Ethers of benzyl alcohol

Dibenzyl ether is oxidized to hydroperoxide which decomposes under mild conditions to benzaldehyde and benzyl alcohol [186—188,294], viz. 

Benzaldehyde and benzoic acid are formed in small amounts in parallel with the hydroperoxide, probably from the decomposition [197,203] 

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An economical, practical, and environmentally acceptable procedure was elaborated for oxidative deprotection of trimethylsilyl ethers to their corresponding carbonyl compounds. The reaction proceeded in a solventless system, within a short period of time, and yields were good. On irradiation in a conventional microwave for 30 s, trimethylsilyl ether of benzyl alcohol in the presence of mont-morilonite KIO and finely grounded Fe(N03)3 9H2O gave rise to benzaldehyde in 95% yield. The applicability of this method was tested with several aromatic, alicyclic, and aliphatic trimethylsilyl ethers. Duration did not exceed 1 min, and yields were not lower than 80% (Mojtahedi et al. 1999). 

The 2-chloro-l,2-difluorovinyl ether of furfuryl alcohol also rearranges at — 35l C despite loss of aromaticity. Methanolysis then affords ester 12, which requires heating to 90 C for rearoma-tization. The 2-chloro-l,2-difluorovinyl ether of benzyl alcohol is sufficiently stable to be isolated but rearranges at room temperature methanolysis affords chlorofluoro(2-tolyl)acetic acid ester 13. Apparently, a 1,3-benzyl shift is not favored in this case, as opposed to other fluorine-containing vinyl benzyl ether systems discussed in Section 5.1.3. 

Potassium fluoride on basic alumina, combined with ultrasound, has been demonstrated to be an effective system for the deprotection of TBDMS ethers of phenols. When conducted in acetonitrile at 25-55°C, TBDMS ethers of benzyl alcohols are not affected. The following example is illustrative. 

A one-pot conversion of benzyl alcohols to benzyl fluorides by treatment of the alcohols with a combination of methanesulfonyl fluoride, cesium fluoride and 18-crown 6 ether in tetrahydrofuran has been repotted The reaction involves mesylation of the alcohols followed by cleavage of the resultant mesyl esters with a fluoride ion The reaction has been extended also to certain heterocycles bearing the N hydroxymethyl group [43] (equation 31)... 

The enol ether formed by a reaetion of benzyl alcohol with perfluorocyclo-pentene is transformed on heating in the presence of concentrated sulfunc acid into a fluorinated enol [25] (equation 22)... 

HBr, AcOH, reflux, 30 min, 85%. The efficiency of this method is significantly improved if a phase transfer catalyst ( -Ci6H33P Bu3 Br ) is added to the mixture. Methods that use HBr for ether cleavage can give bromides in the presence of benzylic alcohols. ... 

That is, the reaction of primary alcohols or ethers with a calculated amount of BTMA Br3 in carbon tetrachloride-water in the presence of Na2HP04 at 60°C gave dimeric esters in good yields. In the case of benzyl alcohol, the only oxidation product was benzaldehyde (Fig. 20). 

The main oxidation product from dibenzyl ether is benzaldehyde (up to 80% yield) with smaller amounts of benzyl alcohol and benzoic acid. The rates of oxidation are only slightly affected by major stereochemical changes, and it is considered that an outer-sphere oxidation of the ether is followed by radical breakdown, viz. 

Loss of catalytic activity resulting from internal displacements is not usually a serious problem below temperatures of about 100 C. However, highly active R-groups, such as benzyl, methyl and allyl, undergo internal displacement more readily, particularly in the presence of strong nucleopfiles. For instance, the presence phenolates and thiolates may lead to the formation of benzyl alcohol, ethers, or sulphides from benzyl-substituted quaternary ammonium salts. 

With the sodium derivative of benzyl alcohol, dibenzyl ether was obtained in 63% yield, accompanied by 24% of A-benzylimidazole. Formation of the latter compound results from the reaction of the benzyl sulfonate with imidazol sodium in competition with the second step of the ether synthesis (b). 

Ono and Kamimura have found a very simple method for the stereo-control of the Michael addition of thiols, selenols, or alcohols. The Michael addition of thiolate anions to nitroalkenes followed by protonation at -78 °C gives anti-(J-nitro sulfides (Eq. 4.8).11 This procedure can be extended to the preparation of a/jti-(3-nitro selenides (Eq. 4.9)12 and a/jti-(3-nitro ethers (Eq. 4.10).13 The addition products of benzyl alcohol are converted into P-amino alcohols with the retention of the configuration, which is a useful method for anri-P-amino alcohols. This is an alternative method of stereoselective nitro-aldol reactions (Section 3.3). The anti selectivity of these reactions is explained on the basis of stereoselective protonation to nitronate anion intermediates. The high stereoselectivity requires heteroatom substituents on the P-position of the nitro group. The computational calculation exhibits that the heteroatom covers one site of the plane of the nitronate anion.14... 

Izumi and Urabe [105] found first that POM compounds could be entrapped strongly on active carbons. The supported POMs catalyzed etherization of ferf-butanol and n-butanol, esterification of acetic acid with ethanol, alkylation of benzene, and dehydration of 2-propanol [105], In 1991, Neumann and Levin [108] reported the oxidation of benzylic alcohols and amines catalyzed by the neutral salt of Na5[PV2Mo10O40] impregnated on active carbon. Benzyl alcohols were oxidized efficiently to the corresponding benzaldehydes without overoxidation ... 

