Phase transfer catalysis solid-liquid reactions

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. 

Comparative study of the kinetics of substitution of the mesyl group in 1-methylheptyl methanesulfonate by halogen under phase-transfer catalysis in liquid-liquid and liquid-solid two-phase systems revealed an initial jump on the kinetic curves for the liquid-solid system. Such phenomena were known previously for some complex enzymic reactions, but not for phase-transfer reactions. 

Phase transfer processes rely on the catalytic effect of quaternary onium or crown type compounds to solubilize in organic solutions otherwise insoluble anionic nucleophiles and bases. The solubility of the ion pairs depends on lipophilic solvation of the ammonium or phosphonium cations or crown ether complexes and the associated anions (except for small amounts of water) are relatively less solvated. Because the anions are remote from the cationic charge and are relatively solvation free they are quite reactive. Their increased reactivity and solubility in nonpolar media allows numerous reactions to be conducted in organic solvents at or near room temperature. Both liquid-liquid and solid-liquid phase transfer processes are known the former ordinarily utilize quaternary ion catalysts whereas the latter have ordinarily utilized crowns or cryptates. Crowns and cryptates can be used in liquid-liquid processes, but fewer successful examples of quaternary ion catalysis of solid-liquid processes are available. In most of the cases where amines are reported to catalyze phase transfer reactions, in situ quat formation has either been demonstrated or can be presumed. 

The use of solid-liquid phase transfer catalysis in the conjunction with bis(carbonylimidazolides) (i) bis(p-nitrophenylcarbonates) 10) as developed by Fre-chet for the synthesis of novel tertiary copolycarbonates. The instability of tertiary chloroformates renders tertiary polycarbonates inaccessible through conventional chloroformate monomers or intermediates. The bis(carbonylmiidazoiide) monomer was shown to polymerize with both tertiary (3) and secondary alcohols (lljy demonstrating the utility of the method in forming polycarbonates fi-om less reactive steri-cally hindered monomers. Most of the examples reported involved benzene dimethanol derivatives, or 1,4-butynediol, indicating that an adjacent site of unsaturation may activate the alcohol in the solid-liquid phase transfer reaction scheme. 

Although the use of phase-transfer catalysis (PTC) for manufacturing esters has the merits of a mild reaction condition and a relatively low cost [1], PTC has its limitations, such as the low reactivity of carboxylic ion by liquid-liquid PTC [2], a slow reaction rate by solid-liquid PTC, and the difflculty of reusing the catalyst by both techniques. 

Loupy and Soufiaoui described a comparative study of the reactivity of diphenylnitri-limine 200 with several dipolarophiles under microwave irradiation in the absence of solvent using a solid mineral support or phase-transfer catalysis (PTC) conditions (Scheme 9.62) [30b]. The results showed that the best yields of adducts were achieved upon impregnating KF-alumina with a mixture of the hydrazynoyl chloride 199 and the dipolarophile followed by irradiation of the mixture in a focused oven. Reaction of this mixture under solid-liquid PTC conditions with KF-Aliquat under microwaves afforded lower yields of cycloadducts, perhaps owing to the partial decomposition of Aliquat at the reaction temperature (140 °C). In all cases, worse yields were obtained by classical heating under comparable reaction conditions (time and temperature). 

Phase transfer catalysis. As well as their use in homogeneous reactions of the type just described, polyethers (crowns and cryptands) may be used to catalyse reactions between reagents contained in two different phases (either liquid/liquid or solid/liquid). For these, the polyether is present in only catalytic amounts and the process is termed phase transfer catalysis . The efficiency of such a process depends upon a number of factors. Two important ones are the stability constant of the polyether complex being transported and the lipophilicity of the polyether catalyst used. 

The HTE characteristics that apply for gas-phase reactions (i.e., measurement under nondiffusion-limited conditions, equal distribution of gas flows and temperature, avoidance of crosscontamination, etc.) also apply for catalytic reactions in the liquid-phase. In addition, in liquid phase reactions mass-transport phenomena of the reactants are a vital point, especially if one of the reactants is a gas. It is worth spending some time to reflect on the topic of mass transfer related to liquid-gas-phase reactions. As we discussed before, for gas-phase catalysis, a crucial point is the measurement of catalysts under conditions where mass transport is not limiting the reaction and yields true microkinetic data. As an additional factor for mass transport in liquid-gas-phase reactions, the rate of reaction gas saturation of the liquid can also determine the kinetics of the reaction [81], In order to avoid mass-transport limitations with regard to gas/liquid mass transport, the transfer rate of the gas into the liquid (saturation of the liquid with gas) must be higher than the consumption of the reactant gas by the reaction. Otherwise, it is not possible to obtain true kinetic data of the catalytic reaction, which allow a comparison of the different catalyst candidates on a microkinetic basis, as only the gas uptake of the liquid will govern the result of the experiment (see Figure 11.32a). In three-phase reactions (gas-liquid-solid), the transport of the reactants to the surface of the solid (and the transport from the resulting products from this surface) will also... 

With a view to producing catalysts that can easily be removed from reaction products, typical phase-transfer catalysts such as onium salts, crown ethers, and cryptands have been immobilized on polymer supports. The use of such catalysts in liquid-liquid and liquid-solid two-phase systems has been described as triphase catalysis (Regen, 1975, 1977). Cinquini et al. (1976) have compared the activities of catalysts consisting of ligands bound to chloromethylated polystyrene cross-linked with 2 or 4% divinylbenzene and having different densities of catalytic sites ([126], [127], [ 132]—[ 135]) in the... 

