Clays solid supports

Most of the parallel reactions described in Schemes 4.23 and 4.24 were performed as dry-media reactions, in the absence of any solvent. In many cases, the starting materials and/or reagents were supported on an inorganic solid support, such as silica gel, alumina, or clay, that absorbs microwave energy or acts as a catalyst for the reaction (see also Section 4.1). In this context, an interesting method for the optimization of silica-supported reactions has been described [83], The reagents were co-spotted neat or in solution onto a thin-layer chromatographic (TLC) plate. 

The quest for a solvent-free deprotection procedure has led to the use of relatively benign reagent, ammonium persulfate on silica, for regeneration of carbonyl compounds (Scheme 6.10) [48]. Neat oximes are simply mixed with solid supported reagent and the contents are irradiated in a MW oven to regenerate free aldehydes or ketones in a process that is applicable to both, aldoximes and ketoximes. The critical role of surface needs to be emphasized since the same reagent supported on clay surface delivers predominantly the Beckmann rearrangement products, the amides [49]. 

The practical applications of NaBH4 reductions on mineral surfaces for in situ generated SchifFs bases have been successfully demonstrated. The solid-state reductive amination of carbonyl compounds on various inorganic solid supports such as alumina, clay, silica etc. and especially on K 10 clay surface rapidly afford secondary and tertiary amines [126]. Clay behaves as a Lewis acid and also provides water from its interlayers thus enhancing the reducing ability of NaBH4 [22],... 

Reaction of pyrones under dassical conditions requires the use of high temperatures to obtain low to moderate yields. The Diels-Alder reaction of pyrones has been performed in a commercial microwave oven under solvent-free conditions on solid supports such as silica gel, montmorillonite, fitrol clay and alumina. The reaction time was dramatically reduced - from 4 h to 4 min (Scheme 9.9) [50],... 

There ate many environmental applications of adsorption in practice and many others are being developed (Noble and Terry, 2004). Activated carbons and clays are frequently used for the removal of organic contaminants, such as phenol and aniline, both of which are prevalent in industry wastewaters and are known to have a significant negative impact on marine life and human health (IRIS, 1998 Dabrowski et al., 2005). Moreover, the adsorption on inexpensive and efficient solid supports has been considered a simple and economical viable method for the removal of dyes from water and wastewater (Forgacsa et al., 2004). Activated carbon, clays, coal, vermiculite, and other adsorbents have been used for this purpose. Specifically, adsorption can be employed in (Noble and Terry, 2004 Dabrowski, 2001) ... 

Microwave heating has proven to be of benefit particularly for reactions under dry media (e.g., solvent-free conditions) in open vessel systems (i.e., in the absence of a solvent, on solid support with or without catalysts) [4]. Reactions under dry conditions were originally developed in the late 1980 s [51], but solventless systems under microwave conditions offer several additional advantages. The absence of solvent reduces the risk of explosions when the reaction takes place in a closed vessel. Moreover, aprotic dipolar solvents with high boiling points are expensive and difficult to remove from the reaction mixtures. During microwave induction of reactions under dry conditions, the reactants adsorbed on the surface of alumina, silica gel, clay, and other mineral supports absorb microwaves whereas the support does not, and transmission of microwaves is not restricted. Moreover, microwaves can interact directly with reagents and, therefore, can more efficiently drive chemical reactions. The possible accelerations of such reactions are expected... 

To summarize briefly the use of nmr methods for the structural and dynamic problems at hand, a first class of applications is the direct observation of the nuclei present in the solid support (29Si, 27A1, 170, in the first place). Alternatively, one may examine nuclei of ionic species (23Na, 35C1, 39K, etc.) or of neutrals ( H, 13C, etc.) interacting with the clay surface. In this second mode, one reaps information about restriction in ionic or molecular mobility, translational and reorientational, due to the proximity of the aluminosilicate solid surface. 

For the development of a sustainable chemistry based on clean technologies, the best solvent would be no solvent at all. For this reason, considerable efforts have recently been made to design reactions that proceed under solvent-free conditions, using modern techniques such as reactions on solid mineral supports (alumina, silica, clays), solid-state reactions without any solvent, support, or catalyst between neat reactants, solid-liquid phase-transfer catalysed and microwave-activated reactions, as well as gas-phase reactions [37-42]. However, not all organic reactions can be carried out in the absence of a solvent some organic reactions even proceed explosively in the solid state Therefore, solvents will still be useful in mediating and moderating chemical reactions and this book on solvent effects will certainly not become superfluous in the foreseeable future. 

The literature of supported transition metal complexes has been thoroughly reviewed. In this article, the chemistry of supported complexes is covered in general terms by class of solid support these include metal oxides, clay minerals, zeolites, polymers, and ion-exchange resins. 

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