Halides, alkyl from aromatic compounds

The alkylation of aromatic compounds using alkyl halides and a Lewis acid only requires a small amount of catalyst. Because Lewis acids form complexes with carbonyl compounds, the Lewis acids are effectively removed from the reagent system to the extent that product is formed. Although an equilibrium exists between the product complex and free Lewis acid, there is an apparent inhibition of formation of the acylating species. The net effect is that the amount of the ketone that is formed is normally proportional to the molar quantity of catalyst added. In reactions using acyl halides, completion occurs when slightly more than 1 mol of catalyst is used. When using a carboxylic anhydride, an excess over 2 mol of catalyst will usually be required because the other product, a carboxylic acid, will also complex with the Lewis acid. 

Alkylation of aromatic compounds (eqs. 4.10 and 4.11) is referred to as the Friedel-Crafts reaction, after Charles Friedel (French) and James Mason Crafts (American), who first discovered the reaction in 1877. The electrophile is a carbocation, which can be formed either by removing a halide ion from an alkyl halide with a Lewis acid catalyst (for example, AICI3) or by adding a proton to an alkene. For example, the synthesis of ethylbenzene can be carried out as follows ... 

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. 

Sandmeyer s synthesis of aromatic nitriles is far more elegant than the removal of water from the ammonium salts of carboxylic acids, which latter reaction is also applicable to benzene derivatives. In particular, the former synthesis permits of the preparation of carboxylic acids via the nitriles, and so provides a complete substitute for Kolbe s synthesis (alkyl halide and potassium cyanide), which is inapplicable to aromatic compounds. The simplest example is the conversion of aniline into benzoic add. The converse transformation is Hofmann s degradation (benzamide aniline, see p. 152). 

Addition of carbenes to Jt-electron excessive aromatic compounds, or those which possess a high degree of bond fixation, is well established. Dihalocarbenes react with naphthalenes with ring expansion to produce benztropylium systems (Scheme 7.8). Loss of hydrogen halide from the initially formed product leads to an alkene which reacts with a second equivalent of the carbene to yield the spirocyclopropyl derivatives in high yield (>95%) [14, 50]. Insertion into the alkyl side chain (see Section 7.2) also occurs, but to a lesser extent [14]. Not unexpectedly, dichlorocarbene adds to phenanthrenes across the 9,10-bond [9, 10, 14], but it is remarkable that the three possible isomeric spiro compounds could be isolated (in an overall yield of 0.05% ) from the corresponding reaction with toluene [14]. 

Tertiary and aromatic nitroso compounds react with aryl Grignard or aryl-lithium reagents giving the corresponding hydroxylamines . This reaction is useful for preparation of alkyl- and aiylhydroxylamines (e.g. 109, equation 80 and 110, equation 81) and can be considered as complementary to arylation of hydroxy lamines with activated aryl halides. It has been used for functionalization of cyclophanes with the hydroxy amino group. The main limitation of the reaction is the relatively restricted choice of available aliphatic nitroso components, so most of reactions were done with 2-nitroso-2-methylpropane. There is no literature data about the possibility of removal of the tert-butyl group from these compounds. 

Just as in the case of aromatic compounds isoparaffins can be alkylated with sources of alkyl groups other than olefins. Alkyl halides, alcohols, ethers, mercaptans, sulfides, etc., can be used. When olefins are used some alkyl fluorides from a combination of olefin and hydrogen fluoride are always formed. The quantity of this in the product can be greatly reduced by providing conditions under which the alkyl fluoride is used in alkylation. The apparent paradox is provided, in that the fluoride content of the product is lessened by further treatment with hydrogen fluoride. A more thorough treatment of the details of the alkylation of isoparaffins with olefins is found elsewhere in this volume. 

The first step in the experimental procedure consists of preparative electrolysis of the aromatic compound A to A . The preparative potentiostat is then disconnected and a UME is inserted into the cathodic compartment. The steady-state oxidation current of A is recorded as a function of time for a certain time period to ascertain that the stability of A is high. If this is indeed the case, the alkyl halide RX is added to the solution while it is stirred for a few seconds to assure that homogeneous conditions apply for the reaction of Eq. 90. The recorded current is observed to decay exponentially towards zero. A plot of In / versus t is shown in Figure 16 for four different combinations of aromatic compounds and sterically hindered alkyl halides. From the slopes of the straight lines, -2A etCrx, A et values can readily be obtained. The method is useful for the study of relatively slow reactions with kET < 10 M- s-. ... 

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