Phenoxide

Thus phenol when subjected to the Schotten Baumann reaction first dissolves in the sodium hydroxide to give sodium phenoxide, which then undergoes CgH COCl + NaOCgH, CgHaCOOCeHj XaCl... 

Solubility in sodium hydroxide solution. See Section 4, p. 329. Note also that phenols dissolve in NaOH solution to give phenoxides. 

All esters are hydrolysed by sodium hydroxide to the alcohol (or sodium phenoxide) and the sodium salt of the acid from which they are derived. 

Treatment of phenyl esters, (See also p. 248.) The alkaline solu tion containing phenoxide and the sodium salt of the acid should now be worked up by the following method. 

B) If test in (A) ( ) is negative, an alcohol is absent and the residual solution must contain a Na phenoxide as well as the Na salt... 

In the strongly basic medium, the reactant is the phenoxide ion high nucleophilic activity at the ortho and para positions is provided through the electromeric shifts indicated. The above scheme indicates theorpara substitution is similar. The intermediate o-hydroxybenzal chloride anion (I) may react either with a hydroxide ion or with water to give the anion of salicyl-aldehyde (II), or with phenoxide ion or with phenol to give the anion of the diphenylacetal of salicylaldehyde (III). Both these anions are stable in basic solution. Upon acidification (III) is hydrolysed to salicylaldehyde and phenol this probably accounts for the recovery of much unreacted phenol from the reaction. 

Salicylic acid. The preparation of salicylic acid by passing carbon dioxide into dry sodium phenoxide at 170-190° is the classical example of the Kolbe-Schmltt reaction. The latter is a method for introducing a carboxyl group directly into a phenol nucleus. 

Donor strengths, taken from ref. 207b, based upon the solvent effect on the symmetric stretching frequency of the soft Lewis acid HgBr2. Gutmann s donor number taken from ref 207b, based upon AHr for the process of coordination of an isolated solvent molecule to the moderately hard SbCL molecule in dichioroethane. ° Bulk donor number calculated as described in ref 209 from the solvent effect on the adsorption spectrum of VO(acac)2. Taken from ref 58, based on the NMR chemical shift of triethylphosphine oxide in the respective pure solvent. Taken from ref 61, based on the solvatochromic shift of a pyridinium-A-phenoxide betaine dye. 

The furo- and pyranobenzopyranones 114 and 115 are prepared by the reaction of 0-enolate of i(-keto lactone 113[132], The isoxazolc 117 is obtained by the oxidation of the oxime 116 of a, /3- or, d, 7-unsaturated ketones with PdCh and Na2C03 in dichloromethane[l 33], but the pyridine 118 is formed with PdCl2(Ph3P)2 and sodium phenoxide[134]. 

Hydroxide ion lies below phenol m Table 1 7 hydrogen carbonate ion lies above phe nol The practical consequence of the reactions shown is that NaOH is a strong enough base to convert phenol to phenoxide ion but NaHCOs is not... 

The negative charge in phenoxide ion is stabilized both by solvation and by elec tron delocalization into the ring... 

Electron delocalization in phenoxide is represented by resonance among the structures... 

It IS necessary to keep the acidity of phenols in mind when we discuss prepara tion and reactions Reactions that produce phenols when earned out in basic solution require an acidification step to convert the phenoxide ion to the neutral form of the phenol... 

Many synthetic reactions involving phenols as nucleophiles are carried out m the presence of sodium or potassium hydroxide Under these conditions the phenol is con verted to the corresponding phenoxide ion which is a far better nucleophile... 

A meta nitro group is not directly conjugated to the phenoxide oxygen and thus stabi hzes a phenoxide ion to a smaller extent m Nitrophenol is more acidic than phenol but less acidic than either o or p nitrophenol... 

Reaction with arenediazonium salts Adding a phe nol to a solution of a diazonium salt formed from a primary aromatic amine leads to formation of an azo compound The reaction is carried out at a pH such that a significant portion of the phenol is pres ent as its phenoxide ion The diazonium ion acts as an electrophile toward the strongly activated ring of the phenoxide ion... 

An alternative approach is to increase the nucleophihcity of the phenol by con verting it to its phenoxide anion m basic solution... 

Although a hydroxyl group strongly activates an aromatic ring toward electrophilic attack an oxyanion substituent is an even more powerful activator Electron delocaliza tion m phenoxide anion leads to increased electron density at the positions ortho and para to oxygen... 

The Kolbe-Schmitt reaction is an equilibrium process governed by thermodynamic control The position of equilibrium favors formation of the weaker base (salicylate ion) at the expense of the stronger one (phenoxide ion) Thermodynamic control is also responsible for the pronounced bias toward ortho over para substitution Salicylate anion IS a weaker base than p hydroxybenzoate and predominates at equilibrium... 

Phenols that bear strongly electron withdrawing substituents usually give low yields of carboxylated products their derived phenoxide anions are less basic and the equilibrium constants for their carboxylation are smaller... 

Aryl ethers are best prepared by the Williamson method (Section 16 6) Alkylation of the hydroxyl oxygen of a phenol takes place readily when a phenoxide anion reacts with an alkyl halide... 

With pA a s of approximately 10 phenols are stronger acids than alcohols but weaker than carboxylic acids They are converted quantitatively to phenoxide anions on treatment with aqueous sodium hydroxide... 

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