Ionic organic reactions

E. R. Alexander, Principles of Ionic Organic Reactions,]ohxs Wiley Sons, Inc., New York, 1950, p. 231. 

Alexander, E.R. "Principles of Ionic Organic Reactions" Wiley New York. 1950 p 6. 

When an ionic organic reaction (the kind catalyzed by most enzymes) occurs a nucleophilic center joins with an electrophilic center. We use arrows to show the movement of pairs of electrons. Tire movement is always away from the nucleophile which can be thought of as "attacking" an electrophilic center. Notice the first step in the second example at right. The unsaturated ketone is polarized initially. However, this is not shown as a separate step. Rather, the flow of electrons from the double bond, between the a- and (1-carbons into the electron-accepting C=0 groups, is coordinated with the attack by the nucleophile. Dotted lines are often used to indicate bonds that will be formed in a reaction step, e.g., in an aldol condensation (right). Dashed or dotted lines are often used to indicate partially formed and partially broken bonds in a transition state, e.g., for the aldol condensation (with prior protonation of the aldehyde). However, do not put arrows on transition state structures. 

The American physical organic chemist E. R. Alexander (1920-1950) had a tragically short life, which ended in the crash of a small aircraft. R R. Jones has written a short account of his contributions to physical organic chemistry, which were both numerous and distinguished, considering the brevity of his career.294 His publications included a book on ionic organic reactions.295... 

The effects of micellization on reactivity have been investigated for a wide variety of ionic organic reactions other than those discussed previously in Sections IV and V, e.g. the Cannizzaro reaction, racemiza-tion, acid catalyzed enolization, base catalyzed hydrolysis of a,]8-un-saturated ketones, and coupling of quinonediimines with phenols. In the case of the Cannizzaro reaction of benzaldehyde (equation 43), the cationic surfactants eicosanyltrimethylammonium bromide and octa-decyltrimethylammonium bromide increased and the anionic surfactant... 

The effects of surfactants on the ionic organic reactions included in the preceding discussion are summarized in Table 17. 

We had no good way to predict if they would be liquid, but we were lucky that many were. The class of cations that were the most attractive candidates was that of the dialkylimidazolium salts, and our particular favorite was l-ethyl-3-methylimid-azolium [EMIM]. [EMIMJCl mixed with AICI3 made ionic liquids with melting temperatures below room temperature over a wide range of compositions [8]. We determined chemical and physical properties once again, and demonstrated some new battery concepts based on this well behaved new electrolyte. We and others also tried some organic reactions, such as Eriedel-Crafts chemistry, and found the ionic liquids to be excellent both as solvents and as catalysts [9]. It appeared to act like acetonitrile, except that is was totally ionic and nonvolatile. 

Obviously, the check for protic impurities becomes crucial if the ionic liquid is to be used for applications in which protons are known to be active compounds. Eor some organic reactions, one has to be sure that an ionic liquid effect does not turn out to be a protic impurity effect at some later stage of the research ... 

Stoichiometric Organic Reactions and Acid-Catalyzed Reactions in Ionic Liquids... 

As in stoichiometric organic reactions, the application of nonvolatile ionic liquids can contribute to the reduction of atmospheric pollution. This is of special relevance for non-continuous reactions, in which complete recovery of a volatile organic solvent is usually difficult to integrate into the process. 

Ethylammonium nitrate, CH CH,NH NO , was the first ionic liquid to be discovered. Its melting point of 12°C was reported in 1914 and it has since been used as a nonpolluting solvent for organic reactions and for facilitating the folding of proteins. 

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