Nucleophilic substitution epoxides

Normal range of nucleophilic reactivity, ease of preparation, thermal stability Efficient opening of epoxides Nucleophilic substitution and conjugate addition... 

Next in what amounts to an intramolecular Williamson ether synthesis the alkoxide oxygen attacks the carbon that bears the halide leaving group giving an epoxide As m other nucleophilic substitutions the nucleophile approaches carbon from the side oppo site the bond to the leaving group... 

Overall the stereospecificity of this method is the same as that observed m per oxy acid oxidation of alkenes Substituents that are cis to each other m the alkene remain CIS m the epoxide This is because formation of the bromohydrm involves anti addition and the ensuing intramolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction takes place with mver Sion of configuration at the carbon that bears the halide leaving group... 

H-Dibenz[6,/]azepine-5-carboxamide pharmacological properties, 7, 546 Dibenz[6,e]azepine-6,11-dione, 10-amino-reactions, 7, 526 Dibenz[6,e]azepinediones intramolecular nucleophilic substitution, 7, 516 synthesis, 7, 531 Dibenz[6,e]azepine-5,11-diones epoxides, 7, 515 reduction, 7, 525... 

Unlike most ethers, epoxides (compounds in which the C—O—C unit forms a three-membered ring) are very reactive substances. The principles of nucleophilic substitution are important in understanding the preparation and properties of epoxides. 

The experimental observations combine with the principles of nucleophilic substitution to give the picture of epoxide ring opening shown in Figure 16.5. The nucleophile attacks the less crowded carbon from the side opposite the carbon-oxygen bond. Bond... 

An a ,/3-epoxycarboxylic ester (also called glycidic ester) 3 is formed upon reaction of a a-halo ester 2 with an aldehyde or ketone 1 in the presence of a base such as sodium ethoxide or sodium amide. Mechanistically it is a Knoevenagel-type reaction of the aldehyde or ketone 1 with the deprotonated a-halo ester to the a-halo alkoxide 4, followed by an intramolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction to give the epoxide 3 ... 

The method is quite useful for particularly active alkyl halides such as allylic, benzylic, and propargylic halides, and for a-halo ethers and esters, but is not very serviceable for ordinary primary and secondary halides. Tertiary halides do not give the reaction at all since, with respect to the halide, this is nucleophilic substitution and elimination predominates. The reaction can also be applied to activated aryl halides (such as 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene see Chapter 13), to epoxides, " and to activated alkenes such as acrylonitrile. The latter is a Michael type reaction (p. 976) with respect to the alkene. 

The proposed betaine intermediates can be formed, in a completely different manner, by nucleophilic substitution by a phosphine on an epoxide (10-50) ... 

Epoxides can be converted to alkenes by treatment with triphenylphosphine or triethyl phosphite P(OEt)3. The first step of the mechanism is nucleophilic substitution (10-50), followed by a four-center elimination. Since inversion accompanies the substitution, the overall elimination is anti, that is, if two groups A and C are cis in the epoxide, they will be trans in the alkene ... 

Cir—R S Nucleophilic substitution, conjugate addition and epoxide ring-opening h... 

As mentioned earlier, the McDonald group was able to extend their epoxide-domino-cyclization strategy to 1,5,9-triepoxides [10]. Indeed, they were successful in converting precursor 1-143 into the tricyclic product 1-146 in 52 % yield after hydrolysis (Scheme 1.36) [41]. As a possible mechanism of this polyoxacyclization it can be assumed that, after activation of the terminal epoxide by BF3, a sequence of intramolecular nucleophilic substitutions by the other epoxide oxygens takes place, which is induced by a nucleophilic attack of the carbonate oxygen, as indicated in 1-144 to give 1-145. 

The highly strained three-membered ring of epoxides makes them much more reactive toward nucleophilic substitution than other ethers. 

The normal pathway toward excretion of foreign molecules like aflatoxin Bi and dibenzo [a,/]pyrene, however, also involves nucleophilic substitution reactions of their epoxides. 

The wide scope application of this transformation arises not only from the utility of epoxide compounds but also from the subsequent regiocontrolled and stereocontrolled nucleophilic substitution (ring-opening) reactions of the derived epoxy alcohol. These, through further functionalization, allow access to an impressive array of target molecules in enantiomerically pure form. 

Payne rearrangement. The Payne rearrangement2 of a primary cts-2,3-epoxy alcohol to a secondary 1,2-epoxy alcohol usually requires a basic aqueous medium, but it can be effected with BuLi in THF, particularly when catalyzed by lithium salts. As a consequence, the rearrangement becomes a useful extension of the Sharpless epoxidation, with both epoxides available for nucleophilic substitutions. Thus the more reactive rearranged epoxide can be trapped in situ by various organometallic nucleophiles. Cuprates of the type RCu(CN)Li are particularly effective for this purpose, and provide syn-diols (3).3... 

Oxidation is the first step for producing molecules with a very wide range of functional groups because oxygenated compounds are precursors to many other products. For example, alcohols may be converted to ethers, esters, alkenes, and, via nucleophilic substitution, to halogenated or amine products. Ketones and aldehydes may be used in condensation reactions to form new C-C double bonds, epoxides may be ring opened to form diols and polymers, and, finally, carboxylic acids are routinely converted to esters, amides, acid chlorides and acid anhydrides. Oxidation reactions are some of the largest scale industrial processes in synthetic chemistry, and the production of alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, epoxides and carboxylic acids is performed on a mammoth scale. For example, world production of ethylene oxide is estimated at 58 million tonnes, 2 million tonnes of adipic acid are made, mainly as a precursor in the synthesis of nylons, and 8 million tonnes of terephthalic acid are produced each year, mainly for the production of polyethylene terephthalate) [1]. 

In contrast to the relative chemical stability of mono-epoxides, diol epoxides of fatty acids (10.52), which are formed from di-epoxides by EH, are subject to a different fate. In such metabolites, intramolecular nucleophilic substitution may occur, such that oxirane opening is accompanied by formation of a tetrahydrofuran ring [134], Such reactions of intramolecular nucleophilic substitution are discussed in detail in Sect. 11.9. In the case of diol epoxides of fatty acids, the resulting tetrahydrofuran-diols (10.53) are part of a much larger ensemble of oxygenated metabolites of fatty acids, the potential cytotoxicities of which are being evaluated [135]. 

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