Hydroxide, sodium reaction with epoxides

Hydrogen Sulfide andMercaptans. Hydrogen sulfide and propylene oxide react to produce l-mercapto-2-propanol and bis(2-hydroxypropyl) sulfide (69,70). Reaction of the epoxide with mercaptans yields 1-aLkylthio- or l-arylthio-2-propanol when basic catalysis is used (71). Acid catalysts produce a mixture of primary and secondary hydroxy products, but ia low yield (72). Suitable catalysts iaclude sodium hydroxide, sodium salts of the mercaptan, tetraaLkylammonium hydroxide, acidic 2eohtes, and sodium salts of an alkoxylated alcohol or mercaptan (26,69,70,73,74). 

A rather complex microwave-assisted ring-opening of chiral difluorinated epoxy-cyclooctenones has been studied by Percy and coworkers (Scheme 6.131) [265]. The epoxide resisted conventional hydrolysis, but reacted smoothly in basic aqueous media (ammonia or N-methylimidazole) under microwave irradiation at 100 °C for 10 min to afford unique hemiacetals and hemiaminals in good yields. Other nitrogen nucleophiles, such as sodium azide or imidazole, failed to trigger the reaction. The reaction with sodium hydroxide led to much poorer conversion of the starting material. 

McKelvey etal. (1959) investigated the reaction of epoxides with cellulose in alkaline conditions, reporting that alkaline cellulose reacted readily once the concentration of sodium hydroxide was sufficiently high. However, no evidence was found of reaction between cotton yarn and cellulose with a range of epoxides under a variety of reaction conditions. It was concluded that the apparent reactivity of cellulose with epoxides was primarily due to alkaline swelling of the cellulose, self-polymerization of the epoxide monomers then occurring within the interior structure of the fibres. It was also noted that the reactivity with phenol OH groups was very low (e.g. only 1 % conversion of ethylene oxide with various phenols). 

McKelvey, J.B., Webre, B.G. and Klein, E. (1959). Reaction of epoxides with cotton cellulose in the presence of sodium hydroxide. Textile Research Journal, 29, 918-925. 

The increase in alkylation efficiency of HEC with quaternary ammonium hydroxide is not limited to DPGE. Experiments were conducted in which HEC was alkylated with 1-bromohexadecane (cetyl bromide), 3-n-pentadecenyl phenyl glycidyl ether (PDPGE)14, or 1,2-epoxyhexadecane (C]6 a-olefin epoxide) in the presence of either sodium hydroxide or benzyltrimethylammonium hydroxide. As before, the molar A/HEC ratio was 0.50, and the water content of the diluent in the benzyltrimethylammonium hydroxide experiment was decreased to compensate for the higher water content of the base so that the final water content of both reactions was the same (14.4%). The hexadecyl content of the polymers was measured by gas chromatography. The sodium hydroxide mediated reaction of 1-bromohexadecane yielded a hexadecyl alkylation efficiency of 0.5%, while the benzyltrimethylammonium hydroxide reaction yielded a hexadecyl alkylation efficiency of 6.2%. A twelve-fold increase in the hexadecyl alkylation efficiency was observed in the reaction conducted with the quaternary ammonium hydroxide. 

A mixture of epoxides 118, 119, and 120, accompanied by some additional products, results from the complex reaction of epoxide 111 with sodium hydroxide in aqueous ethanol.739... 

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