Hydrogen halides with ethers

Barnes, A. J., and Wright, M. R, Molecular complexes of hydrogen halides with ethers ami sulphides studied by matrix isolation vibrational spectroscopy, J. Mol. Struct. (Theochem) 135, 21-30 (1986). 

The reaction that takes place is hydrogen halide-promoted ether cleavage. In such a reaction with excess hydrogen halide, the C—O—C unit is cleaved and two carbon-halogen bonds are formed. This suggests that cineole is a cyclic ether because the product contains both newly formed carbon-halogen bonds. A reasonable structure consistent with these facts is... 

Ethers react with hydrogen halides to form an alkyl halide and an alcohol. The alcohol in turn can react to form a second molecule of alkyl halide and water. Thus in the presence of two mole-equivalents of hydrogen halide, an ether produces two moles of alkyl halide and one of water. The reaction mechanism is analogous to that of alcohols and hydrogen halides. The ether is protonated first to form an oxonium ion. In... 

An outstanding point which emerged from my early work on the interaction of hydroxy compounds and inorganic nonmetal halides, such as thionyl and phosphorus halides, was the vital function of the hydrogen halide formed in the reaction pattern. The interaction of hydrogen halides with alcohols, esters, and ethers has also operational importance. 

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... 

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... 

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... 

A nonconventional synthesis of the known inhalation anaesthetic, 2-bromo-2 chloro-l,l,l-trifluoroethane (Halothane), based on the reaction of ethyl 1,2 di bromo-1,2-dicliloroethyl ether with anhydrous hydrogen fluoride and sulfur tetrafluoride, has been patented The reaction presumably involves cleavage of the ether linkage, followed by fluorination of the intermediate bromochloroacetyl halide with sulfur tetrafluoride, ethyl halides are the by-products [2] (equation 2)... 

R2NC1, 91, 92 phenyl acetate, Fries rearrangement of, 475 phenyacetyl halides, acylation by, 173 2-phenylbenzoic acid, cycliacylation, 185 phenyl ethers, alkylation of, 149 —, bromination of, 130 —, hydrogen exchange with, 260 —, rearrangement of, 476 phenyl ethyl mercury, mercuridemercuration of, 359, 360... 

Because carbon bonds so readily with itself, there are many hydrocarbons (see Chapter 18). Silicon forms a much smaller number of compounds with hydrogen, called the silanes. The simplest silane is silane itself, SiH4, the analog of methane. Silane is formed by the action of lithium aluminum hydride on silicon halides in ether ... 

The first palladium-catalyzed formation of aryl alkyl ethers in an intermolecular fashion occurred between activated aryl halides and alkoxides (Equation (28)), and the first formation of vinyl ethers occurred between activated vinyl halides and tin alkoxides (Equation (29)). Reactions of activated chloro- and bromoarenes with NaO-Z-Bu to form /-butyl aryl ethers occurred in the presence of palladium and DPPF as catalyst,107 while reactions of activated aryl halides with alcohols that could undergo /3-hydrogen elimination occurred in the presence of palladium and BINAP as catalyst.110 Reactions of NaO-/-Bu with unactivated aryl halides gave only modest yields of ether when catalyzed by aromatic bisphosphines.110 Similar chemistry occurred in the presence of nickel catalysts. In fact, nickel catalysts produced higher yields of silyl aryl ethers than palladium catalysts.108 The formation of diaryl ethers from activated aryl halides in the presence of palladium catalysts bearing DPPF or a CF3-subsituted DPPF was also reported 109... 

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. 

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. 

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