Fluorous-phase separations

The strategy of using two phases, one of which is an aqueous phase, has now been extended to fluorous . systems where perfluorinated solvents are used which are immiscible with many organic reactants nonaqueous ionic liquids have also been considered. Thus, toluene and fluorosolvents form two phases at room temperature but are soluble at 64 °C, and therefore,. solvent separation becomes easy (Klement et ai, 1997). For hydrogenation and oxo reactions, however, these systems are unlikely to compete with two-phase systems involving an aqueous pha.se. Recent work of Richier et al. (2000) refers to high rates of hydrogenation of alkenes with fluoro versions of Wilkinson s catalyst. De Wolf et al. (1999) have discussed the application and potential of fluorous phase separation techniques for soluble catalysts. 

E. de Wolf, G. van Koten and B.-J. Deelman (1999) Chemical Society Reviews, vol. 28, p. 37 - Fluorous phase separation techniques in catalysis . 

A. Studer, S. Hadida, R. Ferritto, S.Y. Kim, P. Jeyer, P. Wipf, D.P. Curran, Fluorous synthesis — A fluorous-phase strategy for improving separation efficiency in organic synthesis. Science 275 823-826 1997. 

Figure 6.2 Separation of products by (a) cyclic anhydrides as acyl donors and (b) fluorous phase technique.

The term fluorous biphase has been proposed to cover fully fluorinated hydrocarbon solvents (or other fluorinated inert materials, for example ethers) that are immiscible with organic solvents at ambient conditions. Like ionic liquids the ideal concept is that reactants and catalysts would be soluble in the (relatively high-boiling) fluorous phase under reaction conditions but that products would readily separate into a distinct phase at ambient conditions (Figure 5.5). 

Furthermore, multicomponent reactions can also be performed under fluorous-phase conditions, as shown for the Ugi four-component reaction [96], To improve the efficiency of a recently reported Ugi/de-Boc/cyclization strategy, Zhang and Tempest introduced a fluorous Boc group for amine protection and carried out the Ugi multicomponent condensation under microwave irradiation (Scheme 7.84). The desired fluorous condensation products were easily separated by fluorous solid-phase extraction (F-SPE) and deprotected by treatment with trifluoroacetic acid/tet-rahydrofuran under microwave irradiation. The resulting quinoxalinones were purified by a second F-SPE to furnish the products in excellent purity. This methodology was also applied in a benzimidazole synthesis, employing benzoic acid as a substrate. 

Fluorous ligands introduce an ease of purification in that the tagged phosphine ligand, the palladium catalyst complexed ligand, and the oxidized ligand can be completely removed by direct fluorous solid-phase separation (F-SPE) prior to product isolation. Similarly, an example of a fluorous palladium-catalyzed microwave-induced synthesis of aryl sulfides has been reported, whereby the product purification was aided by fluorous solid-phase extraction [91]. 

Some of the disadvantages of the Stille reaction, e. g. the low reactivity of some substrates, separation difficulties in chromatography, and the toxicity of tin compounds, have been ameliorated by recent efforts to improve the procedure. Curran has, in a series of papers, reported the development of the concept of fluorous chemistry, in which the special solubility properties of perfluorinated or partly fluorinated reagents and solvents are put to good use [45]. In short, fluorinated solvents are well known for their insolubility in standard organic solvents or water. If a compound contains a sufficient number of fluorine atoms it will partition to the fluorous phase, if such a phase is present. An extraction procedure would thus give rise to a three-phase solution enabling ready separation of fluorinated from nonfluorinated compounds. 

Various other biphasic solutions to the separation problem are considered in other chapters of this book, but an especially attractive alternative was introduced by Horvath and co-workers in 1994.[1] He coined the term catalysis in the fluorous biphase and the process uses the temperature dependent miscibility of fluorinated solvents (organic solvents in which most or all of the hydrogen atoms have been replaced by fluorine atoms) with normal organic solvents, to provide a possible answer to the biphasic hydroformylation of long-chain alkenes. At temperatures close to the operating temperature of many catalytic reactions (60-120°C), the fluorous and organic solvents mix, but at temperatures near ambient they phase separate cleanly. Since that time, many other reactions have been demonstrated under fluorous biphasic conditions and these form the basis of this chapter. The subject has been comprehensively reviewed, [2-6] so this chapter gives an overview and finishes with some process considerations. 

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