Mechanisms of allyl alcohol

Mixtures of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride and tetrahydrofuran are successfully used as fluorinating agents to convert 1,1,2-trifluoro-l-allcen-3-ols, easily prepared from bromotrifluoroethene via lithiation followed by the reaction with aldehydes or ketones, to 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoro-2-alkenes The yields are optimal with a 5 1 ratio of hydrogen fluoride to tetrahydrofuran The fluorination reaction involves a fluonde lon-induced rearrangement (Sf,j2 mechanism) of allylic alcohols [65] (equation 40)... 

Scheme 54 Isomerization mechanism of allylic alcohols to ketones...

Figure 7.10 The mechanism of allyl alcohol synthesis in propylene oxidation with hydrogen peroxide, in the presence of PPFe3+0H/Al203.

Ohno Y, Ormstad, K, Ross D, et al. 1985. Mechanism of allyl alcohol toxicity and protective effects of low-molecular-weight thiols studied with isolated rat hepatocytes. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 78 169-179. 

This Equation does not differ from the usual Mars-Van Krevelen redox equation. The rate constants of the separate steps of oxidation and reduction from Equation (11) are listed in Table 3. They are-compared in the same Table with the rate constants determined separately from the experiments on reduction and reoxidation. The coincidence between the calculated and experimental rate constants confirms the proposed redox mechanism of allyl alcohol oxidation over the rhombic phase of V-MoOg catalyst. 

SCHEME 1. Mechanism of allyl alcohol formation by Se02 oxidation. 

Allylic alcohols can be converted to epoxy-alcohols with tert-butylhydroperoxide on molecular sieves, or with peroxy acids. Epoxidation of allylic alcohols can also be done with high enantioselectivity. In the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation,allylic alcohols are converted to optically active epoxides in better than 90% ee, by treatment with r-BuOOH, titanium tetraisopropoxide and optically active diethyl tartrate. The Ti(OCHMe2)4 and diethyl tartrate can be present in catalytic amounts (15-lOmol %) if molecular sieves are present. Polymer-supported catalysts have also been reported. Since both (-t-) and ( —) diethyl tartrate are readily available, and the reaction is stereospecific, either enantiomer of the product can be prepared. The method has been successful for a wide range of primary allylic alcohols, where the double bond is mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrasubstituted. This procedure, in which an optically active catalyst is used to induce asymmetry, has proved to be one of the most important methods of asymmetric synthesis, and has been used to prepare a large number of optically active natural products and other compounds. The mechanism of the Sharpless epoxidation is believed to involve attack on the substrate by a compound formed from the titanium alkoxide and the diethyl tartrate to produce a complex that also contains the substrate and the r-BuOOH. ... 

In addition, a 532 (visible) or 355 (UV region) nm laser-induced photoisomerization of allylic alcohols to aldehydes catalyzed by [Fe3(CO)i2] or [Fe(CO)4PPh3] was developed by Fan [176]. In this reaction, key intermediates such as the 7i-allyl hydride species [FeH(CO)3(q -C3H3ROH)] (R = H, Me) were detected by pulsed laser FTIR absorption spectroscopy. These results strongly support the 7i-allyl mechanism of photoisomerization of allyl alcohols. 

FIGURE 6.9 Proposed mechanism for epoxidation of allyl alcohols.16... 

Copper(II) triflate is quite inefficient in promoting cyclopropanation of allyl alcohol, and the use of f-butyl diazoacetate [164/(165+166) = 97/3%] brought no improvement over ethyl diazoacetate (67/6 %)162). If, however, copper(I) triflate was the catalyst, cyclopropanation with ethyl diazoacetate increased to 30% at the expense of O/H insertion (55%). As has already been discussed in Sect. 2.2.1, competitive coordination-type and carbenoid mechanisms may be involved in cyclopropanation with copper catalysts, and the ability of Cu(I) to coordinate efficiently with olefins may enhance this reaction in the intramolecular competition with O/H insertion. 

The plausible mechanism of this ruthenium-catalyzed isomerization of allylic alcohols is shown in Scheme 15. This reaction proceeds via dehydrogenation of an allylic alcohol to the corresponding unsaturated carbonyl compound followed by re-addition of the metal hydride to the double bond. This mechanism involves dissociation of one phosphine ligand. Indeed, the replacement of two triphenylphosphines by various bidentate ligands led to a significant decrease in the reactivity.37... 

