation would lead to 2,2,3,3-tetramethylbutane as the primary product. With liquid superacids under controlled conditions, this has been observed (52), but under typical alkylation conditions 2,2,3,3-TMB is not produced. Kazansky et al. (26,27) proposed the direct alkylation of isopentane with propene in a two-step alkylation process. In this process, the alkene first forms the ester, which in the second step reacts with the isoalkane. Isopentane was found to add directly to the isopropyl ester via intermediate formation of (non-classical) carbonium ions. In this way, the carbenium ions are freed as the corresponding alkanes without hydride transfer (see Section II.D). This conclusion was inferred from the virtual absence of propane in the product mixture. Whether this reaction path is of significance in conventional alkylation processes is unclear at present. HF produces substantial amounts of propane in isobutane/propene alkylation. The lack of 2,2,4-TMP in the product, which is formed in almost all alkylates regardless of the feed (55), implies that the mechanism in the two-step alkylation process is different from that of conventional alkylation. 

With both liquid acid catalysts, but presumably to a higher degree with sulfuric acid, hydrides are not transferred exclusively to the carbenium ions from isobutane, but also from the conjunct polymers 44,46,71). Sulfuric acid containing 4-6 wt% of conjunct polymers produces a much higher quality alkylate than acids without ASOs (45). Cyclic and unsaturated compounds, which are both present in conjunct polymers, are known to be hydride donors (72). As was mentioned in Section II.B, these species can abstract a hydride from isobutane to form the -butyl cation, and they can give a hydride to a carbenium ion, producing the corresponding alkane, for example the TMPs, as shown in reactions (7) and (8). 

The isopentene produced will either be protonated or be added to another carbenium ion. With a butyl cation, this would lead to a nonyl cation. The resultant carbenium ion fragment can accept a hydride and form a product heptane, or it can possibly add a butene to form a Cn cation. With hydride transfer, another alkane with an odd number of carbon atoms is produced. Just this example is sufficient to show the huge variety of possible reactions. By means of gas chromatographic analysis, Albright and Wood (82) found about 100-200 peaks in the C9-C16 region, regardless of the alkene and acid employed. A similar number of products can be observed for solid acid-catalyzed alkylation. 

The crucial step in self-alkylation is decomposition of the butoxy group into a free Brpnsted acid site and isobutylene (proton transfer from the Fbutyl cation to the zeolite). Isobutylene will react with another t-butyl cation to form an isooctyl cation. At the same time, a feed alkene repeats the initiation step to form a secondary alkyl cation, which after accepting a hydride gives the Fbutyl cation and an -alkane. The overall reaction with a linear alkene CnH2n as the feed is summarized in reaction (10) ... 

While the formation of multiadducts in the above reactions clearly demonstrates the difficulties confronted in terms of controlling the reaction, the issue of whether C6o and C70 undergo addition by carbon electrophiles is of great interest, because such a reaction would provide a useful method for carbon-carbon bond formation for the derivatization of fiillerenes. Initial attempts to test the possibility of electrophilic alkylation of C6o with terf-butyl chloride and AICI3 gave only polymeric products, probably formed via isobutene, indicating the insufficient reactivity of C60 towards terf-butyl cation. 

The assumption that tertiary alkyl cations are not stable in solvents other than super-acids is widespread and was apparently well founded on many experiments by different workers over many years [20, 24]. For this reason the stability of our polymerised solutions was astonishing and it seemed at first unlikely that the cation of the electrolyte could be a simple tertiary ion the tert-butyl cation in the experiment with tert-butyl bromide and the ions 2-4 in the polymerised solutions. This was because we did not know then that Cesca,... 

