Phase transfer catalysis examples

Phase transfer catalysis is the subject of an article in the April 1978 issue of the Journal of Chemical Educa tion (pp 235-238) This arti cle includes examples of a variety of reactions carried out under phase transfer conditions... 

Industrial examples of phase-transfer catalysis are numerous and growing rapidly they include polymerisa tion, substitution, condensation, and oxidation reactions. The processing advantages, besides the acceleration of the reaction, include mild reaction conditions, relatively simple process flow diagrams, and flexibiHty in the choice of solvents. 

Phase transfer catalysis processes (Starks and Liotta, 1978 Starks, 1987) for the synthesis of many organic materials use less, or sometimes no, organic solvent may use less toxic solvent may allow use of less hazardous raw materials (for example, aqueous HCl instead of anhydrous HCl) and may operate at milder conditions. Some types of reactions where phase transfer catalysis has been applied include ... 

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. 

In the initial report by Corey and Chaykovsky, dimethylsulfonium methylide (2) reacted smoothly with benzalaniline to provide an entry to 1,2-diphenylaziridine 67. Franzen and Driesen reported the same reaction with 81% yield for 67. In another example, benzylidene-phenylamine reacted with 2 to produce l-(p-methoxyphenyl)-2-phenylaziridine in 71% yield. The same reaction was also carried out using phase-transfer catalysis conditions.Thus aziridine 68 could be generated consistently in good yield (80-94%). Recently, more complex sulfur ylides have been employed to make more functionalized aziridines, as depicted by the reaction between A -sulfonylimine 69 with diphenylsulfonium 3-(trimethylsilyl)propargylide (70) to afford aziridine 71, along with desilylated aziridine 72. ... 

This method exemplifies a broad class of processes that proceed via transfer of reacting species between two liquid phases. Such processes may require a catalyst that can combine with species present in one phase and effect their transfer in this form to the second phase where the main reaction occurs. Starks23 has termed such a process phase-transfer catalysis and has demonstrated its utility in reactions involving inorganic anions. For example, he has shown that the rates... 

The phase-transfer catalysis method has also been utilized effectively for addition of dichlorocarbene to olefins,4 as well as for substitution and elimination reactions, oxidations, and reductions.18 The preceding procedure in this volume is another example.13... 

The selection of the thirty procedures clearly reflects the current interest of synthetic organic chemistry. Thus seven of them illustrate uses of T1(I), T1 (III), Cu(I), and Li(I), and three examples elaborate on the process now termed phase-transfer catalysis. In addition, newly developed methods involving fragmentation, sulfide contraction, and synthetically useful free radical cyclization arc covered in five procedures. Inclusion of preparations and uses of five theoretically interesting compounds demonstrates the rapid expansion of this particular area in recent years and will render these compounds more readily and consistently available. 

Although phase-transfer catalysis has been most often used for nucleophilic substitutions, it is not confined to these reactions. Any reaction that needs an insoluble anion dissolved in an organic solvent can be accelerated by an appropriate phase transfer catalyst. We shall see some examples in later chapters. In fact, in principle, the method is not even limited to anions, and a small amount of work has been done in transferring cations, radicals, and molecules. The reverse type of phase-transfer catalysis has also been reported transport into the aqueous phase of a reactant that is soluble in organic solvents. ... 

For an example with phase transfer catalysis, see Cacchi, S. Misiti, D. La Torre, F. Synthesis, 1980, 243. 

Heteropoly acids can be synergistically combined with phase-transfer catalysis in the so-called Ishii-Venturello chemistry for oxidation reactions such as oxidation of alcohols, allyl alcohols, alkenes, alkynes, P-unsaturated acids, vic-diols, phenol, and amines with hydrogen peroxide (Mizuno et al., 1994). Recent examples include the epoxidations of alkyl undecylenates (Yadav and Satoskar, 1997) and. styrene (Yadav and Pujari, 2000). 

Figure 3.56 in Section 3.8 illustrates the mechanism of phase-transfer catalysis. Tables 4.4 and 4.5 give examples of industrial importance in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, oleochemicals, etc. 

