Phase-transfer catalysts, requirements

CH2Br2, NaOH, H2O, Adogen, reflux, 3 h, 76-86% yield. Adogen = R3N CH3C1 , phase-transfer catalyst (R — Cg-C,o straight-chain alkyl groups). Earlier methods required anhydrous conditions and aprotic solvents. 

The a -halosulfone, required for the Ramberg-Backlund reaction, can for example be prepared from a sulfide by reaction with thionyl chloride (or with N-chlorosuccinimide) to give an a-chlorosulfide, followed by oxidation to the sulfone—e.g. using m-chloroperbenzoic acid. As base for the Ramberg-Backlund reaction have been used alkoxides—e.g. potassium t-butoxide in an etheral solvent, as well as aqueous alkali hydroxide. In the latter case the use of a phase-transfer catalyst may be of advantage. ... 

Efficient stirring is required. A solution of 225 g. (5.6 moles) of sodium hydroxide in 225 ml. of water can be added to the stirred mixture of the organic substrates in dichloromethane if a more efficient mechanical stirrer is used. In the original procedure, the submitters noted an induction period of about 20 minutes which was stated to vary somewhat with the stirring rate, stirring-bar size, and relative amount of phase-transfer catalyst. Three moles of base are required for the reaction one to generate the carbene and two to react with the additional two moles of hydrochloric acid lost by the amine-carbene adduct in the isonitrile formation step. If less base is used, the excess hydrochloric acid reacts with the isonitrile by a-addition, and the yield is substantially reduced. 

Another catalytic system which has been successfully applied to the autoxidation of substituted toluenes involves the combination of Co/Br" with a quaternary ammonium salt as a phase transfer catalyst (ref. 20). For example, cobalt(II) chloride in combination with certain tetraalkylammonium bromides or tetraalkylphosphonium bromides afforded benzoic acid in 92 % yield from toluene at 135-160 °C and 15 bar (Fig. 19). It should be noted that this system does not require the use of acetic acid as solvent. The function of the phase transfer catalyst is presumably to solubilize the cobalt in the ArCH3 solvent via the formation of Q + [CoBr]. ... 

The reaction of benzotriazoles with aryl halides catalyzed by a mixture of Pd(dppe)Cl2 (DPPE = bis-(diphenylphosphino)ethane) or Pd(dppf)Cl2, copper(I)iodide or copper(II)carboxylates, and a phase-transfer catalyst has been shown to proceed in good yield in DMF solvent.104 Both copper and palladium were required for these reactions to occur at the N-l position in high yields. Similar results for the coupling of amines with aryliodonium salts in aqueous solvent were observed.105... 

It was a result of demand from industry in the mid-1960s for an alternative to be found for the expensive traditional synthetic procedures that led to the evolution of phase-transfer catalysis in which hydrophilic anions could be transferred into an organic medium. Several phase-transfer catalysts are available quaternary ammonium, phosphonium and arsonium salts, crown ethers, cryptands and polyethylene glycols. Of these, the quaternary ammonium salts are the most versatile and, compared with the crown ethers, which have many applications, they have the advantage of being relatively cheap, stable and non-toxic [1, 2]. Additionally, comparisons of the efficiencies of the various catalysts have shown that the ammonium salts are superior to the crown ethers and polyethylene glycols and comparable with the cryptands [e.g. 3, 4], which have fewer proven applications and require higher... 

In contrast with aliphatic nucleophilic substitution, nucleophilic displacement reactions on aromatic rings are relatively slow and require activation at the point of attack by electron-withdrawing substituents or heteroatoms, in the case of heteroaromatic systems. With non-activated aromatic systems, the reaction generally involves an elimination-addition mechanism. The addition of phase-transfer catalysts generally enhances the rate of these reactions. 

Further A -alkylation of A -alkylcarboxamides always requires the more vigorous solidtliquid two-phase conditions [4-7], whereas it has generally been found [8, 9] that the more acidic A -aryl derivatives can be alkylated under the milder liquiddiquid conditions (Table 5.11). (It has been shown that, with sufficiently vigorous mixing of the two liquid phases, it is possible to A -methylate formanilides without recourse to a phase-transfer catalyst [8]). 

