Friedel-Crafts alkylation activation

In contrast with other electrophilic substitutions, including Friedel-Crafts acylations, Friedel-Crafts alkylations activate the aromatic ring to further electrophilic substitution, leading to product mixtures. 

Other typical electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions—nitration (second entry) sul fonation (fourth entry) and Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation (fifth and sixth entnes)—take place readily and are synthetically useful Phenols also undergo elec trophilic substitution reactions that are limited to only the most active aromatic com pounds these include mtrosation (third entry) and coupling with diazomum salts (sev enth entry)... 

Optically active 2-arylalkanoic acid esters have been prepared by the Friedel-Crafts alkylation of arenes with optically active a-sulfonyloxy esters (40). Friedel-Crafts alkylation of ben2ene with (5)-methyl 2-(chlorosulfonyloxy)- or 2-(mesyloxy)propionate proceeded with predorninant inversion of configuration (<97%) to give (5)-methyl 2-phenylpropionate. 

In addition, boron, aluminum, and gallium tris(triduoromethanesulfonates) (tridates), M(OTf)2 and related perduoroalkanesulfonates were found effective for Friedel-Crafts alkylations under mild conditions (200). These Lewis acids behave as pseudo haUdes. Boron tris(tridate) shows the highest catalytic activity among these catalysts. A systematic study of these catalysts in the alkylation of aromatics such as benzene and toluene has been reported (201). 

For example /-butyl phenyl ether with aluminium chloride forms para-t-butyl phenol155. Often the de-alkylated phenol is also formed in considerable quantity. The reaction formally resembles the Fries and Claisen rearrangements. Like the Fries rearrangement the question of inter- or intramolecularity has not been settled, although may experiments based on cross-over studies156, the use of optically active ethers157 and comparison with product distribution from Friedel-Crafts alkylation of phenols158 have been carried out with this purpose in view. 

For a monograph, see Roberts, R.M. Khalaf, A.A. Friedel-Crafts Alkylation Chemistry Marcel Dekker NY, 1984. For a treatise on Friedel-Crafts reactions in general, see Olah, G.A. Friedel-Crafts and Related Reactions Wiley NY, 1963-1965. Volume 1 covers general aspects, such as catalyst activity, intermediate complexes, and so on. Volume 2 covers alkylation and related reactions. In this volume the various reagents are treated by the indicated authors as follows alkenes and alkanes, Patinkin, S.H. Friedman, B.S. p. 1 ... 

Ferrocene behaves in many respects like an aromatic electron-rich organic compound which is activated toward electrophilic reactions.In Friedel-Crafts type acylation of aromatic compounds with acyl halides, ferrocene is lO times more reactive than benzene and gives yields over 80%. However, ferrocene is different from benzene in respect to reactivity and yields in the Friedel-Crafts alkylation with alkyl halides or olefins. The yields of ferrocene alkylation are often very low. and the separations of the polysubstituted byproducts are tedious. 

Zinc chloride exchanged clay catalysts have been reported to be highly active for the Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation reactions these are commercially sold by Contract Catalysts under the name Envirocats. These are montmorillonite catalysts modified by ZnCU and FeCli. Some of the reported examples of Friedel-Crafts reactions are given below there are claims that some of the processes are commercially practised. 

Friedel-Crafts alkylations are among the most important reactions in organic synthesis. Solid acid catalysts have advantages in ease of product recovery, reduced waste streams, and reduction in corrosion and toxicity. In the past, people have used (pillared) clays (18), heteropolyacids (19) and zeohtes (20) for Friedel-Craft alkylations, with mixed success. Problems included poor catalyst stabihty and low activity. Benzylation of benzene using benzyl chloride is interesting for the preparation of substitutes of polychlorobenzene in the apphcation of dielectrics. The performance of Si-TUD-1 with different heteroatoms (Fe, Ga, Sn and Ti) was evaluated, and different levels of Fe inside Si-TUD-1 (denoted Fei, Fe2, Fes and Feio) were evaluated (21). The synthesis procedure of these materials was described in detail elsewhere (22). 

Bismuth tra-tri lluoromcthancsulfonate, Bi(OTf)3, and BiCh were found to be effective catalysts for the Friedel-Crafts acylation of both activated and deactivated benzene derivatives such as fluorobenzene.19 Ga(III) triflate is also effective for Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation in alcohols and can tolerate water.20 This catalyst is water-stable... 

