Styrene phenylacetylene

In contrast to other furoxans, the cycloreversion of 3,4-dinitrofuroxan to nitro-formonitrile oxide was observed even at room temperature. The nitrile oxide could be trapped in situ with electron-deficient nitriles (Scheme 149) (95MC231). Attempts to obtain cyclo adducts with styrene, phenylacetylene, rran.s-stilbene, and cyclohexene failed. 

Finally, the only example of a polynuclear homogeneous catalyst is the dinuc-lear complex [Pt P sH ]4- [66], which catalyzed the hydrogenation of styrene, phenylacetylene, 1-octyne, and 1-hexyne (i-PrOH, 60°C, 20.7 atm H2 pressure, Pd substrate ratio 1 1800) to the corresponding alkanes within 10 h of reaction. 

Scheme 6.107 Cycloadducts of 1,2,4,6-cycloheptatetraene (S) to styrene, phenylacetylene, (Z)-l,3-pentadiene and ( )-l,3-pentadiene.

Matsen, F. A., and Z. F. Music Molecular Orbital Theory and Spectra of Monosubstituted Benzenes. V. Styrene. Phenylacetylene and Phenylcy-clopropane. J. Amer. chem. Soc. 72, 5256 (1950). 

A special case involves the thermal decomposition of 3,4-dinitrofuroxan (104). The cycloreversion is already observed at room temperature and the nitroformo-nitrile oxide could be trapped with electron-deficient nitriles. The cycloadditions with styrene, phenylacetylene, frani-stilbene, and cyclohexene, however, led to complex mixtures of products that could not be separated (104). In the related case of a furoxan with an a-hydrogen adjacent to the sulfonyl group, the reaction was proposed to proceed according to course (b) (Scheme 6.7). 

Fina/Badger Styrene/phenylacetylene Crude styrene reduction Process reduces phenylacetylene (PA) levels in styrene to less than 20 ppm, Polystyrene makers require low PA levels 6 2000... 

Kinetic and potentiometric studies have been made of the hydrogenation of maleic acid, hex-l-ene, styrene, phenylacetylene, hex-l-yne, and nitrobenzene in the presence of a catalyst prepared from a Pt—Sn chloro-complex and cyclo-octa-1,5-diene. ... 

Phenylacetylene is readily prepared by the dehydrohalogenatlon of styrene dibromide with a solution of sodamide in liquid ammonia ... 

Styrene undergoes many reactions of an unsaturated compound, such as addition, and of an aromatic compound, such as substitution (2,8). It reacts with various oxidising agents to form styrene oxide, ben2aldehyde, benzoic acid, and other oxygenated compounds. It reacts with benzene on an acidic catalyst to form diphenylethane. Further dehydrogenation of styrene to phenylacetylene is unfavorable even at the high temperature of 600°C, but a concentration of about 50 ppm of phenylacetylene is usually seen in the commercial styrene product. 

Another appHcation for this type catalyst is ia the purification of styrene. Trace amounts (200—300 ppmw) of phenylacetylene can inhibit styrene polymerization and caimot easily be removed from styrene produced by dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene using the high activity catalysts introduced in the 1980s. Treatment of styrene with hydrogen over an inhibited supported palladium catalyst in a small post reactor lowers phenylacetylene concentrations to a tolerable level of <50 ppmw without significant loss of styrene. 

The rates of bromination of a number of alkynes have been measured under conditions that permit comparison with the corresponding alkenes. The rate of bromina-hon of styrene exceeds that of phenylacetylene by about For internal alkyne-... 

A simple-minded picture suggests that the CC K bonds in aUcynes and alkenes ought to be similar. Are they Consider the thermodynamics of reduction of phenylacetylene to first give styrene and then phenylethane. (The energy for H2 is given at right.)... 

Thermodynamics and kinetics need not go hand in hand. Consider all possible products resulting from addition of one equivalent of bromine to phenylacetylene (phenylacetylene+Br2) and to styrene (styrene+Br2). Calculate the heat of reaction for each addition. (The energy of Br2 is given at right.) Is addition to the alkyne or to the alkene more favorable ... 

Bromination usually follows a two-step mechanism, the rate-limiting step involving formation of an adduct with Br. Calculate energies for Br addition to phenylacetylene and styrene, leading to phenylacetylene+Br+ and styrene+Br+, respectively. (The energy of Br+ is given at right.) Which reaction is more favorable Is this the same preference as seen for Br2 addition ... 

The complexes [Cu(NHC)(MeCN)][BF ], NHC = IPr, SIPr, IMes, catalyse the diboration of styrene with (Bcat) in high conversions (5 mol%, THF, rt or reflux). The (BcaO /styrene ratio has also an important effect on chemoselectivity (mono-versus di-substituted borylated species). Use of equimolecular ratios or excess of BCcat) results in the diborylated product, while higher alkene B(cat)j ratios lead selectively to mono-borylated species. Alkynes (phenylacetylene, diphenylacety-lene) are converted selectively (90-95%) to the c/x-di-borylated products under the same conditions. The mechanism of the reaction possibly involves a-bond metathetical reactions, but no oxidative addition at the copper. This mechanistic model was supported by DFT calculations [68]. 

Independent studies of the reduction of C=C and C=C bonds indicate that the latter is kinetically favored. Thus, in the absence of phenylacetylene, the rate of hydrogenation of styrene to ethylbenzene is about one order of magnitude faster than those for C=C bond reduction, indicating that the origin of the selectivity cannot be kinetic. The styryl compound represents a thermodynamic sink that causes virtually all the osmium present in solution to be tied up in this form, and therefore the kinetically unfavorable pathway becomes essentially the only one available in the presence of alkyne.31... 

Competitive reduction tests for cyclohexanone styrene, under transfer conditions, show preferential reduction of cyclohexanone however, under hydrogenation conditions the styrene is reduced exclusively.99 It is worth mentioning that the OsH2(r)2-H2)(CO)(P Pr3)2 precatalyst, formed by addition of NaBH4 to OsHCl (CO)(P Pr3)2, rapidly reduces phenylacetylene to styrene, under transfer conditions, but the reaction rate falls progressively due to the formation of Os(C=CPh)2 (CO)(P Pr3)2.72 As previously mentioned, an alkynyl-dihydrogen intermediate... 

The side products of the reaction between benzoylnitromethane 279 and dipolarophiles (norbornene, styrene, and phenylacetylene) in the presence of l,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) were identified as furazan derivatives (Scheme 72). The evidence reported indicates that benzoylnitromethane gives the dibenzoylfuroxan as a key intermediate, which is the dimerization product of the nitrile oxide. The furoxan then undergoes addition to the dipolarophile, hydrolysis, and ring rearrangement to the final products (furazans and benzoic acid) <2006EJ03016>. 

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