Ethere Williamson synthesis

Higher alkyl ethers are prepared by treating the sodium derivative of the phaiol (made by adding the phenol to a solution of sodium ethoxide in ethyl alcohol) with the alkyl iodide or bromide (Williamson synthesis), for example ... 

Methyl chloride can be converted iato methyl iodide or bromide by refluxing ia acetone solution ia the presence of sodium iodide or bromide. The reactivity of methyl chloride and other aUphatic chlorides ia substitution reactions can often be iacteased by usiag a small amount of sodium or potassium iodide as ia the formation of methyl aryl ethers. Methyl chloride and potassium phthalimide do not readily react to give /V-methy1phtha1imide unless potassium iodide is added. The reaction to form methylceUulose and the Williamson synthesis to give methyl ethers are cataly2ed by small quantities of sodium or potassium iodide. 

The conversion of chlorohydrins into epoxides by the action of base is an adaptation of the Williamson synthesis of ethers. In the presence of hydroxide ion, a small proportion of the alcohol exists as alkoxide, which displaces the chloride ion from the adjacent carbon atom to produce a cycHc ether (2). 

By use of a modification of the well-known Williamson synthesis it is possible to prepare a number of cellulose ethers. Of these materials ethyl cellulose has found a small limited applieation as a moulding material and somewhat greater use for surfaee eoatings. The now obsolete benzyl cellulose was used prior to World War II as a moulding material whilst methyl eellulose, hyroxyethyl eellulose and sodium earboxymethyl eellulose are useful water-soluble polymers. 

Because the Williamson synthesis is an S 2 reaction, it is subject to all the usual constraints, as discussed in Section 11.2. Primary halides and tosylates work best because competitive E2 elimination can occur with more hindered substrates. Unsymmetrical ethers should therefore be synthesized by reaction between the more hindered alkoxide partner and less hindered halide partner rather than vice versa. For example, terf-butyl methyl ether, a substance used in the 1990s as an octane booster in gasoline, is best prepared by reaction of tert-butoxide ion. with iodomethane rather than by reaction of methoxide ion with 2-chloro-2-methylpropane. 

Problem 18,3 How would you prepare the following ethers using a Williamson synthesis ... 

How would you prepare ethyl phenyl ether Use whichever method you think is more appropriate, the Williamson synthesis or the alkoxymercuration reaction. 

Strategy Draw the target ether, identify the two groups attached to oxygen, and recall the limitations of the two methods for preparing ethers. The Williamson synthesis uses an Sn2 reaction and requires that one of the two groups attached to oxygen be either... 

Treatment of a thiol with a base, such as NaH, gives the corresponding thiolate ion (RS-), which undergoes reaction with a primary or secondary alkyl halide to give a sulfide. The reaction occurs by an Sn2 mechanism, analogous to the Williamson synthesis of ethers (Section 18.2). Thiolate anions are among... 

The modified Williamson synthesis with NaOH and chloroacetic acid or monochlorosodium acetate for the preparation of ether carboxylates is very old [3-8] and is suitable for batch production of different types of ethercarboxylates. 

Conditions employing elevated temperatures with less catalyst, a milder catalyst or without addition of catalyst, can supplant those utilizing aggressive reagents at lower temperatures. A recent example concerns a catalytic, thermal etherification that can be performed near neutrality and that produces minimal waste [41]. This represents a cleaner alternative to the traditional Williamson synthesis, in which the ether is... 

The application of phase-transfer catalysis to the Williamson synthesis of ethers has been exploited widely and is far superior to any classical method for the synthesis of aliphatic ethers. Probably the first example of the use of a quaternary ammonium salt to promote a nucleophilic substitution reaction is the formation of a benzyl ether using a stoichiometric amount of tetraethylammonium hydroxide [1]. Starks mentions the potential value of the quaternary ammonium catalyst for Williamson synthesis of ethers [2] and its versatility in the synthesis of methyl ethers and other alkyl ethers was soon established [3-5]. The procedure has considerable advantages over the classical Williamson synthesis both in reaction time and yields and is certainly more convenient than the use of diazomethane for the preparation of methyl ethers. Under liquidrliquid two-phase conditions, tertiary and secondary alcohols react less readily than do primary alcohols, and secondary alkyl halides tend to be ineffective. However, reactions which one might expect to be sterically inhibited are successful under phase-transfer catalytic conditions [e.g. 6]. Microwave irradiation and solidrliquid phase-transfer catalytic conditions reduce reaction times considerably [7]. 

Selected examples of the catalysed Williamson synthesis of aliphatic ethers... 

Williamson synthesis org chem The synthesis of ethers utilizing an alkyl iodide and sodium alcoholate. wil-yom-san sin-tha-sas )... 

Ethers may be prepared by (1) dehydration of alcohols and (11) Williamson synthesis. The boiling points of ethers resemble those of alkanes while their solubility Is comparable to those of alcohols having same molecular mass. The C-O bond In ethers can be cleaved by hydrogen halides. In electrophilic substitution, the alkoxy group activates the aromatic ring and directs the Incoming group to ortho and para positions. 

Illustrate with examples the limitations of Williamson synthesis for the preparation of certain types of ethers. 

Problem 14.12 Use any needed starting material to synthesize the following ethers, selecting from among intermolecular dehydration, Williamson synthesis, and alkoxymercuration-demercuration. Justify your choice of method. 

Williamson synthesis of an aryl alkyl ether requires the Ar to be part of the nucleophile ArO and not the halide, since ArX does not readily undergo 5 2 displacements. Note that since ArOH is much more acidic than ROH, it is converted to ArO" by OH instead of by Na as required for ROH. 

Direct reduction of an aldehyde or ketone to the corresponding ether could potentially telescope two reactions, reduction and protection, into one step. S. Chandrasekhar of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, reports (Tetrahedron Lett. 2004,45,5497) that in the present of polymethylhydrosiloxane (PMHS) and catalytic B(C6F,), TMS ethers of alcohols will convert aldehydes to the corresponding dialkyl ethers. The reaction works well for both saturated and benzylic alcohols. This may prove to be a useful alternative to Williamson synthesis for the preparation of complex ethers. 

WILLIAMSON SYNTHESIS. An organic method for preparing ethers by the interaction of an alkylhalide with a sodium alcoholate (or phenolate). 

In fact, the reaction of alkoxides with alkyl halides or alkyl sulfates is an important general method for the preparation of ethers, and is known as the Williamson synthesis. Complications can occur because the increase of nucleo-philicity associated with the conversion of an alcohol to an alkoxide ion always is accompanied by an even greater increase in eliminating power by the E2 mechanism. The reaction of an alkyl halide with alkoxide then may be one of elimination rather than substitution, depending on the temperature, the structure of the halide, and the alkoxide (Section 8-8). For example, if we wish to prepare isopropyl methyl ether, better yields would be obtained if we were to... 

The so-called Williamson synthesis of ethers is by far the most important ether synthesis because of its versatility it can be used to make unsymmetrical ethers as well as symmetrical ethers, and aryl alkyl ethers as well as dialkyl ethers. These reactions involve the nucleophilic substitution of alkoxide ion or phenoxide ion for halide (equation 70).26°... 

This involves the direct nucleophilic displacement of halogen in an alkyl halide by an alkoxide ion (the Williamson synthesis) (Expt 5.72), and the method is particularly useful for the preparation of mixed ethers. For an unsymmetrical ether [e.g. t-butyl ethyl ether (7)], the disconnection approach suggests two feasible routes. 

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