Hydrogen halides ethers

Because the only reagents with which ethers react are hydrogen halides, ethers are frequently used as solvents. Some common ether solvents are shown in Table 12.2. 

When applied to the synthesis of ethers the reaction is effective only with primary alcohols Elimination to form alkenes predominates with secondary and tertiary alcohols Diethyl ether is prepared on an industrial scale by heating ethanol with sulfuric acid at 140°C At higher temperatures elimination predominates and ethylene is the major product A mechanism for the formation of diethyl ether is outlined m Figure 15 3 The individual steps of this mechanism are analogous to those seen earlier Nucleophilic attack on a protonated alcohol was encountered m the reaction of primary alcohols with hydrogen halides (Section 4 12) and the nucleophilic properties of alcohols were dis cussed m the context of solvolysis reactions (Section 8 7) Both the first and the last steps are proton transfer reactions between oxygens... 

Both reactants m the Williamson ether synthesis usually originate m alcohol pre cursors Sodium and potassium alkoxides are prepared by reaction of an alcohol with the appropriate metal and alkyl halides are most commonly made from alcohols by reaction with a hydrogen halide (Section 4 7) thionyl chloride (Section 4 13) or phosphorus tri bromide (Section 4 13) Alternatively alkyl p toluenesulfonates may be used m place of alkyl halides alkyl p toluenesulfonates are also prepared from alcohols as their imme diate precursors (Section 8 14)... 

Just as the carbon-oxygen bond of alcohols is cleaved on reaction with hydrogen halides (Section 4 8) so too is an ether linkage broken... 

The cleavage of ethers is normally earned out under conditions (excess hydrogen halide heat) that convert the alcohol formed as one of the original products to an alkyl halide Thus the reaction typically leads to two alkyl halide molecules... 

FIGURE 16 4 The mechanism for the cleavage of ethers by hydrogen halides using the reac tion of diethyl ether with hydrogen bromide as an example... 

Section 16 8 The only important reaction of ethers is their cleavage by hydrogen halides... 

The cleavage of dialkyl ethers by hydrogen halides was discussed in Section 16 8 where It was noted that the same pair of alkyl halides results irrespective of the order in which the carbon-oxygen bonds of the ether are broken... 

Cleavage of alkyl aryl ethers by hydrogen halides always proceeds so that the alkyl-oxygen bond is broken and yields an alkyl halide and a phenol as the final prod nets Either hydrogen bromide or hydrogen iodide is normally used... 

The first step in the reaction of an alkyl aryl ether with a hydrogen halide is pro tonation of oxygen to form an alkylaryloxonium ion... 

Section 24 12 The cleavage of alkyl aryl ethers by hydrogen halides yields a phenol and an alkyl halide... 

Alkyl aryl ether Hydrogen halide A phenol Alkyl halide... 

The nucleophilic addition of alcohols [130, 204-207], phenols [130], carboxylates [208], ammonia [130, 209], primary and secondary amines [41, 130, 205, 210, 211] and thiols [211-213] was used very early to convert several acceptor-substituted allenes 155 to products of type 158 and 159 (Scheme 7.25, Nu = OR, OAr, 02CR, NH2, NHR, NRR and SR). While the addition of alcohols, phenols and thiols is generally carried out in the presence of an auxiliary base, the reaction of allenyl ketones to give vinyl ethers of type 159 (Nu = OMe) is successful also by irradiation in pure methanol [214], Using widely varying reaction conditions, the addition of hydrogen halides (Nu= Cl, Br, I) to the allenes 155 leads to reaction products of type 158 [130, 215-220], Therefore, this transformation was also classified as a nucleophilic addition. Finally, the nucleophiles hydride (such as lithium aluminum hydride-aluminum trichloride) [211] and azide [221] could also be added to allenic esters to yield products of type 159. 

Ethers are the least reactive of the functional groups. The cleavage of C-O bond in ethers takes place under drastic conditions with excess of hydrogen halides. The reaction of dialkyl ether gives two alkyl halide molecules. 

The order of reactivity of hydrogen halides is as follows HI > HBr > HCl. The cleavage of ethers takes place with concentrated HI or HBr at high temperature. 

Ethers may be prepared by (1) dehydration of alcohols and (11) Williamson synthesis. The boiling points of ethers resemble those of alkanes while their solubility Is comparable to those of alcohols having same molecular mass. The C-O bond In ethers can be cleaved by hydrogen halides. In electrophilic substitution, the alkoxy group activates the aromatic ring and directs the Incoming group to ortho and para positions. 

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