Phases crown ether

Owing to the different biological activity of D- and L-enantiomers of seleno-amino acids, the chiral separation of optical isomers has been undertaken in sele-nized yeast and in yeast-based commercial supplements. Both, chiral stationary phase (crown ether) and chiral derivatization prior to reversed-phase HPLC were used [16, 77, 78],... 

Phase transfer catalysis succeeds for two reasons First it provides a mechanism for introducing an anion into the medium that contains the reactive substrate More important the anion is introduced m a weakly solvated highly reactive state You ve already seen phase transfer catalysis m another form m Section 16 4 where the metal complexmg properties of crown ethers were described Crown ethers permit metal salts to dissolve m nonpolar solvents by surrounding the cation with a lipophilic cloak leav mg the anion free to react without the encumbrance of strong solvation forces... 

A method for the polymerization of polysulfones in nondipolar aprotic solvents has been developed and reported (9,10). The method reUes on phase-transfer catalysis. Polysulfone is made in chlorobenzene as solvent with (2.2.2)cryptand as catalyst (9). Less reactive crown ethers require dichlorobenzene as solvent (10). High molecular weight polyphenylsulfone can also be made by this route in dichlorobenzene however, only low molecular weight PES is achievable by this method. Cross-linked polystyrene-bound (2.2.2)cryptand is found to be effective in these polymerizations which allow simple recovery and reuse of the catalyst. 

Among various types of chiral stationary phases, the host-guest type of chiral crown ether is able to separate most amino acids completely (58). 

Appllca.tlons. The first widely appHcable Ic separation of enantiomeric metallocene compounds was demonstrated on P-CD bonded-phase columns. Thirteen enantiomeric derivatives of ferrocene, mthenocene, and osmocene were resolved (7). Retention data for several of these compounds are listed in Table 2, and Figure 2a shows the Ic separation of three metallocene enantiomeric pairs. P-Cyclodextrin bonded phases were used to resolve several racemic and diastereomeric 2,2-binaphthyldiyl crown ethers (9). These compounds do not contain a chiral carbon but stiU exist as enantiomers because of the staggered position of adjacent naphthyl rings, and a high degree of chiral recognition was attained for most of these compounds (9). 

Phase-tiansfei catalysis (PTC) is a technique by which leactions between substances located in diffeient phases aie biought about oi accelerated. Typically, one OI more of the reactants are organic Hquids or soHds dissolved in a nonpolar organic solvent and the coreactants are salts or alkah metal hydroxides in aqueous solution. Without a catalyst such reactions are often slow or do not occur at ah the phase-transfer catalyst, however, makes such conversions fast and efficient. Catalysts used most extensively are quaternary ammonium or phosphonium salts, and crown ethers and cryptates. Although isolated examples of PTC can be found in the early Hterature, it is only since the middle of the 1960s that the method has developed extensively. 

The crown ethers and cryptates are able to complex the alkaU metals very strongly (38). AppHcations of these agents depend on the appreciable solubihty of the chelates in a wide range of solvents and the increase in activity of the co-anion in nonaqueous systems. For example, potassium hydroxide or permanganate can be solubiHzed in benzene [71 -43-2] hy dicyclohexano-[18]-crown-6 [16069-36-6]. In nonpolar solvents the anions are neither extensively solvated nor strongly paired with the complexed cation, and they behave as naked or bare anions with enhanced activity. Small amounts of the macrocycHc compounds can serve as phase-transfer agents, and they may be more effective than tetrabutylammonium ion for the purpose. The cost of these macrocycHc agents limits industrial use. 

The diffusion, location and interactions of guests in zeolite frameworks has been studied by in-situ Raman spectroscopy and Raman microscopy. For example, the location and orientation of crown ethers used as templates in the synthesis of faujasite polymorphs has been studied in the framework they helped to form [4.297]. Polarized Raman spectra of p-nitroaniline molecules adsorbed in the channels of AIPO4-5 molecular sieves revealed their physical state and orientation - molecules within the channels formed either a phase of head-to-tail chains similar to that in the solid crystalline substance, with a characteristic 0J3 band at 1282 cm , or a second phase, which is characterized by a similarly strong band around 1295 cm . This second phase consisted of weakly interacting molecules in a pseudo-quinonoid state similar to that of molten p-nitroaniline [4.298]. 

Saturated hydrocarbons such as neopentane, notbomane, and cyclooctane have been converted to the corresponding perfluoro derivatives in 10-20% yield by gas-phase reaction with fluorine gas diluted with helium at —78°C. Simple ethers can be completely fluorinated under similar conditions. Crown polyethers can be fluorinated by passing an Fa/He stream over a solid mixture of sodium fluoride and the crown ether. Liquid-phase fluorination of hydrocarbons has also been observed, but the reaction is believed to be ionic, rather than radical, in character. A variety of milder fluorination agents have been developed for synthetic purposes and will be discussed in Chapter 6 of Part B. 