This absorption is in fact due to the ions derived from l-methyl-3-phenylindane (the cyclic dimer of styrene) and its higher homologues (oligostyrenes with indanyl end groups). There can be no doubt that the ions formed at the end of the polymerisation of styrene belong to the same families of compounds (indanyl and various phenyl alkyl carbonium ions [7]). Our evidence showed that the 1-phenylethyl cation is absent from the ions formed from styrene by excess of acid its dimeric homologue, the l,3-diphenyl- -butyl cation, is a minor component of the ion mixture. We refer to this mixture of ions formed rapidly from styrene by excess acid, or at the end of a styrene polymerisation, as SD (styrene-derived) ions. 

Alkyl cations are thus not directly observed in sulphuric acid systems, because they are transient intermediates present in low concentrations and react with the olefins present in equilibrium. From observations of solvolysis rates for allylic halides (Vernon, 1954), the direct observation of allylic cation equilibria, and the equilibrium constant for the t-butyl alcohol/2-methylpropene system (Taft and Riesz, 1955), the ratio of t-butyl cation to 2-methylpropene in 96% H2SO4 has been calculated to be 10 . Thus, it is evident that sulphuric acid is not a suitable system for the observation of stable alkyl cations. In other acid systems, such as BFj-CHsCOOH in ethylene dichloride, olefins, such as butene, alkylate and undergo hydride transfer producing hydrocarbons and alkylated alkenyl cations as the end products (Roberts, 1965). This behaviour is expected to be quite general in conventional strong acids. 

High activity associated with x = 0.5 composition demonstrates an optimum concentration of acid-base sites is needed for phenol adsorption and subsequent polarization of both phenol and isobutene as in the ease of other alkylations. It was proposed that in the phenol t-butylation, t-butyl carbocation ean attaek phenol from the adsorbed as well as from the gaseous state resulted in the formation of para t-butylated products such as 4-tBP and 2,4-tBP. The steric hindrance of t-butyl group prevents the sequential attack of t-butyl cation at ortho position for dialkylation and that demonstrated the negligible formation of 2,6-di-t-butyl phenol. 

Flectrophilic addition of polychloroalkanes such as, e.g., chloroform or 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane to Cjq with AICI3 in a 100-fold excess gives the monoadduct with a 1,4-addition pattern (Scheme 8.12) [93, 94], The reaction proceeds via a CjqR cation (19, Scheme 8.12) that is stabilized by the coordination of a chlorine atom to the cationic center. The cation is trapped by Cl to give the product 20. The chloroalkyl fullerenes can be readily hydrolyzed to form the corresponding fullerenol 21. This fullerenol can be utilized as a proper precursor for the cation, which is easily obtained by adding triflic acid. The stability of CjqR is similar to tertiary alkyl cations such as the tert-butyl-cation [95],... 

There is direct evidence, from ir and nmr spectra, that the f-butyl cation is quantitatively formed when f-butyl chloride reacts with A1CI3 in anhydrous liquid HCI.246 In the case of olefins, Markovnikov s rule (p. 750) is followed. Carbocation formation is particularly easy from some reagents, because of the stability of the cations. Triphenylmethyl chloride247 and 1-chloroadamantane248 alkylate activated aromatic rings (e.g., phenols, amines) with no catalyst or solvent. Ions as stable as this are less reactive than other carbocations and often attack only active substrates. The tropylium ion, for example, alkylates anisole but not benzene.249 It was noted on p. 337 that relatively stable vinylic cations can be generated from certain vinylic compounds. These have been used to introduce vinylic groups into aryl substrates.250... 

R H) is much faster than alkylation, so that alkylation products are also derived from the new alkanes and carbocations formed in the exchange reaction. Furthermore, the carbo-cations present are subject to rearrangement (Chapter 18), giving rise to new carbocations. Products result from all the hydrocarbons and carbocations present in the system. As expected from their relative stabilities, secondary alkyl cations alkylate alkanes more Teadily than tertiary alkyl cations (the r-butyl cation does not alkylate methane or ethane). Stable primary alkyl cations are not available, but alkylation has been achieved with complexes formed between CH3F or C2H5F and SbFs-212 The mechanism of alkylation can be formulated (similar to that shown in hydrogen exchange with super acids, 2-1) as... 

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