Preparation of Dialkyl Ethers

Dialkyl ethers can be prepared either from support-bound electrophiles or from support-bound alcohols. Table 7.9 lists illustrative examples of the preparation of dialkyl ethers from support-bound electrophiles. 

Polystyrene-bound aliphatic alcohols can be etherified with alkyl halides under strongly basic conditions (Table 7.10). Competing elimination is usually no concern, because a large excess of halide can be used and alkenes can be readily removed by filtration and washing of the support. Alternatively, the addition of resin-bound alco- 

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Williamson synthesis of phenyl alkyl and dialkyl ethers. Phenols react with alkyl halides in 20% aqueous NaOH containing 1 equiv. of this surfactant at 80° to form phenolic ethers in 85-97% yield. There is no reaction in the absence of CTAB. This procedure is not useful for preparation of dialkyl ethers from alcohols and alkyl halides. Instead, the alkyl chloride, alcohol, a trace of water, and CTAB are heated in THF at 70° with NaOH (2 equiv.). 

Dialkyl sulfates can replace the halogen derivatives, and this modification is especially useful for the preparation of phenoHc ethers ... 

The closely related Todd reaction, useful for the preparation of dialkyl phosphorochloridates and phosphoramidates, also involves the use of amines with dialkyl phosphites.146152 180-182 Although the reaction proceeds using preformed salts of the dialkyl phosphites,183 the use of tertiary amines facilitates the reaction by allowing all reagent materials to be in solution. Biphasic reaction systems utilizing phase-transfer catalysts and crown ethers have also been successful for this reaction.158-161... 

Direct reduction of an aldehyde or ketone to the corresponding ether could potentially telescope two reactions, reduction and protection, into one step. S. Chandrasekhar of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, reports (Tetrahedron Lett. 2004,45,5497) that in the present of polymethylhydrosiloxane (PMHS) and catalytic B(C6F,), TMS ethers of alcohols will convert aldehydes to the corresponding dialkyl ethers. The reaction works well for both saturated and benzylic alcohols. This may prove to be a useful alternative to Williamson synthesis for the preparation of complex ethers. 

As a consequence, in most cases, the preparation of dialkyl isohexides is described in the literature. Some mono ethers have also been prepared, bearing different acyl groups on the second hydroxyl group of the ring system. Only very few examples of monoalkyl derivatives lacking further substituents are known. 

Trialkyloxonium salts are generally prepared by the alkylation of dialkyl ethers.1 90 Alkyl halides can be used as alkylating agents in the presence of strong halide acceptors such as BF3, PF5, SbCl3, and SbF5 [Eq. (4.13)].91... 

There have been several reports of catalytic methods for alcoholysis of trialkylsilanes,10-17 however only a few of these papers have included reactions with dialkyl(dihydrido)silanes.9a,d 15 Among the more reactive catalysts for the preparation of trialkylsilyl ethers from silyl hydrides... 

No comparison between trialkyloxonium fluoroborates and dialkyl sulfates has been made, but analysis of available data shows that oxonium salts are more generally applicable reagents for the preparation of lactim ethers. The alkylation of 3-carbethoxypiperid-2-one (7)25 and morpholin-3-one (8)32 with dimethyl sulfate failed, but with triethyloxonium fluoroborate these compounds gave 2-ethoxy-3-carbethoxy-3,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridine (9) and 3-ethoxy-3,4-dehydro-morpholine (10) in excellent yield. The selective character of triethyloxonium fluoroborate is shown in its reaction with 3,3-diethyl-5-methylpiperidine-2,4-dione (11 ).25 Reaction of 11 with the calculated quantity of dimethyl sulfate resulted in alkylation of the carbonyl group in position 4 with formation of 12, but reaction of 11 with triethyloxonium fluoroborate gave the lactim ether (13). 

Because the exploitation of the chemistry of unprotected phosphonylated acetaldehydes is handicapped by the sensitivity of the P-C bond in acidic media, a reliable alternative procedure for the preparation of dialkyl 1-chloro-1-formylmethylphosphonates from dialkyl 2-ethoxy-vinylphosphonates has been developed. Room-temperatme chlorination of 2-ethoxyvinylphosphonates with dry chlorine in CCI4 followed by hydrolysis of the phosphonylated a,p-dichloro ethers with water at 50-60°C gives the expected monochlorinated aldehydes in 73-82% yields (Scheme 5.70). A similar treatment with bromine in water at 0°C converts diisopropyl 2-ethoxyvinylphosphonate smoothly into diisopropyl 1-bromo-1-formylmethylphosphonate in 92% yield. ... 