Both of these structures are open-chained compounds corresponding to crown ethers in function if not exactly in structure (see Chap. 7). They have repeating ethyleneoxy side-chains generally terminated in a methyl group. Montanari and co-workers introduced the polypodes 22 as phase transfer catalysts . These compounds were based on the triazine nucleus as illustrated below. The first octopus molecule (23) was prepared by Vogtle and Weber and is shown below. The implication of the name is that the compound is multiarmed and not specifically that it has eight such side-chains. Related molecules have recently been prepared by Hyatt and the name octopus adopted. For further information on this group of compounds and for examples of structures, refer to the discussion and tables in Chap. 7. 

In Pedersen s early experiments, the relative binding of cations by crown ethers was assessed by extraction of alkali metal picrates into an organic phase. In these experiments, the crown ether served to draw into the organic phase a colored molecule which was ordinarily insoluble in this medium. An extension and elaboration of this notion has been developed by Dix and Vdgtle and Nakamura, Takagi, and Ueno In efforts by both of these groups, crown ether molecules were appended to chromophoric or colored residues. Ion-selective extraction and interaction with the crown and/or chromophore could produce changes in the absorption spectrum. Examples of molecules so constructed are illustrated below as 7 7 and 18 from refs. 32 and 131, respectively. 

A good deal of work has been done on polymeric crown ethers during the last decade. Hogen Esch and Smid have been major contributors from the point of view of cation binding properties, and Blasius and coworkers have been especially interested in the cation selectivity of such species. Montanari and coworkers have developed a number of polymer-anchored crowns for use as phase transfer catalysts. Manecke and Storck have recently published a review titled Polymeric Catalysts , which may be useful to the reader in gaining additional perspective. 

With the discovery of the crowns and related species, it was inevitable that a search would begin for simpler and simpler relatives which might be useful in similar applications. Perhaps these compounds would be easier and more economical to prepare and ultimately, of course, better in one respect or another than the molecules which inspired the research. In particular, the collateral developments of crown ether chemistry and phase transfer catalysis fostered an interest in utilizing the readily available polyethylene glycol mono- or dimethyl ethers as catalysts for such reactions. Although there is considerable literature in this area, much of it relates to the use of simple polyethylene glycols in phase transfer processes. Since our main concern in this monograph is with novel structures, we will discuss these simple examples further only briefly, below. 

It was noted early by Smid and his coworkers that open-chained polyethylene glycol type compounds bind alkali metals much as the crowns do, but with considerably lower binding constants. This suggested that such materials could be substituted for crown ethers in phase transfer catalytic reactions where a larger amount of the more economical material could effect the transformation just as effectively as more expensive cyclic ethers. Knbchel and coworkers demonstrated the application of open-chained crown ether equivalents in 1975 . Recently, a number of applications have been published in which simple polyethylene glycols are substituted for crowns . These include nucleophilic substitution reactions, as well as solubilization of arenediazonium cations . Glymes have also been bound into polymer backbones for use as catalysts " " . 

In specific applications to phase transfer catalysis, Knbchel and his coworkers compared crown ethers, aminopolyethers, cryptands, octopus molecules ( krakenmole-kiile , see below) and open-chained polyether compounds. They determined yields per unit time for reactions such as that between potassium acetate and benzyl chloride in acetonitrile solution. As expected, the open-chained polyethers were inferior to their cyclic counterparts, although a surprising finding was that certain aminopolyethers were superior to the corresponding crowns. 

Difluoromethoxy-2-chloro-l,l,l-trifluoroethane and potassium fluoride produce 2-difluoromethoxy-1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane [50] The yield of the latter reaction is improved by adding a phase transfer catalyst or crown ether, tetra-methylammonium chlonde, tetrabutylammonium chloride, or 18-crown-6 with a solvent like sulfolane can be used for this purpose [5/] (equation 32)... 

