Phenolic etherification

Partial replacement of phenol by ortho- or para-alkyl phenol, etherification of the methylol group, incorporation of elastomer building blocks... 

Substitution Reactions on Side Chains. Because the benzyl carbon is the most reactive site on the propanoid side chain, many substitution reactions occur at this position. Typically, substitution reactions occur by attack of a nucleophilic reagent on a benzyl carbon present in the form of a carbonium ion or a methine group in a quinonemethide stmeture. In a reversal of the ether cleavage reactions described, benzyl alcohols and ethers may be transformed to alkyl or aryl ethers by acid-catalyzed etherifications or transetherifications with alcohol or phenol. The conversion of a benzyl alcohol or ether to a sulfonic acid group is among the most important side chain modification reactions because it is essential to the solubilization of lignin in the sulfite pulping process (17). 

Because vanillin is a phenol aldehyde, it is stable to autooxidation and does not undergo the Cannizzarro reaction. Numerous derivatives can be prepared by etherification or esterification of the hydroxy group and by aldol condensation at the aldehyde group. AH three functional groups in vanillin are... 

Etherification. A mixture of ethylene chlorohydrin ia 30% aqueous NaOH may be added to phenol at 100—110°C to give 2-phenoxyethanol [122-99-6] ia 98% yield (39). A cationic starch ether is made by reaction of a chlorohydfin-quaternary ammonium compound such as... 

Cross-conjugated dienones are quite inert to nucleophilic reactions at C-3, and the susceptibility of these systems to dienone-phenol rearrangement precludes the use of strong acid conditions. In spite of previous statements, A " -3-ketones do not form ketals, thioketals or enamines, and therefore no convenient protecting groups are available for this chromophore. Enol ethers are not formed by the orthoformate procedure, but preparation of A -trienol ethers from A -3-ketones has been claimed. Another route to A -trien-3-ol ethers involves conjugate addition of alcohol, enol etherification and then alcohol removal from la-alkoxy compounds. 

A number of examples have been cited by Chakrabarti and Sharma (1993) and Sharma (1995). The example of etherification of phenols, substituted phenols, cresols, naphthols, etc., with isobutylene and isoamylene may be empahsized where homogeneous catalysts lead to... 

Although palladium catalysts have played the most prominent role in this area, other metals have also been found to catalyze allylic etherification reactions, often providing complementary stereochemical outcomes. A few ruthenium catalyst systems have been used for the O-allylation of phenols,143,144 including an enantioselective version utilizing [Cp Ru(MeCN)3]PF6 that provides promising ee s, albeit with diminished control of regioselectivity (Equation (25)).145... 

Important advances in propargylic etherification have come from the use of copper-based systems that achieve efficient, catalytic O-progargylation of phenols (Scheme 8).245,246 While the mechanism of this transformation remains unclear, the products of these reactions have been readily converted into chromenes through subsequent Claisen rearrangement,... 

An application of copper-catalyzed propargylic etherification has been reported in the synthesis of ustiloxin D (Equation (63)).248 Here, a quaternary center was generated from the unprecedented reaction of a phenol with an ethynyl aziridine. 

In non-polar aprotic solvents like chlorobenzene and CH2CI2, these are virtually unsolvated and unshielded (except by their counterions) and are consequently very reactive. Therefore, the etherification takes place in solution the reaction is very fast at room tempera -ture and the reaction course can be followed by the disappearance of the green color of the phenolate anion. 

Other nonfood applications of D-sorbitol result from etherification and polycondensation reactions providing biodegradable polyetherpolyols used for soft pol5mrethane foams and melamine/formaldehyde or phenol resins. Sizable amounts of D-sorbitol also enter into the production of the sorbitan ester surfactants (cf. later in this chapter). 

An example for the synthesis of poly(2,6-dimethyl-l,4-phenylene oxide) - aromatic poly(ether-sulfone) - poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-pheny-lene oxide) ABA triblock copolymer is presented in Scheme 6. Quantitative etherification of the two polymer chain ends has been accomplished under mild reaction conditions detailed elsewhere(11). Figure 4 presents the 200 MHz Ir-NMR spectra of the co-(2,6-dimethyl-phenol) poly(2,6-dimethyl-l,4-phenylene oxide), of the 01, w-di(chloroally) aromatic polyether sulfone and of the obtained ABA triblock copolymers as convincing evidence for the quantitative reaction of the parent pol3rmers chain ends. Additional evidence for the very clean synthetic procedure comes from the gel permeation chromatograms of the two starting oligomers and of the obtained ABA triblock copolymer presented in Figure 5. 

A broad range of compounds can be O-alkylated with carbene complexes, including primary, secondary, and tertiary alcohols, phenols, enols, hemiaminals, hydroxylamines, carboxylic acids, dialkyl phosphates, etc. When either strongly acidic substrates [1214] and/or sensitive carbene precursors are used (e.g. aliphatic diazoalkanes [1215] or diazoketones) etherification can occur spontaneously without the need for any catalyst, or upon catalysis by Lewis acids [1216]. 

