Friedel-Crafts complexes

Apart from Bronsted acid activation, the acetyl cation (and other acyl ions) can also be activated by Lewis acids. Although the 1 1 CH3COX-AIX3 Friedel-Crafts complex is inactive for the isomerization of alkanes, a system with two (or more) equivalents of AIX3 was fonnd by Volpin to be extremely reactive, also bringing abont other electrophilic reactions. 

It should be noted that the Friedel-Crafts acylation differs from the Friedel-Crafts alkylation (compare Sections IV,3-4 and discussion preceding Section IV,1) in one important respect. The alkylation requires catal3d.ic quantities of aluminium chloride, but for acylation a molecular equivalent of aluminium chloride is necessary for each carbonyl group present in the acylating agent. This is because aluminium chloride is capable of forming rather stable complexes with the carbonyl group these complexes probably possess an oxonium... 

Concerning my research during my Dow years, as I discuss iu Chapter 4, my search for cationic carbon intermediates started back in Hungary, while 1 was studying Friedel-Crafts-type reactions with acyl and subsequently alkyl fluorides catalyzed by boron trifluoride. In the course of these studies I observed (and, in some cases, isolated) intermediate complexes of either donor-acceptor or ionic nature. 

Unusual cyclocarbonylation of allylic acetates proceeds in the presence of acetic anhydride and an amine to afford acetates of phenol derivatives. The cinnamyl acetate derivative 408 undergoes carbonylation and Friedel-Crafts-type cyclization to form the a-naphthyl acetate 410 under severe condi-tions[263,264]. The reaction proceeds at 140-170 under 50-70 atm of CO in the presence of acetic anhydride and Et N. Addition of acetic anhydride is essential for the cyclization. The key step seems to be the Friedel-Crafts-type cyclization of an acylpalladium complex as shown by 409. When MeOH is added instead of acetic anhydride, /3,7-unsaturated esters such as 388 are... 

Secondary alkyl halides react by a similar mechanism involving attack on benzene by a secondary carbocation Methyl and ethyl halides do not form carbocations when treated with aluminum chloride but do alkylate benzene under Friedel-Crafts conditions The aluminum chloride complexes of methyl and ethyl halides contain highly polarized carbon-halogen bonds and these complexes are the electrophilic species that react with benzene... 

Friedel-Crafts metaHocycli2atioa of (halogeaomethyl(aryl)phosphiae) platiaum(II) complexes ia the preseace of triphenylphosphine gives a cationic metaHacychc species (60). 

Conjugated dienes, upon complexation with metal carbonyl complexes, are activated for Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction at the akyhc position. Such reactions are increasingly being used in the stereoselective synthesis of acylated dienes. Friedel-Crafts acetylation of... 

Chiral diene—iron tricarbonyl complexes were acylated using aluminum chloride to give acylated diene—iron complexes with high enantiomeric purity (>96% ee). For example, /ra/ j -piperjdene—iron tricarbonyl reacted with acyl haUdes under Friedel-Crafts conditions to give l-acyl-l,3-pentadiene—iron tricarbonyl complex without any racemization. These complexes can be converted to a variety of enantiomericaHy pure tertiary alcohols (180). 

Solid Superacids. Most large-scale petrochemical and chemical industrial processes ate preferably done, whenever possible, over soHd catalysts. SoHd acid systems have been developed with considerably higher acidity than those of acidic oxides. Graphite-intercalated AlCl is an effective sohd Friedel-Crafts catalyst but loses catalytic activity because of partial hydrolysis and leaching of the Lewis acid halide from the graphite. Aluminum chloride can also be complexed to sulfonate polystyrene resins but again the stabiUty of the catalyst is limited. 

Friedel-Crafts (Lewis) acids have been shown to be much more effective in the initiation of cationic polymerization when in the presence of a cocatalyst such as water, alkyl haUdes, and protic acids. Virtually all feedstocks used in the synthesis of hydrocarbon resins contain at least traces of water, which serves as a cocatalyst. The accepted mechanism for the activation of boron trifluoride in the presence of water is shown in equation 1 (10). Other Lewis acids are activated by similar mechanisms. In a more general sense, water may be replaced by any appropriate electron-donating species (eg, ether, alcohol, alkyl haUde) to generate a cationic intermediate and a Lewis acid complex counterion. 

