Cyclic ethers, ring opening

Reaction with Cyclic Ethers. Ring opening of epoxides, ox-etanes, and tetrahydrofurans with phenyl trimethylsilyl selenide... 

The rings of cyclic ethers are opened more readily than in the acyclic series e.g. tetrahydropyran with aqueous hydrochloric acid at 100°C gives C1(CH2)5C1. 

Cyclic amino-carbenes, in molybdenum carbonyls, 5, 457 Cyclic bis(phosphine) dichlorides, with iron carbonyls, 6, 48 Cyclic carbenes, as gold atom ligands, 2, 289 Cyclic carbometallation, zirconium complexes, 10, 276 Cyclic carbozirconation characteristics, 10, 276 intermolecular reactions, 10, 278 intramolecular reactions, 10, 278 Cyclic dinuclear ylides, and gold , 2, 276 Cyclic 1,2-diols, intramolecular coupling to, 11, 51 Cyclic enones, diastereoselective cuprate additions, 9, 515 Cyclic esters, ring-opening polymerization, via lanthanide catalysis, 4, 145 Cyclic ethers... 

Oxetanes The least common cyclic ethers are the four-membered oxetanes. Because these four-membered rings are strained, they are more reactive than larger cyclic ethers and open-chain ethers. They are not as reactive as the highly strained oxiranes (epoxides), however. 

As mentioned in earlier sections (1.5.2.4.5 and 1.5.2.4.6), BF3-OEt2 has proven to be uniquely well-suited for use in combination with organocopper reagents. In fact, in the presence of BF3 OEt2, acetals react smoothly in ether solution with either RCu or R2CuLi, the latter being more reactive. No reaction occurs in THF, which competes with the substrate for Lewis acid complexation. Mixtures of cyclic and ring-opened substitution products are obtained upon treatment of tetrahydropyranyl ethers with RCu-... 

The key initiation step in cationic polymerization of alkenes is the formation of a carbocationic intermediate, which can then interact with excess monomer to start propagation. We studied in some detail the initiation of cationic polymerization under superacidic, stable ion conditions. Carbocations also play a key role, as I found not only in the acid-catalyzed polymerization of alkenes but also in the polycondensation of arenes as well as in the ring opening polymerization of cyclic ethers, sulfides, and nitrogen compounds. Superacidic oxidative condensation of alkanes can even be achieved, including that of methane, as can the co-condensation of alkanes and alkenes. 

Cyclic ether and acetal polymerizations are also important commercially. Polymerization of tetrahydrofuran is used to produce polyether diol, and polyoxymethylene, an excellent engineering plastic, is obtained by the ring-opening polymerization of trioxane with a small amount of cycHc ether or acetal comonomer to prevent depolymerization (see Acetal resins Polyethers, tetrahydrofuran). 

Cyclic aryl ether ketones have been prepared from l,2-bis(4- uoroben2oyl)ben2ene and bisphenols under pseudo high dilution conditions. These materials undergo ring-opening polymeri2ation in the presence of an anionic catalyst (87). 

The addition of nucleophiles to cyclic fluoroolefins has been reviewed by Park et al. [2 ]. The reaction with alcohols proceeds by addition-elimination to yield the cyclic vinylic ether, as illustrated by tlie reaction of l,2-dichloro-3,3-di-fluorocyclopropene Further reaction results in cyclopropane ring opening at the bond opposite the difluoromethylene carbon to give preferentially the methyl and ortho esters of (Z)-3-chloro-2-fluoroacrylic acid and a small amount of dimethyl malonate [29] (equation 8). 

For the most part, cyclic ethers behave like acyclic ethers. The chemistry of the ether functional group is the same, whether it s in an open chain or in a ring. Common cyclic ethers such as tetrahydrofuran and dioxane, for example, are often used as solvents because of their inertness, yet they can be cleaved by strong acids. 

The one group of cyclic ethers that behaves differently from open-chain ethers contains the three-membered-ring compounds called epox.id.es, or oxiranes,... 

A comparison of the cationic polymerization of 2,3-dihydrofurans with that of furan and 2-alkylfurans shows that the complications of the latters two, arising from the dienic character of the monomers, obviously vanish when the monomer is a simple cyclic vinyl ether with just one reactive site, viz. the carbon-carbon double bond. However, it also points out that ring opening in the polymerization of furans by acidic catalysts in the absence of water is unlikely, because otherwise it would also occur to some degree in the polymerization of dihydrofurans. 

Cycloalkenones and/or their derivatives can also behave as dienic partners in the Diels-Alder cycloaddition. It is well documented [41] that cyclic acetals, for example, can interconvert with ring-opened enol ether forms, in a reversible manner the latter compounds can then be trapped by various dienophiles. Thus dienes 119 and 120 reacted with [60]-fullerene (Ceo) at high pressure, affording highly thermally stable products [42] (Scheme 5.16). Ketones 123 and 124 could be directly obtained by cycloaddition of enol forms 121 and 122 of 2-cyclopen-ten-and 2-cyclohexen-l-one, respectively. 

Quite often in the ring-opening polymerization, the polymer is only the kinetic product and later is transformed to thermodynamically stable cycles. The cationic polymerization of ethylene oxide leads to a mixture of poly(ethylene oxide) and 1,4-dioxane. In the presence of a cationic initiator poly(ethylene oxide) can be almost quantitatively transformed to this cyclic dimer. On the other hand, anionic polymerization is not accompanied by cyclization due to the lower affinity of the alkoxide anion towards linear ethers only strained (and more electrophilic) monomers can react with the anion. 

The ring-opening of the cyclopropane nitrosourea 233 with silver trifiate followed by stereospecific [4 + 2] cycloaddition yields 234 [129]. (Scheme 93) Oxovanadium(V) compounds, VO(OR)X2, are revealed to be Lewis acids with one-electron oxidation capability. These properties permit versatile oxidative transformations of carbonyl and organosilicon compounds as exemplified by ring-opening oxygenation of cyclic ketones [130], dehydrogenative aroma-tization of 2-eyclohexen-l-ones [131], allylic oxidation of oc,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compounds [132], decarboxylative oxidation of a-amino acids [133], oxidative desilylation of silyl enol ethers [134], allylic silanes, and benzylic silanes [135]. 

The effect of substituents and the relief of strain is also visible in certain cyclic ethers. The presence of adjacent oxygen in the following cyclic ether assists ring opening smoothly at 60°C and... 

As far as the polymerisation of heterocyclic compounds with one hetero-atom is concerned (cyclic ethers and their analogues) there seems little doubt at present that the propagation involves a displacement at the positive propagating centre. The ring which is part of this -onium ion is opened between the charged atom and a carbon atom next to it, and this becomes attached to the hetero-atom of the monomer ... 

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