Epoxidation side reactions

BF3 OEt2 activates the epoxide- Side reactions may occur... 

Open chain ethers are not cleaved by HF or other fluoride sources. Epoxides, however, are easily opened by HF or KHF to fluorohydrins. The reaction has been widely used in steroid chemistry (equation 44). Dexamethasone is still a practical, important corticoid, which is synthesized on an industrid scale with the help of an epoxide-opening reaction (equation 45). 23 7 6 low temperature needed for rigid steroidal epoxides and the high regio- and stereo-selectivity are remarkable. HF/pyridine is even more convenient for the opening of rigid epoxides. Side reactions often predominate with nonrigid, less reactive epoxides. 2 ... 

The third and newest modified natural mbber available is epoxidized natural mbber (ENR). This modification was actually discovered as early as 1922 (50), although the elimination of ring opening and side reactions to give a purely epoxidized material took another 50 years or so to achieve (51). The resulting polymer is a new material, with properties totally different from natural mbber, as iadicated ia Table 5. 

The primary determinant of catalyst surface area is the support surface area, except in the case of certain catalysts where extremely fine dispersions of active material are obtained. As a rule, catalysts intended for catalytic conversions utilizing hydrogen, eg, hydrogenation, hydrodesulfurization, and hydrodenitrogenation, can utilize high surface area supports, whereas those intended for selective oxidation, eg, olefin epoxidation, require low surface area supports to avoid troublesome side reactions. 

The epoxidation is generally conducted in two steps (/) the polyol is added to epichlorohydrin in the presence of a Lewis acid catalyst (stannic chloride, boron triduoride) to produce the chlorohydrin intermediate, and (2) the intermediate is dehydrohalogenated with sodium hydroxide to yield the aliphatic glycidyl ether. A prominent side-reaction is the conversion of aliphatic hydroxyl groups (formed by the initial reaction) into chloromethyl groups by epichlorohydrin. The aliphatic glycidyl ether resins are used as flexibilizers for aromatic resins and as reactive diluents to reduce viscosities in resin systems. 

Titanium-IV compounds with their Lewis acid activity may catalyze an interfering rearrangement of the starting allylic alcohol or the epoxy alcohol formed. In order to avoid such side-reactions, the epoxidation is usually carried out at room temperature or below. 

Epoxidation of olefins with meta-chloroperbenzoic acid, (MCPBA) remains to this day among the most widely used methods for research-scale applications [16], Discovered by Nikolai Prilezahev in 1909 [17], it became popular only decades later, mostly through the works of Daniel Swern in the 1940s [18]. Despite its simplicity, and not unlike most epoxidation methods in use today, it suffers from undesired epoxide opening caused by the slight acidity of the reaction milieu. Although acid-catalyzed side reactions can sometimes be minimized by use of buffered systems... 

Epoxide formation may be a side reaction occurring during initiation by t-butylperoxy radicals. The mechanism proposed for this process is as follows (Scheme 3,831, 1... 

There are, however, numerous cases where electronegative additives can act as promoters for catalytic reactions. Typical examples are the use of Cl to enhance the selectivity of Ag epoxidation catalysts and the plethora of electrochemical promotion studies utilizing O2 as the promoting ion, surveyed in Chapters 4 and 8 of this book. The use of O, O8 or O2 as a promoter on metal catalyst surfaces is a new development which surfaced after the discovery of electrochemical promotion where a solid O2 conductor interfaced with the metal catalyst acts as a constant source of promoting O8 ions under the influence of an applied voltage. Without such a constant supply of O2 onto the catalyst surface, the promoting O8 species would soon be consumed via desorption or side reactions. This is why promotion with O2 was not possible in classical promotion, i.e. before the discovery of electrochemical promotion. 

Aldehydes and ketones can also be converted to epoxides by treatment with a diazoalkane,most commonly diazomethane, but an important side reaction is the formation of an aldehyde or ketone with one more carbon than the starting compound (Reaction 18-9). The reaction can be carried out with many aldehydes, ketones, and quinones. A mechanism that accounts for both products is... 

The principal side reaction to epoxide coupling is hydrolysis. Particularly at acid pH values, the epoxide ring can hydrolyze to form adjacent hydroxyls. This diol can be oxidized with periodate to create a terminal aldehyde residue with loss of one molecule of formaldehyde (Chapter 1, Section 4.4). The aldehyde then can be used in reductive amination reactions. The reaction of an epoxide group with an ammonium ion generates a terminal primary amine group that also can be used for further derivatization. 

Even as large a molecule as cholesterol was epoxidized in the presence of Ti-MCM-41 catalyst (198). An epoxide selectivity of 53% at 48% conversion was achieved. The oxidation of the OH group and allylic oxidations were important side reactions. 

The oxidative cyclization of vinylallenes need not be directed by a pendant hydroxyl group in order to succeed. The higher reactivity of the allene compared with the exocyclic methylene group in 73 (Eq. 13.23) with monoperphthalic acid leads primarily to the allene oxide which rearranges to cydopentenone 74 [27]. Inevitably some epoxidation of the alkene also takes place during the reaction. When m-CPBA is used as the oxidant, another side reaction is associated with m-chlorobenzoic add-mediated decomposition of the intermediate epoxide. It is possible to overcome this problem by performing the epoxidation in dichloromethane in a two-phase system with aqueous bicarbonate so as to buffer the add [28]. 

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