These reactions proceed more rapidly in polar aprotic solvents. In DMSO, for example, primary alkyl chlorides are converted to nitriles in 1 h or less at temperatures of 120°-140°C.36 Phase transfer catalysis by hexadecyltributylphosphonium bromide permits conversion of 1-chlorooctane to octyl cyanide in 95% yield in 2 h at 105° C.37... 

In addition, there are a few examples of heterogeneous nonaqueous sonochemistry, in both liquid-liquid and liquid-solid systems. Two recent reports have utilized ultrasonic agitation in place of or along with phase transfer catalysis for the preparation of dichlorocarbene from aqueous NaOH/CHCl3 (166), and for N-alkylation of amines with alkyl halides (167). Along the same lines, several papers have appeared in which... 

In addition to solvent-free processing, phase-transfer catalytic conditions (PTC) have also been widely employed as a processing technique in MAOS [15]. In phase-transfer catalysis, the reactants are situated in two separate phases, for example liquid-... 

It needs to be noted that phase transfer catalysis has implications for energy conservation for example, reactions which normally require heat may proceed at room temperature in the presence of naked anions. 

In phase transfer catalysis of the solid/liquid type, the organic phase (containing dissolved organic reactant and a small amount of the crown) is mixed directly with the solid inorganic salt. Such a procedure enables the reaction to proceed under anhydrous conditions this is a distinct advantage, for example, when hydrolysis is a possible competing reaction. Because of their open structure, crown ethers are readily able to abstract cations from a crystalline solid and are often the catalysts of choice for many solid/liquid phase transfer reactions. 

Typical systems. A considerable number of immobilized polyether systems have been synthesized both for phase transfer catalysis as just discussed and for use in a number of analytical applications. Such immobilized systems are generally synthesized by either copolymerization of suitably functionalized macrocycles in the presence of cross-linking agents or by appending functionalized macrocycles to existing polymeric substrates. Structures (184)-(186) give examples of different... 

A different approach is the combination of a Pt-carbonyl-cluster with a special dye, Safranine O (Saf 3,7-diamino-2,8-dimethyl-5-phenylphenazinium) in an aqueous/organic two-phase system [48]. The dye is reduced in the organic phase and subsequently, in a type of phase-transfer catalysis, it reduced the cofactor in the aqueous phase. In this example l-LDH is used as a production enzyme, reducing pyruvate to L-lactate (Scheme 43.6). Complete conversion was obtained within 48 h, the mixture containing pyruvate, NAD+ and the Pt-cluster catalyst in a 600 10 1 molar ratio. The TOF for NAD+ was 15 h-1. 

There are many examples on the asymmetric phase transfer catalysis, but highly efficient ones are not so many though they are increasing in recent years.17-101 This review will highlight the notable examples with emphasis on recent reports. 

Phase transfer catalysis has been widely employed in commercial synthetic applications, primarily because of its ability to replace organic amine and alkoxides bases with low cost metal hydroxides. An example of this from PTC Organics... 

The application of phase-transfer catalysis to the Williamson synthesis of ethers has been exploited widely and is far superior to any classical method for the synthesis of aliphatic ethers. Probably the first example of the use of a quaternary ammonium salt to promote a nucleophilic substitution reaction is the formation of a benzyl ether using a stoichiometric amount of tetraethylammonium hydroxide [1]. Starks mentions the potential value of the quaternary ammonium catalyst for Williamson synthesis of ethers [2] and its versatility in the synthesis of methyl ethers and other alkyl ethers was soon established [3-5]. The procedure has considerable advantages over the classical Williamson synthesis both in reaction time and yields and is certainly more convenient than the use of diazomethane for the preparation of methyl ethers. Under liquidrliquid two-phase conditions, tertiary and secondary alcohols react less readily than do primary alcohols, and secondary alkyl halides tend to be ineffective. However, reactions which one might expect to be sterically inhibited are successful under phase-transfer catalytic conditions [e.g. 6]. Microwave irradiation and solidrliquid phase-transfer catalytic conditions reduce reaction times considerably [7]. 

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