Other measures of nucleophilicity have been proposed. Brauman et al. studied Sn2 reactions in the gas phase and applied Marcus theory to obtain the intrinsic barriers of identity reactions. These quantities were interpreted as intrinsic nucleo-philicities. Streitwieser has shown that the reactivity of anionic nucleophiles toward methyl iodide in dimethylformamide (DMF) is correlated with the overall heat of reaction in the gas phase he concludes that bond strength and electron affinity are the important factors controlling nucleophilicity. The dominant role of the solvent in controlling nucleophilicity was shown by Parker, who found solvent effects on nucleophilic reactivity of many orders of magnitude. For example, most anions are more nucleophilic in DMF than in methanol by factors as large as 10, because they are less effectively shielded by solvation in the aprotic solvent. Liotta et al. have measured rates of substitution by anionic nucleophiles in acetonitrile solution containing a crown ether, which forms an inclusion complex with the cation (K ) of the nucleophile. These rates correlate with gas phase rates of the same nucleophiles, which, in this crown ether-acetonitrile system, are considered to be naked anions. The solvation of anionic nucleophiles is treated in Section 8.3. 

Interestingly, phase-transfer catalysts including crown ethers have been used to promote enantioselective variations of Darzens condensation. Toke and coworkers showed that the novel 15-crown-5 catalyst derived from d-glucose 33 could promote the condensation between acetyl chloride 31 and benzaldehyde to give the epoxide in 49% yield and 71% A modified cinchoninium bromide was shown to act as an effective phase transfer catalyst for the transformation as well. ... 

Early examples of enantioselective extractions are the resolution of a-aminoalco-hol salts, such as norephedrine, with lipophilic anions (hexafluorophosphate ion) [184-186] by partition between aqueous and lipophilic phases containing esters of tartaric acid [184-188]. Alkyl derivatives of proline and hydroxyproline with cupric ions showed chiral discrimination abilities for the resolution of neutral amino acid enantiomers in n-butanol/water systems [121, 178, 189-192]. On the other hand, chiral crown ethers are classical selectors utilized for enantioseparations, due to their interesting recognition abilities [171, 178]. However, the large number of steps often required for their synthesis [182] and, consequently, their cost as well as their limited loadability makes them not very suitable for preparative purposes. Examples of ligand-exchange [193] or anion-exchange selectors [183] able to discriminate amino acid derivatives have also been described. 

Addition of a chiral carrier can improve the enantioselective transport through the membrane by preferentially forming a complex with one enantiomer. Typically, chiral selectors such as cyclodextrins (e.g. (4)) and crown ethers (e.g. (5) [21]) are applied. Due to the apolar character of the inner surface and the hydrophilic external surface of cyclodextrins, these molecules are able to transport apolar compounds through an aqueous phase to an organic phase, whereas the opposite mechanism is valid for crown ethers. 

Crown ether (Section 18.7) A large-ring polvether used as a phase-transfer catalyst. 

Early work on the use of chiral phase-transfer catalysis in asymmetric Darzens reactions was conducted independently by the groups of Wynberg [38] and Co-lonna [39], but the observed asymmetric induction was low. More recently Toke s group has used catalytic chiral aza crown ethers in Darzens reactions [40-42], but again only low to moderate enantioselectivities resulted. 

Laali and Lattimer (1989 see also Laali, 1990) observed arenediazonium ion/crown ether complexes in the gas phase by field desorption (FD) and by fast atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometry. The FAB-MS spectrum of benzenediazonium ion/18-crown-6 shows a 1 1 complex. In the FD spectrum, apart from the 1 1 complex, a one-cation/two-crown complex is also detected. Dicyclo-hexano-24-crown-6 appears to complex readily in the gas phase, whereas in solution this crown ether is rather poor for complexation (see earlier in this section) the presence of one or three methyl groups in the 2- or 2,4,6-positions respectively has little effect on the gas-phase complexation. With 4-nitrobenzenediazonium ion, 18-crown-6 even forms a 1 3 complex. The authors assume charge-transfer complexes such as 11.13 for all these species. There is also evidence for hydride ion transfer from the crown host within the 1 1 complex, and for either the arenediazonium ion or the aryl cation formed from it under the reaction conditions in the gas phase in tandem mass spectrometry (Laali, 1990). 

Complexation with crown ethers increases the notoriously low solubilities of diazonium salts in most solvents (with the obvious exception of water). Therefore, it is possible to carry out phase-transfer reactions with complexed diazonium ions (review Gokel et al., 1985). Useful examples can be found in a paper from Gokel s group (Beadle et al., 1984a) on the Gomberg-Bachmann and Pschorr reactions (see Sec. 10.10). 

In organic synthesis, we know only one interesting case where reactions of arenediazonium ions take place in the presence of a crown ether, but not at all without. It is the azo coupling reaction of 4-methoxybenzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate with pyrroles. Butler and Sheppard (1978) reported that the azo derivatives 11.15 and 11.16 were obtained under phase-transfer conditions (CH2C12 or CHC13 + water) in the presence of dicyclohexano-18-crown-6, but not at all by a published procedure (Kreutzberger and Kalter, 1961). 

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