Furthermore, the mediator has been used for the bond cleavage of benzyl ethers, the oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde, the oxidation of toluene derivatives to benzoic acid esters, and the oxidation of aliphatic ethers [47]. 

The reaction conditions were mild (room temperature, 1 atm CO) and a two-fold excess of base was used along with a catalytic amount of cobalt carbonyl. The product distribution was quantified by VPC. The mixtures contained starting material, ester product, and various amounts of methyl benzyl ether. No detectable amounts of benzyl alcohol, ketones, or hydrocarbons were seen. Potassium methoxide alone afforded mostly the ether. A mixture of potassium methoxide and alumina gave a slight improvement in ester yield but the predominant product was again the ether. In contrast, when potassium methoxide on alumina was used, the carboxyalkylated product, methyl phenylacetate, was prepared in 70 yield with little ether detected. Benzyl chloride reacted in a similar fashion under these mild reaction conditions. Other alkoxide and carbonate bases could be used as... 

Since lignin is not a uniform entity, chemical criteria for its characterization have centred around analytical detenninations of its functional groups, e.g. total hydroxyl content, phenolic hydroxyls (56), methoxyl and other ether groups, benzyl alcohol groups (7a), carbonyl groups (6), etc., and estimations of its content of special structural features, e.g. phenylcoumaran units (5), biphenylyl linkages (123), etc. 

Benzyl dodecyl ether (typical procedure). Phenyltellurotrimethylsilane (0.610 g, 2.2 mmol) is added to a solution of benzyl alcohol (0.238 g, 2.2 mmol) in dry benzene (10 mL) under Nj. After stirring for 30 min at room temperature, Znl2 (0.016 g, 0.05 mmol) in benzene (3 mL) is added, followed by dodecanal (0.184 g, 1.0 mmol). Stirring is maintained for 3 h and then HjO is added, the mixture is extracted with benzene and the benzene extract is dried (MgS04) and evaporated under vacuum. The residue is chromatographed on SiOj (elution with benzene/hexane), giving the product (0.265 g (96%)). 

Tertiary amides derived from pyrrole, indole and carbazole were hydro-genolyzed to alcohols and amines by refluxing in ether with a 75% excess (0.88 mol) of lithiwn aluminum hydride. Benzoyl derivatives of the above heterocycles afforded 80-92.5% yields of benzyl alcohol and 86-90% yields of the amines [7704]. 

In addition to the alkylation of benzyl alcohols with silyl enol ethers, the hydroxyl group could be removed in a reduction employing triethylsilane Et3SiH as the reductant. With 1 mol% of Bi(OTf)3 as the catalyst, the desired (5-arylester 34 could be isolated in 75% yield (Scheme 26). 

Metal salts and complexes have also often been used as redox catalysts for the indirect electrochemical oxidation of alcohols. Particularly, the transformation of benzylic alcohols to benzaldehydes has been studies. For this purpose oxoruthe-nium(IV) and oxoruthenium(V) complexes have been applied as redox catalysts. In a similar way, certain benzyl ethers can be cleaved to yield benzaldehydes and the corresponding alcohols using a di-oxo-bridged binuclear manganese complex Electrogenerated 02(804)3 was used to generated 1-naphthaldehyde from 1-naphthylmethanol... 

Hydrogenolysis of benzyl alcohols 0-79 Reduction of benzylic ethers 0-86 Coupling of halides containing aryl groups... 

Amino Alcohol Catalyzed Alkylation. (—)-3-exo-(Dimethylamino)-isobomeol [( —)-DAIB] is a sterically restrained jS-dialkylamino alcohol that has proven to be an extremely efficient catalyst 13). For instance, in the presence of 2 mol % of (—)-DAIB, the reaction of benzaldehyde and diethylzinc proceeds smoothly to give, after aqueous workup, (5)-1 -phenyl-1 -propanol in 98% ee and in 97% yield along with a small amount of benzyl alcohol (Scheme 9). Nonpolar solvents such as toluene, hexane, ether, or their mixtures produce satisfactory results. The optical yield in toluene is affected by temperature and decreases from 98% at —20°C to less than 95% at 50°C. The catalytic enantioselective reaction has been extended to a range of alkylating agents and aldehyde substrates, which are summarized in Scheme 10 (75). p-Substituted ben-... 

Use of benzyl alcohol resulted in formation of the benzyl ether corresponding to allyl ethers 52, but attempted Claisen rearrangement resulted in an 82 % yield of the product of a 1,3-benzyl shift (see Section 5.1.3.).20 To demonstrate the utility of the methodology outlined in Table 14, x-oxoester 53a was converted into the corresponding x-amino acid by hydrolysis and reductive animation.20... 

Reduction of derivatives of ally lie alcohols. Nickel boride can effect reduction of allylic alcohols to alkenes, but yields are generally improved by reduction of the acetates, benzoates, or trifluoroacetates.1 Reduction of allylic benzyl ethers to alkenes is effected in higher yield with Raney nickel. Methyl ethers are not reduced by either reagent. The trimethylsilyl ethers of allylic alcohols are reduced to alkenes by nickel boride in diglyme.2... 

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