C-Alkylation of weakly activated methylpyridines to yield the isopropyl and tert-butyl derivatives (35-40%), which normally requires the use of strong bases, such alkyl lithiums, is earned out effectively using a phase-transfer catalyst and aqueous sodium hydroxide on the /V-methylpyridinium salts. The pyridines are regenerated by reaction with sodium acetate or sodium 4-toluenethiolate [134]. 3-Methylpyridine fails to react under these conditions and the synthesis of 2-ethylpyridines by this procedure is also unsuccessful. 

Compared with primary and secondary amines, tertiary amines are virtually unreac-tive towards carbenes and it has been demonstrated that they behave as phase-transfer catalysts for the generation of dichlorocarbene from chloroform. For example, tri-n-butylamine and its hydrochloride salt have the same catalytic effect as tetra-n-butylammonium chloride in the generation of dichlorocarbene and its subsequent insertion into the C=C bond of cyclohexene [20]. However, tertiary amines are generally insufficiently basic to deprotonate chloroform and the presence of sodium hydroxide is normally required. The initial reaction of the tertiary amine with chloroform, therefore, appears to be the formation of the A -ylid. This species does not partition between the two phases and cannot be responsible for the insertion reaction of the carbene in the C=C bond. Instead, it has been proposed that it acts as a lipophilic base for the deprotonation of chloroform (Scheme 7.26) to form a dichloromethylammonium ion-pair, which transfers into the organic phase where it decomposes to produce the carbene [21]. 

The utilization of polar polymers and novel N-alkyl-4-(N, N -dialklamino)pyridinium sedts as stable phase transfer catalysts for nucleophilic aromatic substitution are reported. Polar polymers such as poly (ethylene glycol) or polyvinylpyrrolidone are thermally stable, but provide only slow rates. The dialkylaminopyridininium salts are very active catalysts, and are up to 100 times more stable than tetrabutylammonium bromide, allowing recovery and reuse of catalyst. The utilization of b is-dialkylaminopypridinium salts for phase-transfer catalyzed nucleophilic substitution by bisphenoxides leads to enhanced rates, and the requirement of less catalyst. Experimental details are provided. 

A detailed description of the structural requirements and parameters ruling the activity of the most common soluble phase-transfer catalysts was reported recently (] ). This account concerns our latest results on phase-transfer catalysis. 

Carbonvlation of Benzyl Halides. Several organometallic reactions involving anionic species in an aqueous-organic two-phase reaction system have been effectively promoted by phase transfer catalysts(34). These include reactions of cobalt and iron complexes. A favorite model reaction is the carbonylation of benzyl halides using the cobalt tetracarbonyl anion catalyst. Numerous examples have appeared in the literature(35) on the preparation of phenylacetic acid using aqueous sodium hydroxide as the base and trialkylammonium salts (Equation 1). These reactions occur at low pressures of carbon monoxide and mild reaction temperatures. Early work on the carbonylation of alkyl halides required the use of sodium amalgam to generate the cobalt tetracarbonyl anion from the cobalt dimer(36). 

Using CO2 can alter the distribution of phase transfer catalysts so dramatically that even in dilute solutions they can be separated selectively from an organic reaction mixture with only a small fraction of the water required in a traditional... 

For the synthesis of amino acids, the reaction of an a-haloalkyl boronic ester 4 with sodium azide and a phase-transfer catalyst in dichloromethane/water requires a large excess of azide in order to form the a-azidoalkyl boronic ester 5 with only 1-2% epimer34. With the exception of R1 = benzyl, where epimerization of 4 is relatively rapid, bromoalkyl boronic esters are preferred. Chloroalkyl boronic esters react so slowly that the azide and dichloromethane may generate hazardously explosive diazidomethane65,66. Chain extension of 5 to 6 proceeds normally. Sodium chlorite, which is known to oxidize aldehydes to carboxylic acids67-69, also oxidizes a-chloroalkyl boronic esters to carboxylic acids34. The azido acid is hydrogenated to the amino acid. 

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