Of aromatic ethers

Purely aromatic ethers e.g., diphenyl ether), which are commonly encountered, are very hmited in number. Most of the aromatic ethers are of the mixed aliphatic - aromatic type. They are not attacked by sodium nor by dilute acids or alkahs. When hquid, the physical proper-ties (b.p., d . and ) are useful constants to assist in their identification. Three important procedures are available for the characterisation of aromatic ethers. 

Picrates of aromatic ethers. Most phenohc ethers react with picric acid in chloroform or alcoholic solution to yield crystalUne picrates (compare At oTnatic Hydrocarbons, Section IV,9,1). 

Dissolve 0 01 mol of the phenohc ether in 10 ml. of warm chloroform, and also (separately) 0 01 mol of picric acid plus 5 per cent, excess (0 -241 g.) in 10 ml. of chloroform. Stir the picric acid solution and pour in the solution of the phenohc ether. Set the mixture aside in a 100 mb beaker and ahow it to crystallise. Recrystahise the picrate from the minimum volume of chloroform. In most cases equahy satisfactory results may be obtained by conducting the preparation in rectified spirit (95 per cent. CjHgOH). The m.p. should be determined immediately after recrystallisation. It must be pointed out, however, that the picrates of aromatic ethers suflFer from the disadvantage of being comparatively unstable and may undergo decomposition during recrystaUisation. 

Solvent for Displacement Reactions. As the most polar of the common aprotic solvents, DMSO is a favored solvent for displacement reactions because of its high dielectric constant and because anions are less solvated in it (87). Rates for these reactions are sometimes a thousand times faster in DMSO than in alcohols. Suitable nucleophiles include acetyUde ion, alkoxide ion, hydroxide ion, azide ion, carbanions, carboxylate ions, cyanide ion, hahde ions, mercaptide ions, phenoxide ions, nitrite ions, and thiocyanate ions (31). Rates of displacement by amides or amines are also greater in DMSO than in alcohol or aqueous solutions. Dimethyl sulfoxide is used as the reaction solvent in the manufacture of high performance, polyaryl ether polymers by reaction of bis(4,4 -chlorophenyl) sulfone with the disodium salts of dihydroxyphenols, eg, bisphenol A or 4,4 -sulfonylbisphenol (88). These and related reactions are made more economical by efficient recycling of DMSO (89). Nucleophilic displacement of activated aromatic nitro groups with aryloxy anion in DMSO is a versatile and useful reaction for the synthesis of aromatic ethers and polyethers (90). 

TRAHANOVSKY Ether oxidation Oxidation of aromatic ethers to carbonyl compounds with cemim ammonium nitrate... 

A number of examples of the use of molten pyridinium chloride (mp 144 °C) in chemical synthesis are known, dating back to the 1940 s. Pyridinium chloride can act both as an acid and as a nucleophilic source of chloride. These properties are exploited in the deallcylation reactions of aromatic ethers [4]. An example involving the reaction of 2-methoxynaphthalene is given in Scheme 5.1-2 [16, 18], and a mechanistic explanation in Scheme 5.1-3 [18]. 

The positive bromination of aromatics ethers was first studied by Bradfield et al.193 and by Branch and Jones194. The reaction of hypobromous acid in 75 % aqueous acetic acid with benzyl 4-nitrophenyl ether and 4-nitrophenetole at 20 °C was very rapid and approximately second-order193. The value of k2/[H+] remained constant in the [H+] range 0.005-0.090 M for the effect of added mineral acids on the bromination of 4-nitroanisole and 4-nitrophenetole (at 19.8 °C)194. The variation in reaction rate with the percentage of acetic acid in the medium was also studied and showed a large increase in the 0-10 % range with a levelling off at approximately 25 % acetic acid (Table 52) this was attributed... 

A number of workers have measured rates of dedeuteration of aromatic ethers in this medium (Table 172). The agreement between the different sets of work is poor in the case of anisole and good otherwise. The result of Lauer and Day5 6 6 for dedeuteration at 80 °C is probably the most suspect certainly one would not expect such large differences in activation energy for reaction at the ortho and... 

