Phenoxide ions

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. 

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... 

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... 

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... 

The bulk polycondensation of (10) is normally carried out in evacuated, sealed vessels such as glass ampules or stainless steel Parr reactors, at temperatures between 160 and 220°C for 2—12 d (67). Two monomers with different substituents on each can be cocondensed to yield random copolymers. The by-product sdyl ether is readily removed under reduced pressure, and the polymer purified by precipitation from appropriate solvents. Catalysis of the polycondensation of (10) by phenoxide ion in particular, as well as by other species, has been reported to bring about complete polymerisation in 24—48 h at 150°C (68). Catalysis of the polycondensation of phosphoranimines that are similar to (10), but which yield P—O-substituted polymers (1), has also been described and appears promising for the synthesis of (1) with controlled stmctures (69,70). 

The halogen displacement polymerization proceeds by a combination of the redistribution steps described for oxidative coupling polymerization and a sequence in which a phenoxide ion couples with a phenoxy radical (eq. 11) and then expels a bromide ion. The resultant phenoxy radical can couple with another phenoxide in a manner that is analogous to equation 11 or it can redistribute with other aryloxy radicals in a process analogous to equations 7 and 8. 

Displacement of a tertiary amine from a quaternary (eq. lb) iavolves the attack of a nucleophile on the a-carbon of a quaternary and usually competes with the Hoffman elimination (173). The counterion greatiy iafluences the course of this reaction. For example, the reaction of propyltrimethylammonium ion with hydroxide ion yields 19% methanol and 81% propylene, whereas the reaction with phenoxide ion yields 65% methoxybenzene and 15% propylene (174). 

Solvent for Displacement Reactions. As the most polar of the common aprotic solvents, DMSO is a favored solvent for displacement reactions because of its high dielectric constant and because anions are less solvated in it (87). Rates for these reactions are sometimes a thousand times faster in DMSO than in alcohols. Suitable nucleophiles include acetyUde ion, alkoxide ion, hydroxide ion, azide ion, carbanions, carboxylate ions, cyanide ion, hahde ions, mercaptide ions, phenoxide ions, nitrite ions, and thiocyanate ions (31). Rates of displacement by amides or amines are also greater in DMSO than in alcohol or aqueous solutions. Dimethyl sulfoxide is used as the reaction solvent in the manufacture of high performance, polyaryl ether polymers by reaction of bis(4,4 -chlorophenyl) sulfone with the disodium salts of dihydroxyphenols, eg, bisphenol A or 4,4 -sulfonylbisphenol (88). These and related reactions are made more economical by efficient recycling of DMSO (89). Nucleophilic displacement of activated aromatic nitro groups with aryloxy anion in DMSO is a versatile and useful reaction for the synthesis of aromatic ethers and polyethers (90). 

Aromatic haUdes do not react easily with phenoxide ions to produce diaryl ethers unless the aromatic haUde is substituted with one or more electron-withdrawing groups, eg, nitro or carboxyl groups. The Ullmann reaction uses finely divided copper or copper salts to cataly2e the reaction of phenoxides with aromatic haUdes to give diaryl ethers. 

Table 5.7 lists the nucleophilic constants for a number of species according to this definition. It is apparent from Table 5.7 that nucleophilicity toward methyl iodide does not correlate directly with basicity. Azide ion, phenoxide ion, and bromide are all equivalent in nucleophilicity but differ greatly in basicity. Conversely, azide ion and acetate ion are... 

Detailed mechanistic studies have been carried out on aminolysis of substituted aryl acetates and aryl carbonates. Aryl esters are considerably more reactive than alkyl esters because the phenoxide ions are better leaving groups than alkoxide ions. The tetrahedral intermediate formed in aminolysis can exist in several forms which differ in extent and site of protonation ... 

Certain functional groups may be protected from reduction by conversion to anions that resist reduction. Such anions include the alkoxides of allylic and benzylic alcohols, phenoxide ions, mercaptide ions, acetylide ions, ketone carbanions, and carboxylate ions. Except for the carboxylate, phenoxide, and mercaptide ions, these anions are sufficiently basic to be proton-ated by an alcohol, so they are useful for protective purposes only in the... 

Reduction of the sodium salt of equilenin 17-ethylene ketal with lithium, sodium or potassium in ammonia at —70° occurs predominantly in the B-ring, affording, after acid hydrolysis, equilin (29) in up to 76% yield (55% isolated). The preferential reduction of the B-ring reflects the relative, but not absolute, resistance to reduction conferred on the A-ring by the naphthoxide ion. Some A-ring reduction does compete kinetically with B-ring reduction, since the epimeric 3-hydroxyestra-5,7,9-trien-17-ones are the major reaction by-products. Simple phenoxide ions usually reduce slowly... 

Lithium metal in ammonia at high concentration (4 M), with an alcoholic proton donor, will reduce the benzene ring of a phenoxide ion. The lithium salt of estrone is reduced under such conditions in 95% yield to a mixture containing 77% of estr-5(10)-ene-3a,17i -diol and 23% of the derived 5(10)-dihydro derivative. 

The electrostatic potential map of 5/ phenoxide ion on Learning By Modeling displays the delocalization of electrons into the ring. 

---