Skeletal rearrangement of alkanes

Catalytic reforming92-94 of naphthas occurs by way of carbocationic processes that permit skeletal rearrangement of alkanes and cycloalkanes, a conversion not possible in thermal reforming, which takes place via free radicals. Furthermore, dehydrocyclization of alkanes to aromatic hydrocarbons, the most important transformation in catalytic reforming, also involves carbocations and does not occur thermally. In addition to octane enhancement, catalytic reforming is an important source of aromatics (see BTX processing in Section 2.5.2) and hydrogen. It can also yield isobutane to be used in alkylation. 

Side-Chain Isomerization. Arylalkanes undergo acid-catalyzed isomerization in the side chain in a way similar to the skeletal rearrangement of alkanes.70-72 There are, however, notable differences. Propylbenzene, for instance, yields only a small amount (a few percentages) of isopropylbenzene 73 Similarly, sec-butyl- and iso-butylbenzene are interconverted at 100°C with wet A1C13, but only a negligible amount of tert-butylbenzene is formed.74 In the transformation of labeled propylbenzene the recovered starting material was shown to have equal amounts of labeling in the a and p positions of the side chain, but none in the y position 73... 

IV. Skeletal Rearrangement of Alkanes on Platinum and Other Noble Metals. 141... 

In isomerization reactions only platinum, palladium and iridium are active metals for the skeletal rearrangement of alkanes. Hence, in the first part of this chapter we shall mainly focus on the catalytic behavior of these three metals. 

Skeletal rearrangement of alkanes, olefins, and functionalized compounds pinacolone rearrangement Wagner-Meerwein rearrangement epoxide rearrangement rearrangement of cyclic acetals... 

Thermodynamical the skeletal isomerization of alkenes is fiivoured at low tenq>eratures and the rec rocal tenqrerature increases with increating carbon number. The equ rhim concentration of isobutene in the fraction of butenes decreases from ca. 50 % at 200°C to 37% at 500°C [149]. Thus, the convertion of n-butoies into isobutene at these temperatures will be limited by thermodynamic constraints. The skeletal isomerization of the alkenes with more than 4 carbon atoms is a relatively dle reaction step, vdiich is carried out at ca. 290°C over H-Ferrierite [150] or at 340 C over ZSM-5 [151]. This reaction proceeds via the skeletal rearrangement of a carbenium ion yielding a secondary carbenhun ion. The angular reaction meclumism indicates that side product formation can be minimized. Even the skeletal isomerization of C5- and C5-alkanes over Pt-Mordenite, vtiiich is thought to proceed... 

Anodic oxidation of n-alkanes in acetonitrile results in mixtures of A -s-alkylacetamides but skeletal rearrangement of the intermediate i-carbenium ions is not observed. Aromatic compounds can undergo direct acetamidation in the ring. Thus, acetophenone, which normally undergoes electrophilic aromatic substitution at the meta position, affords the o- and p-acetamides (Scheme 44). Anthracene is cleanly converted into the acetamide (84) when the reaction is performed in the presence of TFAA as water scavenger (equation 41). ... 

Investigations which concern the mechanisms of skeletal rearrangements of saturated hydrocarbons induced by heterogeneous transition metal catalysis are of great interest for industrial applications, e.g. for petroleum reforming processes The developments in this field were reviewed recently by Hejtmanek, and by Maire and Garin , who focussed on the probable reaction mechanisms which include bond-shift and cyclic mechanisms for the skeletal isomerization of acyclic alkanes. Scheme 1 summarizes the... 

Reforming is the conversion primarily of naphthenes and alkanes to aromatics, but other reactions also occur under commercial conditions. Platinum or platinum/rhenium are the hydrogenation/ dehydrogenation component of the catalyst and alumina is the acid component responsible for skeletal rearrangements. 

Similar preference in replacement by fluorine of tertiary versus secondary and secondary versus primary hydrogens is observed in the fluorination of alkanes with chlorine trifluoride in 1,2-difluorotetrachloroethane at room temperature (Table 3). Skeletal rearrangements accompany the fluorination [31]... 

More than three decades ago, skeletal rearrangement processes using alkane or cycloalkane reactants were observed on platinum/charcoal catalysts (105) inasmuch as the charcoal support is inert, this can be taken as probably the first demonstration of the activity of metallic platinum as a catalyst for this type of reaction. At about the same time, similar types of catalytic conversions over chromium oxide catalysts were discovered (106, 107). Distinct from these reactions was the use of various types of acidic catalysts (including the well-known silica-alumina) for effecting skeletal reactions via carbonium ion mechanisms, and these led... 

The rearrangement of platinacyclobutanes to alkene complexes or ylide complexes is shown to involve an initial 1,3-hydride shift (a-elimina-tion), which may be preceded by skeletal isomerization. This isomerization can be used as a model for the bond shift mechanism of isomerization of alkanes by platinum metal, while the a-elimination also suggests a possible new mechanism for alkene polymerisation. New platinacyclobutanes with -CH2 0SC>2Me substituents undergo solvolysis with ring expansion to platinacyclopentane derivatives, the first examples of metallacyclobutane to metallacyclopentane ring expansion. The mechanism, which may also involve preliminary skeletal isomerization, has been elucidated by use of isotopic labelling and kinetic studies. 

Bromine trifluoride is used to selectively substitute fluorine for bromine in brominated alkanes and esters. The reactions are carried out by gradual addition of bromine trifluoride to a solution of the substrate in CFC-113 or CFC-112 at 10-20nC. The bromine-fluorine exchange in mono-bromohaloalkanes is nonstereoselective and accompanied, in some eases, by skeletal rearrangements, hydride shifts, and halogen migrations. All three fluorine atoms in bromine trifluoride are involved in the fluorination reaction. Chlorine atoms in the substrate molecules remain intact.109... 

Very little skeletal rearrangement occurs via pyrolysis, a fact inherent in the failure of free radicals to readily isomerize by hydrogen atom or alkyl group migration. As a result, little branched alkanes are produced. Aromatization through the dehydrogenation of cyclohexanes and condensation to form polynuclear aromatics can take place. Additionally, olefin polymerization also can occur as a secondary process. 

Once the alkane has been partly converted into the corresponding carbenium ion, the carbenium ion may undergo various reactions following (a) intramolecular routes such as skeletal rearrangement [Eq. (5.36)] and fragmentation [Eq. (5.37)] or (b) intermolecular routes such as hydride transfer [Eq. (5.38)] and alkylation of another alkane molecule [Eq. (5.39)]. The specificity of some of these reactions will be discussed in the following sections. 

Under the same conditions, several types of hydrocarbon are also converted to fully deuterated compounds. The results are summarized in Table 1. Cydooctene was also transformed into fully deuterated cydooctene without a skeletal rearrangement. As shown in entries 2 and 3, saturated hydrocarbons have also been transformed into fully deuterated compounds. As described above, an interaction between allylic C-H bonds and palladium hydride induces the H-D exchange reaction for alkenes. H-D exchange in alkanes, however, cannot be explained in this way. Direct C-H activation without assistance from any functional group may be a route to the formation of fully deuterated alkanes. 

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