Friedel-Crafts alkylation with alkyl halides

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. 

The mechanism of Friedel-Crafts alkylation with alkyl halides involves initial formation of the active alkylating agent, which then reacts with the aromatic ring. Depending on the catalyst, the solvent, the reaction conditions, and the alkyl halide, the formation of a polarized donor-acceptor complex or real carbocations (as either an ion pair or a free entity) may take place ... 

Friedel-Crafts alkylation Alkyl halides react with benzene in the presence of alu minum chloride to yield alkylbenzenes... 

One drawback to Fnedel-Crafts alkylation is that rearrangements can occur espe cially when primary alkyl halides are used For example Friedel-Crafts alkylation of benzene with isobutyl chloride (a primary alkyl halide) yields only tert butylbenzene... 

Because acylation of an aromatic ring can be accomplished without rearrangement it is frequently used as the first step m a procedure for the alkylation of aromatic compounds by acylation-reduction As we saw m Section 12 6 Friedel-Crafts alkylation of ben zene with primary alkyl halides normally yields products having rearranged alkyl groups as substituents When a compound of the type ArCH2R is desired a two step sequence IS used m which the first step is a Friedel-Crafts acylation... 

Friedel-Crafts alkylation (Section 12 6) An electrophilic aro matic substitution in which an aromatic compound reacts with an alkyl halide in the presence of aluminum chloride An alkyl group becomes bonded to the nng... 

The synthesis of an alkylated aromatic compound 3 by reaction of an aromatic substrate 1 with an alkyl halide 2, catalyzed by a Lewis acid, is called the Friedel-Crafts alkylation This method is closely related to the Friedel-Crafts acylation. Instead of the alkyl halide, an alcohol or alkene can be used as reactant for the aromatic substrate under Friedel-Crafts conditions. The general principle is the intermediate formation of a carbenium ion species, which is capable of reacting as the electrophile in an electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction. 

Acidic chloroaluminate ionic liquids have already been described as both solvents and catalysts for reactions conventionally catalyzed by AICI3, such as catalytic Friedel-Crafts alkylation [35] or stoichiometric Friedel-Crafts acylation [36], in Section 5.1. In a very similar manner, Lewis-acidic transition metal complexes can form complex anions by reaction with organic halide salts. Seddon and co-workers, for example, patented a Friedel-Crafts acylation process based on an acidic chloro-ferrate ionic liquid catalyst [37]. 

The Friedel-Crafts alkylation of aromatic compounds with alkyl halides in the presence of Lewis acid is well defined in organic chemistry. However, alky-... 

Bromoadamantane and 1-bromoadamantane are reduced to adamantane in yields of 84% and 79%, respectively, when treated with triethylsilane and catalytic amounts of aluminum chloride.186 Similar treatment of benzhydryl chloride and exo-2-bromonorbomane gives the related hydrocarbons in yields of 100% and 96%, respectively.186 In contrast, 2-bromo-l-phenylpropane gives only a 43% yield of 1-phenylpropane the remainder consists of Friedel-Crafts alkylation products.186 Some alkyl halides resist reduction by this method, even when forcing conditions are employed. These include p-nitrobenzyl bromide, 3-bromopropanenitrile, and 5-bromopentanenitrile.186... 

In chemistry, the term complex can mean many things. The belief, which I shared, that complexes of the metal halides with monomers or with alkyl halides are important in CP induced me to undertake several difficult but fruitful investigations. Complexes between RX and MtXn were well known [see References in [24]] and they were being studied at about that time by several workers, such as H. C. Brown at Purdue University with regard to the A1 halides and Fairbrother at Manchester University was concerned with similar systems and with the ionisation of trityl halides by metal halides. I was concerned with TiCl4, my then favourite catalyst , and its interaction with the alkyl chlorides which were used as solvents for CP. The theory first suggested by Pepper [46] and adopted by us was that if a CP was initiated in an alkyl chloride RC1, and there was no evident effect of water, then the initiation was most likely akin to a Friedel-Crafts alkylation. This was represented by the equations (7) and (8) ... 

Note This reaction involves a polar acidic mechanism, not a free-radical mechanism It is a Friedel-Crafts alkylation, with the slight variation that the requisite carbocation is made by protonation of an alkene instead of ionization of an alkyl halide. Protonation of C4 gives a C3 carbocation. Addition to Cl and fragmentation gives the product. 

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... 

The Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction usually involves the interaction of an alkylation agent such as an alkyl halide, alcohol, or alkene with an aromatic compound, to form an alkylated aromatic compound (Scheme 5.1-44). 

Besides aluminum chloride, the most often used and studied Friedel-Crafts catalyst, many other acid catalysts are effective in alkylation. Although Friedel-Crafts alkylation was discovered and explored mainly with alkyl halides, from a practical point of view, alkenes are the most important alkylating agents. Others include alcohols, ethers, and esters. 

Frequently substantially more than catalytic amounts of a Lewis acid metal halide are required to effect Friedel-Crafts alkylation. This is due partly to complex formation between the metal halide and the reagents or products, especially if they contain oxygen or other donor atoms. Another reason is the formation of red oils. Red oils consist of protonated (alkylated) aromatics (i.e., arenium ions) containing metal halides in the counterions or complexed with olefin oligomers. This considerable drawback, however, can be eliminated when using solid acids such as clays,97 98 zeolites (H-ZSM-5),99,100 acidic cation-exchange resins, and perfluoro-alkanesulfonic acid resins (Nafion-H).101-104... 

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