Reactions of metal oxides or hydroxides with alcohols method

Reactions of metal oxides or hydroxides with alcohols (method 3) 

Both reactions are used for the commercial production of alkaline and alkaline-earth alkoxides from very cheap raw materials. As far as the metal alkoxides thus formed are soluble in alcohols, both reactions are reversible. Thus, application of these methods is expedient in the case of alcohols with the boiling temperature higher than 100°C (water is distilled off). When low-boiling alcohols are used the reaction time increases greatly, water is eliminat- 

This method is especially important for synthesis of thallium (I) alkoxides, such as for the most frequently used TIOEt  

In this case isolation of metal alkoxide from water does not require any special measures liquid TIOEt is accumulated in the bottom of the flask in a 95% mixture with EtOH, while TlOH and water comprise the upper layer [1625]. Alkaline metals react in analogous way with alcohols that do not mix with water. For instance, reaction of KOH with Et2CHOH (pentanol-3) at 120°C also results in the formation of two layers the upper (alcoholic) layer contains 40 wt% of KOR and 2 wt% of KOH while the lower (aqueous) layer contains 54 wt% of KOH [1277]. 

Alcoholysis of metal oxides may also be used for the synthesis of multivalent metal alkoxides nevertheless, application of this method is restricted to covalent oxides with low values of lattice activation energies. Usually these are derivatives of M in the higher oxidation states, and their interaction with alcohols is complicated by oxidation-reduction processes — for example, 

---

Reactions of Metal Oxides or Hydroxides with Alcohols (Method 1.3)... 

---