Phase transfer catalysis nucleophilic substitution

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... 

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 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>. 

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]. 

Polymeric phosphonium salt-bound carboxylate, benzenesulphinate and phenoxide anions have been used in nucleophilic substitution reactions for the synthesis of carboxylic acid esters, sulphones and C/O alkylation of phenols from alkyl halides. The polymeric reagent seems to increase the nucleophilicity of the anions376 and the yields are higher than those for corresponding polymer phase-transfer catalysis (reaction 273). 

Typical phase transfer catalysis in liquid-liquid systems combines processes in which Na+ or K+ salts of inorganic and organic anions derived from strong adds (phenolates, thiolates, carboxylates, etc.) are continuously transferred from aqueous (often alkaline) solutions to the organic phase by the phase transfer catalysts. Applications include nucleophilic substitution, addition, elimination, oxidation, and reduction reactions. 

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