Phase-transfer catalysis nucleophiles

Landini, D. Maia. A. Montanari, F. Phase-transfer catalysis. Nucleophilicity of anions in aqueous organic two-phase reactions catalyzed by onium salts. A comparison with homogeneous organic systems. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1978. 100, 2796-2801. 

Phase-transfer catalysis. Nucleophilic cyanide ion is transferred from the aqueous to the organic phase as benzyltrimethylammonium cyanide. 

Contents Introduction and Principles. - The Reaction of Dichlorocarbene With Olefins. - Reactions of Dichlorocarbene With Non-Olefinic Substrates. -Dibromocarbene and Other Carbenes. - Synthesis of Ethers. - Synthesis of Esters. - Reactions of Cyanide Ion. - Reactions of Superoxide Ions. - Reactions of Other Nucleophiles. - Alkylation Reactions. - Oxidation Reactions. - Reduction Techniques. - Preparation and Reactions of Sulfur Containing Substrates. -Ylids. - Altered Reactivity. - Addendum Recent Developments in Phase Transfer Catalysis. 

Interests in the phase transfer catalysis (PTC) have grown steadily for the past several years [68-70]. The use of PTC has recently received industrial importance in cases where the alternative use of polar aprotic solvents would be prohibitively expensive [71-74]. Thus, the potential application of the phase transfer catalyzed aromatic nucleophilic displacement reactions between phenoxide or thiophenoxide and activated systems has... 

The preparation of mono- and di-tm-butylcyclopentadienes 1 and 2 starting from monomeric cyclopentadiene was reported first in 1963 [23]. It was noted that the nucleophilic attack of the cyclopentadienide anion on ferf-alkyl halide has to compete with elimination reaction giving isobutene. The yield of the di- and tri-fer/-butylcyclopentadienes 2 and 3 was therefore reported to be modest to low [23, 24], Recently an elegant improvement for this synthesis using phase transfer catalysis was presented (Eq. 1), but the availability of the tri-substituted derivative... 

Another two-phase system using phase-transfer catalysis for the oxidation of diaryl-iV-arylsulphonyl sulphilimines to sulphoximines has also been described188. In this reaction the oxidizing reagent is sodium hypochlorite and yields are in excess of 90% in most cases (equation 70). This reaction presumably occurs by initial attack by the nucleophilic hypochlorite ion on the sulphur atom followed by chloride ion elimination. 

A difficulty that occasionally arises when carrying out nucleophilic substitution reactions is that the reactants do not mix. For a reaction to take place the reacting molecules must collide. In nucleophilic substitutions the substrate is usually insoluble in water and other polar solvents, while the nucleophile is often an anion, which is soluble in water but not in the substrate or other organic solvents. Consequently, when the two reactants are brought together, their concentrations in the same phase are too low for convenient reaction rates. One way to overcome this difficulty is to use a solvent that will dissolve both species. As we saw on page 450, a dipolar aprotic solvent may serve this purpose. Another way, which is used very often, is phase-transfer catalysis ... 

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. ... 

The reaction between acyl halides and alcohols or phenols is the best general method for the preparation of carboxylic esters. It is believed to proceed by a 8 2 mechanism. As with 10-8, the mechanism can be S l or tetrahedral. Pyridine catalyzes the reaction by the nucleophilic catalysis route (see 10-9). The reaction is of wide scope, and many functional groups do not interfere. A base is frequently added to combine with the HX formed. When aqueous alkali is used, this is called the Schotten-Baumann procedure, but pyridine is also frequently used. Both R and R may be primary, secondary, or tertiary alkyl or aryl. Enolic esters can also be prepared by this method, though C-acylation competes in these cases. In difficult cases, especially with hindered acids or tertiary R, the alkoxide can be used instead of the alcohol. Activated alumina has also been used as a catalyst, for tertiary R. Thallium salts of phenols give very high yields of phenolic esters. Phase-transfer catalysis has been used for hindered phenols. Zinc has been used to couple... 

