Phase Transfer Effect

A biphasic system consisting of the ionic liquid [BMIM]PF6 and water was used for the epoxidation reactions of a, 3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds with hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant at room temperature 202). This biphasic catalytic system compared favorably with the traditional phase transfer catalysts. For example, under similar conditions (15°C and a substrate/NaOH ratio of five), the [BMIM]PF6/H20 biphasic system showed a mesityl oxide conversion of 100% with 98% selectivity to oc, 3-epoxyketone, whereas the phase-transfer catalyst with tet-rabutylammonium bromide in a CH2CI2/H2O biphasic system gave a conversion of only 5% with 85% selectivity. 

The new ionic liquid/H20 system has also been shown to be highly effective for the epoxidation of various oc, 3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. [BMIMjPF retained almost all of its original activity for the epoxidation of mesityl oxide, even after eight repeated uses. 

In this system, although the pH was optimized to minimize the decomposition of H2O2, a four-fold excess H2O2 had to be used to allow a high conversion of the reactants. 

The applications of ionic liquids in catalysis have expanded widely to include reactions with an extremely broad diversity. Ionic liquids have been evaluated for 

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A newer and equally effective way of swapping azides with halides (bromines or iodines) is in the use of phase transfer catalysts [68]. Strike wouldn t expect an underground chemist to purchase the exotic catalyst Aliquat 336 which the investigators in this reference used to get yields approaching 100% but an alternative catalyst of... 

The benzoic acid derivative 457 is formed by the carbonylation of iodoben-zene in aqueous DMF (1 1) without using a phosphine ligand at room temperature and 1 atm[311]. As optimum conditions for the technical synthesis of the anthranilic acid derivative 458, it has been found that A-acetyl protection, which has a chelating effect, is important[312]. Phase-transfer catalysis is combined with the Pd-catalyzed carbonylation of halides[3l3]. Carbonylation of 1,1-dibromoalkenes in the presence of a phase-transfer catalyst gives the gem-inal dicarboxylic acid 459. Use of a polar solvent is important[314]. Interestingly, addition of trimethylsilyl chloride (2 equiv.) increased yield of the lactone 460 remarkabiy[3l5]. Formate esters as a CO source and NaOR are used for the carbonylation of aryl iodides under a nitrogen atmosphere without using CO[316]. Chlorobenzene coordinated by Cr(CO)j is carbonylated with ethyl formate[3l7]. 

Fluoroaliphatic Thermolytic Routes. The reaction of diduorocarbene (generated from CHCIF2 at 600°C) with cyclopentadiene to give duoroben2ene (70% yield) has been scaled up in a pilot-plant/semiworks faciUty (capacity = several dozen t/yr) (77,78). The same process can now be effected under Hquid-phase conditions in the presence of phase-transfer catalysts (79,80). 

Below about 0.5 K, the interactions between He and He in the superfluid Hquid phase becomes very small, and in many ways the He component behaves as a mechanical vacuum to the diffusional motion of He atoms. If He is added to the normal phase or removed from the superfluid phase, equiHbrium is restored by the transfer of He from a concentrated phase to a dilute phase. The effective He density is thereby decreased producing a heat-absorbing expansion analogous to the evaporation of He. The He density in the superfluid phase, and hence its mass-transfer rate, is much greater than that in He vapor at these low temperatures. Thus, the pseudoevaporative cooling effect can be sustained at practical rates down to very low temperatures in heHum-dilution refrigerators (72). 

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. 

Heat transfer and mass transfer occur simultaneously whenever a transfer operation involves a change in phase or a chemical reaction. Of these two situations, only the first is considered herein because in reacting systems the complications of chemical reaction mechanisms and pathways are usually primary (see HeaT-EXCHANGETECHNOLOGy). Even in processes involving phase changes, design is frequendy based on the heat-transfer process alone mass transfer is presumed to add no compHcations. But in fact mass transfer effects do influence and can even limit the process rate. 

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. 

