Copper oxidation catalysts aromatic compounds

Low molecular weight aromatic ethers have been prepared principally by the condensation of phenolate salts with aromatic halides 82). The Ullmann condensation (81), which employs copper or its salts as catalysts has been used in most cases in the laboratory. Recently a modification of the Ullmann condensation which consists of heating copper (1) oxide, the free phenol, and the aromatic halide in s-collidine has been reported (3). This method is recommended for alkali-sensitive aromatic compounds. In addition, reaction of phenolate salts with copper (1) oxide and the aromatic halide in boiling N,N-dimethyl formamide is described. When the halogen is activated by electronegative groups as in -chloroni-... 

Block copolymers may also be made by condensation polymerization. Elastomer fibers are produced in a three-step operation. A primary block of a polyether or polyester of a molecular weight of 1000-3000 is prepared, capped with an aromatic diisocyanate, and then expanded with a diamine or dihydroxy compound to a multiblock copolymer of a molecular weight of 20,000. The oxidative coupling of 2,6-disubstituted phenols to PPO is also a condensation polymerization. G. D. Cooper and coworkers report the manufacture of a block copolymer of 2,6-dimethyl-phenol with 2,6-diphenylphenol. In the first step, a homopolymer of diphenylphenol is preformed by copper-amine catalyst oxidation. In the second step, oxidation of dimethylphenol in the presence of the first polymer yields the block copolymer. 

The keto group of a keto ester may be preferentially reduced by catalytic hydrogenation. Excellent yields of hydroxy esters are obtained. Copper-chromium oxide catalyst has been employed in the preparation of methyl p-(a-hydroxyethyl)-benzoate and several aliphatic -hydroxy esters. The last compounds have also been made by hydrogenation over nickel catalysts.Substituted mandelic esters are prepared by catalytic reduction of aromatic a-keto esters over a palladium catalyst. Similarly, platinum oxide and copper-chromium oxide have been used in the aliphatic series for the preparation of the a-hydroxy diester, diethyl... 

A specific description of a preferred practice of the invention with vanillin as the aromatic compound is as follows. Vanillin is dissolved in water with one molar equivalent of sodium hydroxide while the solution is warmed to 50°-100° C. One molar equivalent of iodine and two molar equivalents of sodium iodide are added to water to prepare one molar equivalent of NalS.Nal. This sodium triiodide solution is added to the sodium vanillate solution along with a catalytic amount of sulfuric acid--preferably from 5 to 10 mole %. The mixture is stirred about one hour at a temperature of 50°-100° C., then sodium hydroxide is added to make the solution alkaline (from 1 to 5N). The copper catalyst is then added and the mixture heated at reflux until the iodovanillin is consumed, about 12 hours. The excess hydroxide is then neutralized and the 5-hydroxyvanillin extracted with a water-immiscihle organic solvent. The aqueous phase bearing the sodium iodide is then subjected to oxidizing conditions and the resultant iodine precipitates from solution. The solid element is filtered out, and a sodium triiodide solution prepared by reducing a portion of the iodine to sodium iodide and dissolving the iodine in the iodide to make the sodium triiodide solution. 

In order to overcome certain difficulties such as the dissipation of heat and the use of inflammable mixtures, certain liquid phase processes have been proposed for the oxidation of aromatic hydrocarbons and compounds. In such a process 100 the aromatic hydrocarbons or their halogenated derivatives are treated with air or gas containing free molecular oxygen in the liquid phase at temperatures above ISO0 C. and under pressure in the presence of a substantial quantity of liquid water. A small quantity of such oxidation catalysts as oxides or hydroxides of copper, nickel, cobalt, iron or oxides of manganese, cerium, osmium, uranium, vanadium, chromium and zinc is used. The formation of benzaldehyde from toluene is claimed for the process. 

Matsuchita et al. [38] have used RuCoAl hydrotalcites for highly efUcient oxidation of alcohols and aromatic compounds using molecular oxygen. Zhu et at. [39] studied hydroxylation of phenol in the liquid phase over copper containing (CuAI-HT) hydrotalcites. The results inferred that among the catalysts studied, the catalyst with Cu/AI 3 atomic ratio showed the highest activity for the conversion of phenol and activity of the fresh (uncalcined) samples was higher than the calcined samples. Ternary hydrotalcites such as Ni(Mg)Al, Mg(Mn)AI, have also been found active for various oxidative transformation reactions [40]. 

A novel ring-opening reaction of oxirans, catalysed by copper and pyridine, generates c/s-diols under mild conditions. The bicyclic epoxides (186 = 1 or 2) yield (187 n = 1) (95%) and (187 = 2) (85%) in neutral, phosphate-buffered, solution. This type of reaction may have some relevance to the metabolic pathways for fused aromatic compounds, which are thought to proceed via arene oxides and diol epoxides. The catalyst system may be used to add OH", Cr, or MeO regiospecifically to the benzylic centre of indene oxide, with proton addition to the oxygen atom of oxiran. 

Copper (I) salts act as catalysts in the form of their complex with primary, secondary, or tertiary amines. Primary and secondary aliphatic amines must be used at low temperatures, since otherwise they are oxidized. Primary aromatic amines are oxidized to azo compounds, and secondary aromatic compounds probably to hydrazo compounds. Pyridine is very suitable. 

In contrast to the alkynylation of acidic C-H bonds which can also be achieved using alkynyliodonium salts, the direct C-H functionalization of aromatic compounds or olefins has never been realized with this class of reagents so far. However, after several unsuccessful attempts using palladium or copper catalysts and alkynyliodonium salts for the alkynylation of heterocycles, Waser and Brand reported in 2009 the first efficient alkynylation of indoles using TIPS-EBX 52 and AuCl as catalyst (Scheme 18) [117]. With indole, selective C3-aIkynylation was obtained. The reaction was tolerant to many functional groups such as bromides, acids, or alcohols. The method was already used in the synthesis of starting materials for Friedel-Crafts reactions of aminocyclopropanes [118] and for hydroamidation to access indole c -enamides [119]. In 2010, Nevado and de Haro demonstrated that alkynylation was also possible using directly terminal propiolic ester derivatives and (diacetoxyiodo)benzene as co-oxidant [120]. 

Despite its synthetic importance, the mechanism of the copper-quinoline method has been studied very little, but it has been shown that the actual catalyst is cuprous ion. In fact, the reaction proceeds much faster if the acid is heated in quinoline with cuprous oxide instead of copper, provided that atmospheric oxygen is rigorously excluded. A mechanism has been suggested in which it is the cuprous salt of the acid that actually undergoes the decarboxylation. It has been shown that cuprous salts of aromatic acids are easily decarboxylated by heating in quinoline and that arylcopper compounds are intermediates that can be isolated in some cases. Metallic silver has been used in place of copper, with higher yields. ... 

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