In the main, the original extractive alkylation procedures of the late 1960s, which used stoichiometric amounts of the quaternary ammonium salt, have now been superseded by solid-liquid phase-transfer catalytic processes [e.g. 9-13]. Combined soliddiquid phase-transfer catalysis and microwave irradiation [e.g. 14-17], or ultrasound [13], reduces reaction times while retaining the high yields. Polymer-supported catalysts have also been used [e.g. 18] and it has been noted that not only are such reactions slower but the order in which the reagents are added is important in order to promote diffusion into the polymer. 

The general concept of phase transfer catalysis applies to the transfer of any species from one phase to another (not just anions as illustrated above), provided a suitable catalyst can be chosen, and provided suitable phase compositions and reaction conditions are used. Most published work using PTC deals only with the transfer of anionic reactants using either quaternary ammonium or phosphonium salts, or with crown ethers in liquid-liquid or liquid-solid systems. Examples of the transfer and reaction of other chemical species have been reported(24) but clearly some of the most innovative work in this area has been done by Alper and his co-workers, as described in Chapter 2. He illustrates that gas-liquid-liquid transfers with complex catalyst systems provide methods for catalytic hydrogenations with gaseous hydrogen. 

The data for the reactions of potassium cyanide with benzyl halides at 85 C and 25 C are summarized in Tables I-III and graphical representations of these data are shown in Figures 1-3. The reactions carried out at 85 C were followed to 70% completion, while those at 25 C were followed to 50% completion. In general, excellent first-order kinetic plots were obtained. Each point on the graphs represents an average of at least three kinetic determinations. It is interesting to note that in the absence of added water (solid-liquid phase transfer catalysis), the rates of benzyl halide disappearance were more accurately described by zero-order kinetics. 

Numerous examples of solid/solid/liquid phase transfer catalysis are now known to be useful synthetically but have not been investigated mechanistically. Poly(ethylene glycol) immobilized on alumina and silica gel is active for reaction of solid potassium acetate with 1-bromobutane 184). Some of the best synthetic results with polymer supports are shown in Table 15. Often use of other solid salts or other catalysts gave poorer yields. It would be valuable to know for the design of future syntheses how these reactions depend on the partial solubility of the inorganic salts in the organic solvents and on the presence of trace amounts of water. 

Table 15. Examples of Solid/Solid/Liquid Phase Transfer Catalysis with Solid Inorganic Reagents Reaction Catalyst Ref.

Tris(l-pyrazolyl)methane was first prepared by Hiickel and Bretschneider by the reaction of sodium pyrazolate with chloroform.17 Trofimenko prepared the tris(3,5-dimethyl-l-pyrazolyl)methane by a similar method.2 More recent preparations have utilized both liquid-liquid18 and solid-liquid12 phase-transfer catalysis. The preparation of tris(l-pyrazolyl)methane (E) given below is a modification of the solid-liquid phase-transfer procedure.12... 

Treatment of diethyl malonate and related compounds with 1,2-dihaloethane in the presence of base constitutes a classical method of cyclopropane synthesis296"300. The reaction can be conveniently carried out under PTC conditions. An improved method utilizing solid-liquid phase transfer catalysis has been reported298. The reaction of dimethyl or diethyl malonate with 1,2-dibromoalkanes except for 1,2-dibromethane tends to give only low yields of 2-alkylcyclopropane-l, 1-dicarboxylic esters. By the use of di-tm-butyl malonate, their preparations in satisfactory yields are realized (equation 134)297. The 2-alkylcyclopropane derivatives are also obtained from the reaction of dimethyl malonate and cyclic sulfates derived from alkane-1,2-diols (equation 135)301. Asymmetric synthesis... 

Solid-liquid solvent-free phase-transfer catalysis (PTC) is specific for anionic reactions including base-catalysed isomerisation7. Usually, a catalyst (typically a tetraalky-lammonium salt or a cationic complexing agent) is added to an equimolar mixture of an electrophile and a nucleophile, one of which serves as both a reactant and the... 

A biphenyl and ct-methylnaphthylamine-derived chiral quaternary ammonium salt 23d, which was shown by Lygo to be effective for the asymmetric alkylation of Schiffs base 20, was also effective in the Michael reaction (Scheme 7.12) [43]. Notably, the enantioselectivity was highly dependent on the reaction conditions and substrates used. The Michael reaction of imine esters such as benzhydryl and benzyl esters with a,p-unsaturated ketones under solid-liquid phase-transfer catalysis conditions afforded the Michael adduct in up to 94% ee and 91% ee, respectively, while the tert-butyl ester showed moderate enantioselectivity (Scheme 7.12). Interestingly, in contrast to earlier reports, acrylate [42] and acrylamides failed to undergo the Michael reaction under these optimized conditions. 

Taddol has been widely used as a chiral auxiliary or chiral ligand in asymmetric catalysis [17], and in 1997 Belokon first showed that it could also function as an effective solid-liquid phase-transfer catalyst [18]. The initial reaction studied by Belokon was the asymmetric Michael addition of nickel complex 11a to methyl methacrylate to give y-methyl glutamate precursors 12 and 13 (Scheme 8.7). It was found that only the disodium salt of Taddol 14 acted as a catalyst, and both the enantio- and diastereos-electivity were modest [20% ee and 65% diastereomeric excess (de) in favor of 12 when 10 mol % of Taddol was used]. The enantioselectivity could be increased (to 28%) by using a stoichiometric amount of Taddol, but the diastereoselectivity decreased (to 40%) under these conditions due to deprotonation of the remaining acidic proton in products 12 and 13. Nevertheless, diastereomers 12 and 13 could be separated and the ee-value of complex 12 increased to >85% by recrystallization, thus providing enantiomerically enriched (2S, 4i )-y-methyl glutamic add 15. 

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