Cationic polymerization of coal-tar fractions has been commercially achieved through the use of strong protic acids, as well as various Lewis acids. Sulfuric acid was the first polymerization catalyst (11). More recent technology has focused on the Friedel-Crafts polymerization of coal fractions to yield resins with higher softening points and better color. Typical Lewis acid catalysts used in these processes are aluminum chloride, boron trifluoride, and various boron trifluoride complexes (12). Cmde feedstocks typically contain 25—75% reactive components and may be refined prior to polymerization (eg, acid or alkali treatment) to remove sulfur and other undesired components. Table 1 illustrates the typical components found in coal-tar fractions and their corresponding properties. 

Catalysts used in the polymerization of C-5 diolefins and olefins, and monovinyl aromatic monomers, foUow closely with the systems used in the synthesis of aHphatic resins. Typical catalyst systems are AlCl, AIBr., AlCl —HCl—o-xylene complexes and sludges obtained from the Friedel-Crafts alkylation of benzene. Boron trifluoride and its complexes, as weU as TiCl and SnCl, have been found to result in lower yields and higher oligomer content in C-5 and aromatic modified C-5 polymerizations. 

Ai lepiesents an aiyl group. Diaiyl products are obtained after long reaction times. Other Friedel-Crafts catalysts, eg, ZnCl2, FeCl2, FIF, and BF, can also be used. In most cases, stoichiometric amounts of the catalyst ate requited. Flowever, strong complexation of the phosphine by the catalyst necessitates separation by vacuum distillation, hydrolysis, or addition of reagents such as POCl to form more stable aluminum chloride complexes. Whereas yields up to 70—80% are possible for some aryl derivatives, yields of aliphatic derivatives are generally much less (19). 

Phosphoms oxychloride has strong donor properties toward metal ions. The remarkably stable POCl —AlCl complex has been utilized to remove AlCl from Friedel-Crafts reaction products. Any POX molecule contains a pyramidal PX group the oxygen atom occupies the fourth position to complete the distorted tetrahedron (37). Some properties of phosphoms oxyhaUdes ate presented in Table 8. 

All lation of Phenols. The approach used to synthesize commercially available alkylphenols is Friedel-Crafts alkylation. The specific procedure typically uses an alkene as the alkylating agent and an acid catalyst, generally a sulfonic acid. Alkene and catalyst interact to form a carbocation and counter ion (5) which interacts with phenol to form a 7T complex (6). This complex is held together by the overlap of the filled TT-orbital of the aromatic... 

Diels-Alder reactions, 4, 842 flash vapour phase pyrolysis, 4, 846 reactions with 6-dimethylaminofuKenov, 4, 844 reactions with JV,n-diphenylnitrone, 4, 841 reactions with mesitonitrile oxide, 4, 841 structure, 4, 715, 725 synthesis, 4, 725, 767-769, 930 theoretical methods, 4, 3 tricarbonyl iron complexes, 4, 847 dipole moments, 4, 716 n-directing effect, 4, 44 2,5-disubstituted synthesis, 4, 116-117 from l,3-dithiolylium-4-olates, 6, 826 electrocyclization, 4, 748-750 electron bombardment, 4, 739 electronic deformation, 4, 722-723 electronic structure, 4, 715 electrophilic substitution, 4, 43, 44, 717-719, 751 directing effects, 4, 752-753 fluorescence spectra, 4, 735-736 fluorinated derivatives, 4, 679 H NMR, 4, 731 Friedel-Crafts acylation, 4, 777 with fused six-membered heterocyclic rings, 4, 973-1036 fused small rings structure, 4, 720-721 gas phase UV spectrum, 4, 734 H NMR, 4, 7, 728-731, 939 solvent effects, 4, 730 substituent constants, 4, 731 halo... 

Triazine-3-thione, 5,6-diphenyl-Friedel-Crafts reaction, 3, 409 metal complexes, 3, 456... 

All these kinetic results can be accommodated by a general mechanism that incorporates the following fundamental components (1) complexation of the alkylating agent and the Lewis acid (2) electrophilic attack on the aromatic substrate to form the a-complex and (3) deprotonation. In many systems, there m be an ionization of the complex to yield a discrete carbocation. This step accounts for the fact that rearrangement of the alkyl group is frequently observed during Friedel-Crafts alkylation. 

Friedel-Crafts acylation usually involves the reaction of an acyl halide, a Lewis acid catalyst, and the aromatic substrate. Several species may function as the active electrophile, depending on the reactivity of the aromatic compound. For activated aromatics, the electrophile can be a discrete positively charged acylium ion or the complex formed... 