The nucleophilic substitution on poly(vinyl chloroformate) with phenol under phase transfer catalysis conditions has been studied. The 13c-NMR spectra of partly modified polymers have been examined in detail in the region of the tertiary carbon atoms of the main chain. The results have shown that the substitution reaction proceeds without degradation of the polymer and selectively with the chloroformate functions belonging to the different triads, isotactic sequences being the most reactive ones. 

Crown Ethers Nucleophilic Substitution Reactions in Relatively Nonpolar Aprotic Solvents by Phase-Transfer Catalysis... 

Many other types of reactions than nucleophilic substitution are also amenable to phase-transfer catalysis. 

Partitioning of carbocations between addition of nucleophiles and deprotonation, 35, 67 Perchloro-organic chemistry structure, spectroscopy and reaction pathways, 25, 267 Permutational isomerization of pentavalent phosphorus compounds, 9, 25 Phase-transfer catalysis by quaternary ammonium salts, 15, 267 Phosphate esters, mechanism and catalysis of nucleophilic substitution in, 25, 99 Phosphorus compounds, pentavalent, turnstile rearrangement and pseudoration in permutational isomerization, 9, 25... 

Nucleophilic substitution of the nitro group in 3-amino 4-nitrofurazan 185 under conditions of phase-transfer catalysis gave a series of acetylene and diacetylene derivatives (Scheme 43) <2001RJ01629>. 

Phosphorylation of phenolate anions with dimethyl phosphorochloridothionate in water-dichloromethane systems normally gives large amounts of dithiopyrophos-phate because of extensive hydrolysis of the phosphorus chloride, but in the presence of tetrabutylammonium salts and 1 % imidazole, phosphorylation of the phenolate anion is complete. The explanation lies in an evident combination of activation of acylating agent (by imidazole) and of nucleophile (by phase-transfer catalysis).71... 

E-(P-Alkylvinyl)phenyliodonium salts react with tetra-n-butylammonium halides to yield the correspondingly substituted Z-haloethenes (80-100% for chloro-, bromo- and iodo-derivatives) [41], In contrast, in the corresponding reaction with Z-(2-benzenesulphonyl-ethenyl)phenyliodonium salts, nucleophilic substitution occurs with retention of configuration to yield the Z-2-benzenesulphonyl-l-haloethenes [42], The ammonium fluorides fail to yield the fluoroethenes, but produce the ethynes by simple elimination [41]. Where carboxylic acids have low solubility in organic solvents, their conversion into the acid chlorides is frequently difficult. Phase-transfer catalysis not only allows the conversion to be effected rapidly, it also results in high yields of a wide range of acid chlorides [43]. 

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]. 

In contrast, liquidiliquid phase-transfer catalysis is virtually ineffective for the conversion of a-bromoacetamides into aziridones (a-lactams). Maximum yields of only 17-23% have been reported [31, 32], using tetra-n-butylammonium hydrogen sulphate or benzyltriethylammonium bromide over a reaction time of 4-6 days. It is significant that a solidiliquid two-phase system, using solid potassium hydroxide in the presence of 18-crown-6 produces the aziridones in 50-94% yield [33], but there are no reports of the corresponding quaternary ammonium ion catalysed reaction. Under the liquidiliquid two-phase conditions, the major product of the reaction is the piperazine-2,5-dione, resulting from dimerization of the bromoacetamide [34, 38]. However, only moderate yields are isolated and a polymer-supported catalyst appears to provide the best results [34, 38], Significant side reactions result from nucleophilic displacement by the aqueous base to produce hydroxyamides and ethers. 

There has been a useful review of phase-transfer catalysis in nucleophilic aromatic substimtion. A comparison has been reported of the reactions with nucleophiles of l-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (substimtion) and 4-nitrophenyl diphenyl phosphate (dephosphorylation) in neutral micelles of dodecyl (10) and (23) polyoxyethylene glycol. In the substimtion reaction considerable amounts of ether may be formed by reaction with alkoxide ions at the micellar surface. Differences in reactivity of the two substrates are probably due to differences in their location in the micellar structures. ... 

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