Alkane conversion

Pd NPs prepared in CN-functionalized ILs were active for the selective hydrogenation of alkynes [28]. In the presence of Ibar Hj, 3-hexyne was partially hydrogenated to the ds-alkene with 92% selectivity at full conversion. Alkanes as the major products could be obtained on increasing the hydrogen... 

Chemical reactivity and functional group transformations involving the preparation of alkyl halides from alcohols and from alkanes are the mam themes of this chapter Although the conversions of an alcohol or an alkane to an alkyl halide are both classi tied as substitutions they proceed by very different mechanisms... 

Reforming is the conversion primarily of naphthenes and alkanes to aromatics, but other reactions also occur under commercial conditions. Platinum or platinum/rhenium are the hydrogenation/ dehydrogenation component of the catalyst and alumina is the acid component responsible for skeletal rearrangements. 

The conversion of a primary or secondary nitro alkane 1 to a carbonyl compound 3 via an intermediate nitronate 2 is called the Nef reaction. Since carbonyl compounds are of great importance in organic synthesis, and nitro alkanes can on the other hand be easily prepared, the Nef reaction is an important tool in organic chemistry. 

Wolff-Kishner reaction (Section 19.9) The conversion of an aldehyde or ketone into an alkane by reaction with hydrazine and base. 

Some other processes are known for sulfoxidation but have no technical importance. The acetic anhydride process has attracted some interest because it does not need exposure to light and enables conversion rates up to 15% of paraffin feedstock. Once started by peroxide or UV light initiation, it propagates without further radical-forming initiation steps. The addition of some 2.5% acetic anhydride to the reacting alkane is crucial to form a mixed anhydride of par-... 

The radical chain mechanism of the sulfochlorination is very similar to that of the chlorination. Accordingly, in normal cases the regioselectivities of the sulfochlorination and the chlorination are equal. For example, (-1) substituents decrease the reactivities of the adjacent C-H bond. This influence can even be observed at the y position. Thus, the consecutive second sulfochlorination affords no geminal or vicinal disulfochlorides in the product. Where there are differences between the regioselectivities of sulfochlorination and chlorination (as in the case of isoalkanes), it is because under the conditions of sulfochlorination, chlorination also takes place to a considerable extent. Figure 6 shows the main components of a sulfochlorination mixture. Today the kinetics and the regioselectivity of the sulfochlorination of /z-alkanes are so well known that the kinetic modeling of the concentration-conversion curves is possible for all partners of the reaction [12]. 

A modern sulfochlorination is run continuously (Fig. 7). To limit the formation of di- and polysulfochlorides (Fig. 8) up to eight reactors are connected in a cascade. For a 25% alkane conversion, a residence time of 4-5 h is necessary if the circulating and cooling systems are appropriately designed. Since a lower gas flow rate promotes the formation of di- and polysulfochlorides, it makes no sense to run a sulfochlorination plant much below name-plate capacity. 

The alkanephosphonic acid dichlorides obtained by these methods are converted with amines, with all reactions carried out in solvents such as acetone, benzene, or diethyl ether at 10°C with triethylamine as HC1 captor. The conversion runs quantitatively followed by a purification with the help of column chromatography with chloroform/methanol in a ratio of 9 1 as mobile phase. The alkanephosphonic acid bisdiethanolamides could be obtained as pure substances with alkane residues of C8, C10, C12, and Ci4. The N-(2-hydroxyethane) alkanephosphonic acid 0,0-diethanolamide esters were also prepared in high purity. The obtained surfactants are generally stable up to 100°C. Only the alkanephosphonic acid bismonomethylamides are decomposed beneath this temperature forming cyclic compounds. 

The equilibrium (1) at the electrode surface will lie to the right, i.e. the reduction of O will occur if the electrode potential is set at a value more cathodic than E. Conversely, the oxidation of R would require the potential to be more anodic than F/ . Since the potential range in certain solvents can extend from — 3-0 V to + 3-5 V, the driving force for an oxidation or a reduction is of the order of 3 eV or 260 kJ moR and experience shows that this is sufficient for the oxidation and reduction of most organic compounds, including many which are resistant to chemical redox reagents. For example, the electrochemical oxidation of alkanes and alkenes to carbonium ions is possible in several systems... 

Conversion of Alkyl Halides, Alcohols, or Alkanes to Carboxylic Acids and Their Derivatives... 

Even with the limitation on yield implied by the statistical process, cross-dimerization is still useful when one of the reactants is an alkane, because the products are easy to separate, and because of the few other ways to functionalize an alkane. The cross-coupling of an alkane with trioxane is especially valuable, because hydrolysis of the product (10-6) gives an aldehyde, thus achieving the conversion RH RCHO. The mechanism probably involves abstraction of H by the excited Hg atom, and coupling of the resulting radicals. 

It was mentioned above that even alkanes undergo Wagner-Meerwein rearrangements if treated with Lewis acids and a small amount of initiator. An interesting application of this reaction is the conversion of tricyclic molecules to adamantane and its derivatives. It has been found that all tricyclic alkanes containing 10 carbons are converted to adamantane by treatment with a Lewis acid such as AICI3. If the substrate contains more than 10 carbons, alkyl-substituted adamantanes are produced. The lUPAC name for these reactions is Schleyer adamantization. Two examples are... 

It is possible to perform the conversion CH2 C=0 on an alkane, with no functional groups at all, though the most success has been achieved with substrates in which all CH2 groups are equivalent, such as unsubstituted cycloalkanes. One method uses H2O2 and bis(picolinato)iron(II). With this method, cyclohexane was converted with 72% efficiency to give 95% cyelohexanone and 5% cyclohexanol. ... 

This was also accomplished with BaRu(0)2(OH)3. The same type of conversion, with lower yields (20-30%), has been achieved with the Gif system There are several variations. One consists of pyridine-acetic acid, with H2O2 as oxidizing agent and tris(picolinato)iron(III) as catalyst. Other Gif systems use O2 as oxidizing agent and zinc as a reductant. The selectivity of the Gif systems toward alkyl carbons is CH2 > CH > CH3, which is unusual, and shows that a simple free-radical mechanism (see p. 899) is not involved. ° Another reagent that can oxidize the CH2 of an alkane is methyl(trifluoromethyl)dioxirane, but this produces CH—OH more often than C=0 (see 14-4). ... 

This section contains dehydrogenations to form alkenes and unsaturated ketones, esters and amides. It also includes the conversion of aromatic rings to alkenes. Reduction of aryls to dienes is found in Section 377 (Alkene-Alkene). Hydrogenation of aryls to alkanes and dehydrogenations to form aryls are included in Section 74 (Alkyls from Alkenes). 

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