Other electrophilic substitution reactions on aromatic and heteroaromatic systems are summarized in Scheme 6.143. Friedel-Crafts alkylation of N,N-dimethyl-aniline with squaric acid dichloride was accomplished by heating the two components in dichloromethane at 120 °C in the absence of a Lewis acid catalyst to provide a 23% yield of the 2-aryl-l-chlorocydobut-l-ene-3,4-dione product (Scheme 6.143 a) [281]. Hydrolysis of the monochloride provided a 2-aryl-l-hydroxycyclobut-l-ene-3,4-dione, an inhibitor of protein tyrosine phosphatases [281], Formylation of 4-chloro-3-nitrophenol with hexamethylenetetramine and trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) at 115 °C for 5 h furnished the corresponding benzaldehyde in 43% yield, which was further manipulated into a benzofuran derivative (Scheme 6.143b) [282]. 4-Chloro-5-bromo-pyrazolopyrimidine is an important intermediate in the synthesis of pyrazolopyrimi-dine derivatives showing activity against multiple kinase subfamilies (see also Scheme 6.20) and can be rapidly prepared from 4-chloropyrazolopyrimidine and N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) by microwave irradiation in acetonitrile (Scheme... 

Friedel-Crafts alkylations can be carried out with isopropanol using anhydrous BF3 as an active catalyst. 

The Friedel-Crafts alkylation of 2,5-dimethylthiophene was also studied (57). In contradistinction to thiophene itself, it was reported that this substituted thiophene alkylated readily with only a minor amount of polymerization when an active halide such as t-butyl chloride was used. With less reactive halides, e.g. n-butyl chloride, some replacement of the methyl groups in 2,5-dimethylthiophene occurred and polymerization increased. 

To be really satisfactory, a Friedel-Crafts alkylation requires one relatively stable secondary or tertiary carbocation to be formed from the alkyl halide by interaction with the Lewis acid, i.e. cases where there is not going to be any chance of rearrangement. Note also that we are unable to generate carboca-tions from an aryl halide - aryl cations (also vinyl cations, see Section 8.1.3) are unfavourable - so that we cannot nse the Friedel-Crafts reaction to join aromatic gronps. There is also one further difficulty, as we shall see below. This is the fact that introduction of an alkyl substitnent on to an aromatic ring activates the ring towards fnrther electrophilic substitution. The result is that the initial product from Friedel-Crafts alkylations is more reactive than the... 

A similar problem of complex formation may be encountered if either amino or phenol groups are present in the substrate, and the reaction may fail. Under such circumstances, these groups need to be blocked (protected) by making a suitable derivative. Nevertheless, Friedel-Crafts acylations tend to work very well and with good yields, uncomplicated by multiple acylations, since the acyl group introduced deactivates the ring towards further electrophilic substitution. This contrasts with Friedel-Crafts alkylations, where the alkyl substituents introduced activate the ring towards further substitution (see Section 8.4.3). 

As a true testament to the potential long-term impact of H-bonding activation, a number of ureas, thioureas, and acid catalysts are now finding broad application in a large number of classical and modem carbon-carbon bond-forming processes. On one hand, Johnston s chiral amidinium ion 28 was elegantly applied to the asymmetric aza-Henry reactions (Scheme 11.12d). On the other hand, chiral phosphoric acids (e.g., 29 and 30), initially developed by Akiyama and Terada, have been successfully employed in Mannich reactions, hydrophosphonylation reac-tions, aza-Friedel-Crafts alkylations (Scheme 11.12e), and in the first example... 

Two years after the discovery of the first asymmetric Br0nsted acid-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts alkylation, the You group extended this transformation to the use of indoles as heteroaromatic nucleophiles (Scheme 11). iV-Sulfonylated aldimines 28 are activated with the help of catalytic amounts of BINOL phosphate (5)-3k (10 mol%, R = 1-naphthyl) for the reaction with unprotected indoles 29 to provide 3-indolyl amines 30 in good yields (56-94%) together with excellent enantioselec-tivities (58 to >99% ee) [21], Antilla and coworkers demonstrated that A-benzoyl-protected aldimines can be employed as electrophiles for the addition of iV-benzylated indoles with similar efficiencies [22]. Both protocols tolerate several aryl imines and a variety of substituents at the indole moiety. In addition, one example of the use of an aliphatic imine (56%, 58% ee) was presented. 

Scheme 6 Loss of stereoinformation during the Bi(OTf)3-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts-alkylation implies a carbocationic intermediate. Mechanism A TfOH generated in situ from Bi(OTf)3 is thought to be the catalytic active species. Mechanism B Bismuth(III) acts as a Lewis acid. TfOH only regenerates Bi(OTf)3 from its less reactive monohydroxide...

Scheme 6.117 Proposed bifunctional activation of the reactants through catalyst 117 in the asymmetric Michael-type Friedel-Crafts alkylation of 2-naphthols.

The anhydrous form is used as a catalyst for the Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction. Its catalytic activity is similar to anhydrous AICI3. Commercial applications, however, are few. 

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