Friedel-Crafts acylation sometimes shows a modest kinetic isotope effect. This observation suggests that the proton removal is not much faster than the formation of the (j-complex and that the formation of the n-complex may be reversible under some conditions. 

Many of the reactions of BF3 are of the Friedel-Crafts type though they are perhaps not strictly catalytic since BF3 is required in essentially equimolar quantities with the reactant. The mechanism is not always fully understood but it is generally agreed that in most cases ionic intermediates are produced by or promoted by the formation of a BX3 complex electrophilic attack of the substrate by the cation so produced completes the process. For example, in the Friedel-Crafts-type alkylation of aromatic hydrocarbons ... 

The Irihalides of A1 form a large number of addition compounds or complexes and these have been extensively studied because of their importance in understanding the nature of Friedel-Crafts catalysis. The adducts vary enormously in stability from weak interactions to very stable complexes, and they also vary widely in their mode of bonding, structure and... 

In contrast to the saturated azlactones, the Friedel-Crafts reaction of 2-substituted-4-arylidene-5-oxazolones is quite complex and may follow several different courses, often concurrently, depending on both reaction conditions and structural variations in the arylidene ring. This behavior is readily interpreted in terms of the a,)S-unsaturated carbonyl moiety and the cross-conjugated system containing nitrogen, both of which provide potential reaction sites in addition to the lactone carbonyl group. The reaction has been investigated " ... 

As an illustrating example for the application of the Friedel-Crafts acylation in the synthesis of complex molecules, its use in the synthesis of [2.2.2]cyclophane 13 by Cram and Truesdale shall be outlined. The reaction of [2.2]paracyclo-phane 10 with acetyl chloride gives the acetyl-[2.2]paracyclophane 11, which is converted into the pseudo-geminal disubstituted phane 12 by a Blanc reaction, and further to the triple bridge hydrocarbon 13 ... 

In an initial step the reactive formylating agent is formed from N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) 2 and phosphorus oxychloride. Other N,N-disubstituted formamides have also found application for example A -methyl-A -phenylformamide is often used. The formylating agent is likely to be a chloromethyl iminium salt 4—also called the Vilsmeier complex (however its actual structure is not rigorously known)—that acts as the electrophile in an electrophilic substitution reaction with the aromatic substrate 1 (see also Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction) ... 

Friedel-Crafts acylation reactions usually involve the interaction of an aromatic compound with an acyl halide or anhydride in the presence of a catalyst, to form a carbon-carbon bond [74, 75]. As the product of an acylation reaction is less reactive than its starting material, monoacylation usually occurs. The catalyst in the reaction is not a true catalyst, as it is often (but not always) required in stoichiometric quantities. For Friedel-Crafts acylation reactions in chloroaluminate(III) ionic liquids or molten salts, the ketone product of an acylation reaction forms a strong complex with the ionic liquid, and separation of the product from the ionic liquid can be extremely difficult. The products are usually isolated by quenching the ionic liquid in water. Current research is moving towards finding genuine catalysts for this reaction, some of which are described in this section. 

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]. 

Another drawback to the use of amino-substituted benzenes in electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions is that Friedel-Crafts reactions are not successful (Section 16.3). The amino group forms an acid-base complex with the AICI3 catalyst, which prevents further reaction from occurring. Both drawbacks can be overcome, however, b3 carrying out electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions on the corresponding amide rather than on the free amine. 

Although the substitution of a preformed phthalocyanine always leads to a complex mixture of more- or less-substituted products, the reaction is of major industrial importance. Besides the chloro- and bromocopper phthalocyanines, also polysulfonated phthalocyanines, which are used as water-soluble dyes, are produced by the reaction of copper phthalocyanine with the respective reactant. While typical aromatic reactions of the Friedel-Crafts type are also possible,333 direct nitration of the macrocycle commonly results in oxidation of the phthalocyanine. However, under mild conditions it is possible to introduce the nitro group directly into several phthalocyanines.334... 

Bis-arene iron dications [20] are easily accessible from arenes, A1C13 and FeCl3 (for C6Me6, FeCl2 must be used). It is advisable to use tris-sublimated A1C13 to avoid problems of isomerization [23], With toluene, this isomerization due to the re/ro-Friedel-Crafts mechanism [24] is too extensive to give any clean complex. 

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