P-Styryl ethers

The ruthenium-catalyzed direct addition of saturated aliphatic alcohols to non-activated alkynes remains a challenge. Only ally alcohol has been successfully involved in the intermolecular addition to phenylacetylene to produce an ether and the enal resulting from Claisen rearrangement (Equation 10.7) [24]. Thus, in refluxing toluene, in the presence of a catalytic amount of RuCl(tris(pyrazolyl) borate) (pyridine)2, a 1 1 mixture of ally P-styryl ether and 2-phenylpent-4-enal was obtained in 72% overall yield. 

The addition of small amounts of a polar solvent can markedly alter the copolymerization behavior of, for example, the diene-styrene pair. The solvation of the active centers manifests itself in two ways the incorporation of styrene is enhanced and the modes of diene addition other than 1,4 are increased 264,273). Even a relatively weak Lewis base such as diphenyl ether will bring about these dual changes in anionic copolymerizations, as the work of Aggarwal and co-workers has shown 260>. Alterations in polyisoprene microstructure and the extent of styrene incorporation were found for ether concentrations as low as 6 vol. % (diphenyl ether has been shown52) to cause partial dissociation of the poly(styryl)lithium dimers. The findings of Aggarwal and co-workers 260) are a clear demonstration that even at relatively low concentrations diphenyl ether does interact with these anionic centers and further serve to invalidate the repetitive claim 78,158-i60,i6i) tjjat diphenyl ether — at an ether/active center ratio of 150 — does not interact with carbon-lithium active centers. 

Gromov, S.P., Alfimov, M.V. (1992) Supramolecular photochemistry of the crown ether styryl dyes, Russ. Chem. Bull., 46, 611-636. 

Gromov, S.P., Fedorova, O.A., Ushakov, E.N., Baskin, I.I., Lindeman, A.V., Malysheva, E.V., Balashova, T.A, Arsen ev, A., Alfimov, M.V. (1998) Crown ether styryl dyes. 24. Synthesis of multiphotochromic 15-crown-5 ethers with rigid spacers, their anion- capped complexes, and stereospecific 1212 -autophotocycloaddition, Russ. Chem. Bull., 47, 97-105. 

Fig. 7-25. Main reactions of the phenolic /8-aryl ether structures during alkali (soda) and kraft pulping (Gierer, 1970). R = H, alkyl, or aryl group. The first step involves formation of a quinone methide intermediate (2). In alkali pulping intermediate (2) undergoes proton or formaldehyde elimination and is converted to styryl aryl ether structure (3a). During kraft pulping intermediate (2) is instead attacked by the nucleophilic hydrosulfide ions with formation of a thiirane structure (4) and simultaneous cleavage of the /3-aryl ether bond. Intermediate (5) reacts further either via a 1,4-dithiane dimer or directly to compounds of styrene type (6) and to complicated polymeric products (P). During these reactions most of the organically bound sulfur is eliminated as elemental sulfur.

---