Halohydrins preparation, from alkenes

The following section describes the preparation of epoxides by the base-promoted ring closure of vicinal halohydrins. Because vicinal halohydrins are customarily prepared from alkenes (Section 6.17), both methods—epoxidation using peroxy acids and ring closure of halohydrins—are based on alkenes as the starting materials for preparing epoxides. 

In a reaction resembling halohydrin formation (Section 6.17), vicinal haloethers are prepared from alkenes by reaction with an alcohol in the presence of halogens— usually bromine or iodine. This haleotherification proceeds through a cyclic halonium ion, which reacts with the alcohol. 1-Methylcyclohexene undergoes iodoetherification with ethanol in the presence of iodine to give ran -l-ethoxy-2-iodo-l-methylcyclohexane. 

When an organic compound contains both a hydroxy group and a halogen atom on adjacent carbon atoms, an intramolecular version of this reaction forms an epoxide. The starting material for this two-step sequence, a halohydrin, is prepared from an alkene, as we will leam in Chapter 10. 

Oxiranes are usually prepared from halohydrins. A general method of obtaining chloroalcohols from olefins is by the addition of hypochlorous acid formed in situ form -chloramides or fert-butyl hypochlorite. Bromoalcohols are produced from alkenes with Ai-bromosuccinimide or iV-bromoacetamide, while iodoalcohols are prepared with iodine in the presence of oxidants (iodic acid, oxygen, and nitrite). 

One method for the preparation of epoxides from alkenes involves (1) treating the alkene with chlorine or bromine in water to form a chlorohydrin (or bromohydrin) followed by (2) treating the halohydrin with a base to bring about intramolecular displacement of Cl . These steps convert propene first to l-chloro-2-propanol and then to methyloxirane (propylene oxide). 

Epoxides can also be prepared from halohydrins, themselves produced by electrophilic addition of ffO X to alkenes (Section 8.3). When a halohydrin is treated with base, ffX is eliminated and an epoxide is produced by an intramolecular Williamson ether synthesis. That is, the nucleophilic alkoxide ion and the electrophilic alkyl halide are in the same molecule. 

This problem is similar to the one in part d) in that it requires the preparation of a halohydrin from an aUcyl halide. The strategy is the same. Convert the alkyl halide to an alkene, and then form the halohydrin by treatment with the appropriate halogen in aqueous solution. 

Oxirans. - The synthesis of l,2-anhydro-3,4-di-0-benzyl-6-deoxy-a-D-glucopyranose and its conformational analysis have been reported. A range of epoxides have been prepared by base treatment of bromohydrins, which were made by reaction of hydrogen bromide with aldonolactones. A one-pot conversion of vicinal diols into epoxides employs halohydrin ester intermediates generated from cyclic orthoacetates and either acetyl bromide or trimethylsilyl chloride. Levoglucosenone has been transformed into l,6 3,4-dianhydro-p-D-talopyranose by way of a trn/w-iodo-acetoxylation of the alkene moiety... 

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