Equation 9 can be made the principal reaction pathway and Johnson and Nidy ( ) have reported a convenient and synthetically useful preparation of dialkyl peroxides using benzene as solvent and solubilizing the KO2 with crown ethers. Alcohols were frequently formed as by-products, probably resulting from reduction of the dialkyl peroxides with 02 (13). 

Because they are widely used as solvents many simple dialkyl ethers are commercially available Diethyl ether and dibutyl ether for example are prepared by acid catalyzed condensation of the corresponding alcohols as described earlier m Section 15 7... 

As alkylating agent an alkyl halide, alkyl tosylate or dialkyl sulfate is used in most cases the latter type of reagent is often used in the preparation of methyl and ethyl ethers by employing dimethyl sulfate and diethyl sulfate respectively. Dimethyl sulfate is an excellent methylating agent, but is acutely toxic as well as carcinogenic." ... 

Notable examples of general synthetic procedures in Volume 47 include the synthesis of aromatic aldehydes (from dichloro-methyl methyl ether), aliphatic aldehydes (from alkyl halides and trimethylamine oxide and by oxidation of alcohols using dimethyl sulfoxide, dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, and pyridinum trifluoro-acetate the latter method is particularly useful since the conditions are so mild), carbethoxycycloalkanones (from sodium hydride, diethyl carbonate, and the cycloalkanone), m-dialkylbenzenes (from the />-isomer by isomerization with hydrogen fluoride and boron trifluoride), and the deamination of amines (by conversion to the nitrosoamide and thermolysis to the ester). Other general methods are represented by the synthesis of 1 J-difluoroolefins (from sodium chlorodifluoroacetate, triphenyl phosphine, and an aldehyde or ketone), the nitration of aromatic rings (with ni-tronium tetrafluoroborate), the reductive methylation of aromatic nitro compounds (with formaldehyde and hydrogen), the synthesis of dialkyl ketones (from carboxylic acids and iron powder), and the preparation of 1-substituted cyclopropanols (from the condensation of a 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol derivative and ethyl-... 

The starting trialkyloxonium salts can be rather simply prepared from the corresponding dialkyl ethers. However, only trimethyl-and triethyloxonium boroflu-orides have been used in the synthesis of nitronates to prepare O-methyl and O-ethyl nitronates, respectively. 

The reaction described is of considerable general utility for the preparation of benzoyloxy derivatives of unsaturated hydrocarbons.2"8 Reactions of 2-butyl perbenzoate with various other classes of compounds in the presence of catalytic amounts of copper ions produce benzoyloxy derivatives. Thus this reaction can also be used to effect one-step oxidation of saturated hydrocarbons,9, 10 esters,6,11 dialkyl and aryl alkyl ethers,12 14 benzylic ethers,11,15 cyclic ethers,13,16 straight-chain and benzylic sulfides,12, 17-19 cyclic sulfides,11,19 amides,11 and certain organo-silicon compounds.20... 

Moreover, looking for more effective ligands, Sharpless and his group prepared and tested a number of cinchona alkaloid derivatives, first in the stoichiometric ADH process [33] and then in the catalytic process. They found that aryl ethers of dihydroquinidine, as 4a and 4b, are excellent ligands for ADH of dialkyl substituted olefins (Table 10.3). 

In contrast to alkylations of oximes and oxime ethers, geminal dialkylation can be achieved with the cyclic analogs15, e.g., preparation of the 4,4-dimethyl derivative 3. 

Diethyl [(2-tetrahydropyranyloxy)methyl]phosphonate is useful in the Wlttig-Horner synthesis of enol ethers, which are intermediates in one-carbon homologations of carbonyl compounds. This procedure is an adaptation of a general method for making dialkyl hydroxymethylphosphonates. An 0-tetra-hydropyranyl derivative also has been made from dibutyl hydroxymethyl -phosphonate, and diethyl hydroxymethylphosphonate has been O-silylated with tert-butylchiorodimethylsilane and imidazole. Another useful congener in this series has been prepared by an Arbuzov reaction of methoxyethoxymethyl (HEM) chloride and triethyl phosphite. 

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