Primary alcohols phosphorus tribromide

Exercise 15-21 Write the steps that could plausibly take place in the reaction of a primary alcohol with phosphorus tribromide in the presence of the weak base pyridine to give an alkyl bromide. 

Promotion of an SN2 displacement mechanism, and hence greater regioselectivity, may be effected by the addition of liquid bromine to a warm suspension of purified red phosphorus in the appropriate alcohol. The reaction is of general application with primary alcohols (isobutyl alcohol to hexadecan-l-ol) the yields are over 90 per cent of the theoretical, but with secondary alcohols the yields are in the range 50-80 per cent (Expt 5.55). This method is to be preferred to the direct use (rather than the in situ generation) of phosphorus tribromide which is the more hazardous reagent. The outline mechanism may be represented thus ... 

The synthesis of bufotenine itself followed closely upon the proof of its structure. Hoshino and Shimodaira reduced the ethyl ester of 5-ethoxy-indole-3-acetic acid by the Bouveault-Blanc procedure to the corresponding primary alcohol, which was treated with phosphorus tribromide and then dimethylamine, to give the ethyl ether of bufotenine, which was demethylated with aluminum chloride (130). In a later synthesis, 2,5-dimethoxybenzyl cyanide (XXIII) was alkylated by Eisleb s method with dimethylaminoethyl chloride in the presence of sodamide to give l-(2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-dimethylaminopropyl cyanide (XXIV), which was then hydrogenated over Haney nickel to yield 2-(2,5-di-methoxyphenyl)-4-dimethylaminobutylamine (XXV R = Me). De-methylation of this with hydrobromic acid, followed by oxidation of the product (XXV R = H) with potassium ferricyanide yielded bufotenine (XIX) via the related quinone (109). 

The method has been extended to the preparation of difunctional compounds. Dihalides Including the mixed variety are formed in 90 to 98% yields. Primary unsaturated bromides of the type RCH=CHCH,Br have been formed from the corresponding alcohols by the action of phosphorus tribromide and pyridine at a low temperature without any apparent rearrangement. However, the corresponding secondary-carbinol system, RCHOHCH=CH is very susceptible to allylic isomerization. The formation of a, -acetylenic bromides from acetylenic alcohols and phosphorus tribromide is common (40-70%). An acetylenic-allenic isomerization has been observed, viz.,... 

Primary and secondary alcohols are best converted into alkyl halidesby treatment with either thionyl cliloride (SOCb) or phosphorus tribromide (PBr3). These reactions, which normally take place readily under mild conditions, are less acidic and less likely to cause add-catalyzed rearrangements than tlie HX method. 

Reactions with —OH Groups and Epoxides.—The formation of A -l,2-oxaphos-pholen derivatives from propargylic alcohols and phosphorus trichloride has been studied in detail. Intermediate phosphites (24) and allenic phosphonates (25) are described, and the A -l,2-oxaphosphoIen is produced in the final stage, as shown. Improved conditions have been outlined for the preparation of allylic bromides (26) from allylic alcohols and phosphorus tribromide. Related reactions of primary alcohols with the complex of phosphorus trichloride and DMF lead to the chloride (27) 22 addition of zinc bromide to the reaction results in the formation of alkyl bromides, but an attempt to extend this exchange to the preparation of cyanides was not successful. ... 

Preparation Alkenes when treated with hydrogen halides (HCl, HBr, and HI) or halogens (Cl and Br ) yield alkyl halides and dihaloalkanes respectively. Another useful method of preparing alkyl halides is by treating an alcohol with a hydrogen halide (HX = HCl, HBr, or HI). The reaction works best for tertiary alcohols. Primary and secondary alcohols can be converted to alkyl halides by treating them with thionyl chloride (SOCy or phosphorus tribromide (PBr ). 

Primary and secondary alcohols react with phosphorus tribromide to yield alkyl bromides. 

Primary and secondary alcohols, which react only slowly with HBr and HCl, react readily with thionyl chloride and phosphorus trihalides, such as phosphorus tribromide, to give the corresponding alkyl hahdes. The products of these reactions are easily separated ftom the inorganic by-products. Thionyl chloride produces hydrogen chloride and sulfur dioxide, which are released from the reaction as gases. The chloroaUtane remains in solution. 

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