A mild and effective method for obtaining N- acyl- and N- alkyl-pyrroles and -indoles is to carry out these reactions under phase-transfer conditions (80JOC3172). For example, A-benzenesulfonylpyrrole is best prepared from pyrrole under phase-transfer conditions rather than by intermediate generation of the potassium salt (81TL4901). In this case the softer nature of the tetraalkylammonium cation facilitates reaction on nitrogen. The thallium salts of indoles prepared by reaction with thallium(I) ethoxide, a benzene-soluble liquid. 

Soild-8quld phase transfer catalyst 2 (or aliphatic and arematic nudeophiftc substitution also synergistic effect with Cu in UHmann synthesis. 

Regioselective benzoylation of methyl 4,6-0-benzylidene-o -galactopy-ranoside can be effected by phase-transfer catalysis (BzCl, Bu4N Cl, 40% NaOH, PhH, 69% yield of 2-benzoate BzCl, Bu4N CP, 40% NaOH, HMPA, 62% yield of 3-benzoate)/... 

AcCl, NaOH, dioxane, Bu4N HSO, 25°, 30 min, 90% yield. Phase-transfer catalysis with tetra-n-butylammionium hydrogen sulfate effects acylation of sterically hindered phenols and selective acylation of a phenol in the presence of an aliphatic secondary alcohol. 

When two-phase mass transfer is required to supply reactants by mixing for a chemical reaction, the most important factor to consider is whether the mass transfer controls the operation or whether the chemical reaction controls it. This can be done by increasing the mixer speed to a point w here mass transfer effects become very high and the operation is limited by the chemical reaction. 

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 " " . 

Landini, Montanari and Rolla ° were able to incorporate cyclohexyl residues in the strands and thereby increase lipophilicity. As with the compounds referred to above, these were effective phase transfer catalysts. 

Hydrolysis of 2-perfluoroalkylethyl iodides in the presence of nitrites also gives 2-perfluoroalkylethanols [5/] (equation 51). A variety of solvents can be used, but acetonitrile appears the most effective. Solvents can be avoided by using a betaine surfactant as a phase-transfer catalyst. 

Phase-transfer systems for generating fluorohalocarbenes from the corre spending haloforms are simple and effective with nucleophilic olefins [5J, 54 55, 56, 57, 58, 59] (Table 3 and equations 23 and 24), and the process was extended recently to difluorocarbene [60] Chlorofluorocarbene also can be generated from fluorotrichloromethane and utanium(O) produced in situ (T1CI4 + L1AIH4) Yields of gem-chlorofluorocyclopropanes range from excellent (85% for a. meth ylstyrene) to poor (12% for 1-hexene) [61]... 

Compare electrostatic potential maps for tetrabenzyl-ammonium ion and tetraethylammonium ion with that of benzyltrimethylammonium ion. Are they likely to be as effective or more effective as phase-transfer catalysts as benzyltrimethylammonium ion Explain. (Hint Predict solubility properties for the three ions.)... 

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. ... 

Selective extraction experiments were then performed to see transference of some transition elements (Cu ", Ni ", Co ", and Fe " ) from the aqueous phase to the organic phase by the synthesized polymeric calixarenes. Phase-transfer studies in water-chloroform confirmed that polymer 2b and 3b were Fe ion-selective as was its monomer (1). Extraction of Fe " cation with 2b and 3b was observed to be maximum at pH 5.4. Only trace amounts of other metal cations such as Cu, Ni ", and Co " were transferred from the aqueous to the organic phase (Table 3). Furthermore, the extracted quantities of these cations remained unaffected with increasing pH. The effect of pH on the extraction of 3b was lower and 56% extraction was accomplished even at pH 2.2. The extraction experiments were also performed with calix[4]arene (1) the ratio was 8.4% at pH 2.2. The polymeric calix[4]arenes were selective to extract Fe " from an aqueous solution, which contained Cu +, Ni, Co ", and Fe " cations, and it was observed that the... 

Of course, the most practical and synthetically elegant approach to the asymmetric Darzens reaction would be to use a sub-stoichiometric amount of a chiral catalyst. The most notable approach has been the use of chiral phase-transfer catalysts. By rendering the intermediate etiolate 86 (Scheme 1.24) soluble in the reaction solvent, the phase-transfer catalyst can effectively provide the enolate with a chiral environment in which to react with carbonyl compounds. 

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