The intermolecular Heck reaction of halopyridines provides an alternative route to functionalized pyridines, circumventing the functional group compatibility problems encountered in other methods. 3-Bromopyridine has often been used as a substrate for the Heck reaction [124-126]. For example, ketone 155 was obtained from the Heck reaction of 3-bromo-2-methoxy-5-chloropyridine (153) with allylic alcohol 154 [125]. The mechanism for such a synthetically useful coupling warrants additional comments oxidative addition of 3-bromopyridine 153 to Pd(0) proceeds as usual to give the palladium intermediate 156. Subsequent insertion of allylic alcohol 154 to 156 gives intermediate 157. Reductive elimination of 157 gives enol 158, which then isomerizes to afford ketone 155 as the ultimate product This tactic is frequently used in the synthesis of ketones from allylic alcohols. 

To explore the mechanism of allylic hydroxylation, three probe substrates, 3,3,6,6-tetradeuterocyclohexene, methylene cyclohexane, and /l-pinenc, were studied (113). Each substrate yielded a mixture of two allylic alcohols formed as a consequence of either retention or rearrangement of the double bond. The observation of a significant deuterium isotope effect (4-5) in the oxidation of 3,3,6,6-tetradeuterocyclohexene together with the formation of a mixture of un-rearranged and rearranged allylic alcohols from all three substrates is most consistent with a hydrogen abstraction-oxygen rebound mechanism (Fig. 4.48). 

The mechanism for allyl alcohol isomerisation has been studied and the presence of alkoxy and oxo groups in the metal catalyst seems to be essential [5], Not only vanadium, but also rhenium and molybdenum analogues are catalyst for this reaction. The mechanism is depicted in Figure 5.8. The substituents at oxygen can be alkyl groups or silyl groups. 

In support of this mechanism, it was shown that allyl alcohol on treatment with Fe(CO)j is isomerized to propionaldehyde. The identical isomerization of allyl alcohol has been demonstrated (23) to proceed by HCo(CO)4 catalysis and evidence secured for a similar 1,3 or allylic hydrogen shift [Eq. (11)]. 

In 1980, Katsuki and Sharpless described the first really efficient asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols with very high enantioselectivities (ee 90-95%), employing a combination of Ti(OPr-/)4-diethyl tartrate (DET) as chiral catalyst and TBHP as oxidant Stoichiometric conditions were originally described for this system, however the addition of molecular sieves (which trap water traces) to the reaction allows the epoxidation to proceed under catalytic conditions. The stereochemical course of the reaction may be predicted by the empirical rule shown in equations 40 and 41. With (—)-DET, the oxidant approaches the allylic alcohol from the top side of the plane, whereas the bottom side is open for the (-l-)-DET based reagent, giving rise to the opposite optically active epoxide. Various aspects of this reaction including the mechanism, theoretical investigations and synthetic applications of the epoxy alcohol products have been reviewed and details may be found in the specific literature . 

The above dramatic dependence of regio- and stereoselectivity on the nature of the metal can be explained by the reaction mechanism shown in Scheme 11.49 (167). The nitrone cycloadditions of allylic alcohols are again magnesium-specific just like the nitrile oxide reactions described in Section 11.2.2. Magnesium ions accelerate the reaction through a metal ion-bound intramolecular cycloaddition path. On the other hand, zinc ions afford no such rate acceleration, but these ions catalyze the acetalization at the benzoyl carbonyl moiety of the nitrone to provide a hemiacetal intermediate. The subsequent intramolecular regio- and stereoselective cycloaddition reaction gives the observed products. 

The reaction of perfluoroalkyl iodides with alkenes affords the perfluoro-aikyiated alkyl iodides 931. a.a-Difluoro-functionalized phosphonates are prepared by the addition of the iododifluoromethylphosphonate (932) at room temperature[778], A one-electron transfer-initiated radical mechanism has been proposed for the addition reaction. Addition to alkynes affords 1-perfluoro-alkyl-2-iodoalkenes (933)[779—781 ]. The fluorine-containing oxirane 934 is obtained by the reaction of allyl alcohol[782]. Under a CO atmosphere, the carbocarbonylation of the alkenol 935 and the alkynol 937 takes place with perfluoroalkyl iodides to give the fluorine-containing lactones 936 and 938[783],... 

Arylation of allylic alcohols leads to l-aryl-3-alkanones. The orientation for this reaction is in compliance with the general trend indicated above. Furthermore, the accepted reaction mechanism points to a Pd-H elimination process in which H... 

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