The Ullman reaction has long been known as a method for the synthesis of aromatic ethers by the reaction of a phenol with an aromatic halide in the presence of a copper compound as a catalyst. It is a variation on the nucleophilic substitution reaction since a phenolic salt reacts with the halide. Nonactivated aromatic halides can be used in the synthesis of poly(arylene edier)s, dius providing a way of obtaining structures not available by the conventional nucleophilic route. The ease of halogen displacement was found to be the reverse of that observed for activated nucleophilic substitution reaction, that is, I > Br > Cl F. The polymerizations are conducted in benzophenone with a cuprous chloride-pyridine complex as a catalyst. Bromine compounds are the favored reactants.53,124 127 Poly(arylene ether)s have been prepared by Ullman coupling of bisphenols and... 

Fig. 9. Bromination of aromatic ethers with several polyhalides...

Furthermore, the reaction of aromatic ethers with a stoichiometric amount of BTMA Br3 in dichloromethane-methanol or acetic acid-zinc chloride under mild conditions gave, selectively, mono-, di-, or tribromo-substituted aromatic ethers in quantitative yields (Fig. 10) (ref. 15). 

Fig. 10. Selective bromination of aromatic ethers with BTMA Bt3...

CgHsCl as in the absence of aromatic, suggesting auto-decomposition of the oxidant as the slow step (p. 386). The oxidation of toluene was somewhat faster, implying an additional electron-transfer pathway (c/. the oxidation of aromatic ethers and amines, p. 405). 

Finally, Roy and his group reported the first examples of stoichiometric 8-endo cyclizations for the preparation of aromatic ethers [126]. 

The Thermal Decomposition of Aromatic Ethers. According to the results of Table I, the bond scission of oxygen containing polynucleus aromatic structure of coal at liquefaction temperature of 450°C seems to occur mainly at methylene or ether structures. Therefore, it will be very important to study the... 

Phenolic compounds may enhance the rate of decomposition of aromatic ether, because the phenoxy radical may be stabilized by solvation (18) or hydrogen bonding (19) with phenolic compounds and may result in the subsequent hydrogen transfer reaction from hydrogen donating solvent or phenols (20). 

The Effect of Mineral Matters on the Decomposition Ethers. Recently, the effect of mineral matters of coal on the coal liquefaction has received much attention. It was shown that small amounts of FeS or pyrite are responsible for the hydro-genative liquefaction of coal. Therefore, it is interesting to elucidate the effect of mineral matters of coal on the decomposition rate and products of aromatic ethers, and so three diaryl ethers were thermally treated in the presence of coal ash obtained by low temperature combustion of Illinois No.6 coal at about 200°C with ozone containing oxygen. 

Solvent-free benzoylation of aromatic ethers has been performed under the action of microwave irradiation in the presence of a metallic catalyst, FeCl3 being one of the most efficient [101]. With careful control of the temperature and other parameters, nonthermal microwave effects have not been observed either in terms of yields or isomeric ratios of the obtained products (Eq. 49). 

Friedel-Crafts acylation of aromatic ethers has been performed in the presence of a variety of metal chlorides and oxides (FeCl3, ZnCl2, A1C13, Fe203, Fe304, etc.) but without temperature control [52], Scheme 10.8. 

Several elegant syntheses of anthra-cyclinone aglycons are based on the ability to intercept the intermediate radical cation (76) formed from the oxidation of aromatic ethers (75) and (79) in situ with alkanols [9, 44, 45]. Inter- and intramolecular capture can occur. As illustrated in Scheme 19, the methodology leads to the facile construction of substituted quinone mono- and bisketals. 

Pinkston KE, Sedlak DL (2004) Transformation of aromatic ether- and amine-containing pharmaceuticals during chlorine disinfection. Environ Sci Technol 38 4019 025... 

These ideas will be discussed in the following subsections, where most of the attention will be devoted to the mechanistic smdies with aromatic esters, which have been the subject of an overwhelming majority of the research efforts. Nevertheless, the same reaction mechanism has been shown to be valid for the PFR of anilides, thioesters, sulfonates, and so forth. Furthermore, it is also applicable to the photo-Claisen rearrangement [i.e. the migration of alkyl (or allyl, benzyl, aryl,)] groups of aromatic ethers to the ortho and para positions of the aromatic ring [21,22]. 

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