Catalysts lacking phosphorus ligands have also been used as catalysts for allylic substitutions. [lr(COD)Cl]2 itself, which contains a 7i-accepting diolefin ligand, catalyzes the alkylation of allylic acetates, but the formation of branched products was only favored when the substitution reaction was performed with branched allylic esters. Takemoto and coworkers later reported the etherification of branched allylic acetates and carbonates with oximes catalyzed by [lr(COD)Cl]2 without added ligand [47]. Finally, as discussed in Sect. 6, Carreira reported kinetic resolutions of branched allylic carbonates from reactions of phenol catalyzed by the combination of [lr(COE)2Cl]2 and a chiral diene ligand [48]. 

When the R group in the Baylis-Hillman products is not H, a problem might arise in the allylic ring-closing etherification (direct vs allylic attack of the phenolate), leading to mixtures of regio-isomers. Therefore, in an initial study we used parent acid 88 to avoid these problems (Scheme 15). 

Rhodium-Catalyzed Allylic Etherifications with Phenols and Alcohols... 

Transition metal-catalyzed allylic substitution with phenols and alcohols represents a fundamentally important cross-coupling reaction for the construction of allylic ethers, which are ubiquitous in a variety of biologically important molecules [44, 45]. While phenols have proven efficient nucleophiles for a variety of intermolecular allylic etherification reactions, alcohols have proven much more challenging nucleophiles, primarily due to their hard, more basic character. This is exemphfied with secondary and tertiary alcohols, and has undoubtedly limited the synthetic utihty of this transformation. 

Tab. 10.7 summarizes the results of the application of rhodium-catalyzed allylic etherification to a series of ortho-substituted phenols. The etherification tolerates alkyls, including branched alkanes (entries 1 and 2), aryl substituents (entry 3), heteroatoms (entries 4 and 5), and halogens (entry 6). These results prompted the examination of ortho-disubstituted phenols, which were expected to be more challenging substrates for this type of reaction. Remarkably, the ortho-disubstituted phenols furnished the secondary aryl allyl ethers with similar selectivity (entries 7-12). The ability to employ halogen-bearing ortho-disubstituted phenols should facilitate substitutions that would have proven extremely challenging with conventional cross-coupling protocols. 

This methodology was applied to a two-step sequence for the preparation of enantio-merically enriched dihydrobenzo[h]furans (Scheme 10.11) [46]. Rhodium-catalyzed allylic etherification of (S)-47 (>99% ee), with the sodium anion of 2-iodo-6-methyl-phenol, furnished the corresponding aryl allyl ethers (S)-48/49 as a 28 1 mixture of regioisomers favoring (S)-48 (92% cee). Treatment of the aryl iodide (S)-48 with tris(trimethylsilyl)silane and triethylborane furnished the dihydrobenzo[h]furan derivatives 50a/50b as a 29 1 mixture of diastereomers [43]. 

Tab. 10.7 Regioselective rhodium-catalyzed allylic etherification with ortfio-substituted phenols.

Scheme 10.11 Stereoselective construction of benzo[b]furans using allylic etherification with phenols.

For recent approaches to the transition metal-catalyzed allylic etherification using phenols, see (a) Goux, C. Massacret, M. Lhoste, P. Sinou, D. OrganometaUics 1995, 14, 4585. (b) Trost, B.M. Toste, F.D. 

Amiodarone (16) has been the center of much interest because of its activity as a cardiac depressant useful in treating ventricular arrhythmia and many analogues have been prepared [4. I he originally patented procedure concludes simply by etherification of benzofuran-containing iodonated phenol 15 with 2-halodiethylaminoethane to give amiodarone (16) [5]. The synthesis t)f 15 is not detailed in the reference but the synthesis of benzbromarone contains closely analo-goii.s steps [6]. 

Properties. Vanillin is a colorless crystalline solid mp 82-83 °C) with a typical vanilla odor. Because it possesses aldehyde and hydroxyl substituents, it undergoes many reactions. Additional reactions are possible due to the reactivity of the aromatic nucleus. Vanillyl alcohol and 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol are obtained by catalytic hydrogenation vanillic acid derivatives are formed after oxidation and protection of the phenolic hydroxyl group. Since vanillin is a phenol aldehyde, it is stable to autoxidation and does not undergo the Cannizzarro reaction. Numerous derivatives can be prepared by etherification or esterification of the hydroxyl group and by aldol condensation at the aldehyde group. Several of these derivatives are intermediates, for example, in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals. 

The etherified hardwood lignin model II reacted at a similar rate as the phenolic model indicating the etherification of the phenolic group has a small effect on the reaction rate. When this reaction was repeated at 55°C with an excess formaldehyde, some mefa-hydroxymethylated products were obtained (Fig. 4B). 

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