Lewis acid catalysts titanium tetrachloride

Lewis acids are defined as molecules that act as electron-pair acceptors. The proton is an important special case, but many other species can play an important role in the catalysis of organic reactions. The most important in organic reactions are metal cations and covalent compounds of metals. Metal cations that play prominent roles as catalysts include the alkali-metal monocations Li+, Na+, K+, Cs+, and Rb+, divalent ions such as Mg +, Ca +, and Zn, marry of the transition-metal cations, and certain lanthanides. The most commonly employed of the covalent compounds include boron trifluoride, aluminum chloride, titanium tetrachloride, and tin tetrachloride. Various other derivatives of boron, aluminum, and titanium also are employed as Lewis acid catalysts. 

The pivotal step in this sequence is an electrophilic substitution on indole. Although the use of l,3-dithian-2-yl carbanions is well documented, it has been shown only recently that 1,3-dithian-2-yl carbenium ions can be used in a Priedel-Crafts type reaction. This was accomplished initially using 2-methoxy-l,3-dithiane [1,3-Dithiane, 2-methoxy-] or 2-metlioxy-l,3-dithiolane [1,3-Dithiolane, 2-methoxy-] and titanium tetrachloride [Titanate(l —), tetrachloro-] as the Lewis acid catalyst.9 2-Substituted lysergic acid derivatives and 3-substituted indoles have been prepared under these conditions, but the method is limited in scope by the difficulties of preparing substituted 2-methoxy-1,3-dithianes. l,3-Dithian-2-yl carbenium ions have also been prepared by protonation of ketene dithioacetals with trifluoroacetic acid,10 but this reaction cannot be used to introduce 1,3-dithiane moieties into indole. 

Brimble and coworkers172 reported the asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions between quinones 265 bearing a menthol chiral auxiliary and cyclopentadiene (equation 73). When zinc dichloride or zinc dibromide was employed as the Lewis acid catalyst, the reaction proceeded with complete endo selectivity, but with only moderate diastereofacial selectivity affording 3 1 and 2 1 mixtures of 266 and 267 (dominant diastereomer unknown), respectively. The use of stronger Lewis acids, such as titanium tetrachloride, led to the formation of fragmentation products. Due to the inseparability of the two diastereomeric adducts, it proved impossible to determine which one had been formed in excess. 

The Diels-Alder reaction of enantiomerically pure chiral aery he esters with cyclopen-tadiene leads to a pair of diastereomers. Their ratio depends strongly on the choice and amount of Lewis acid catalyst (Scheme 8)117. While titanium tetrachloride leads preferentially to the (2A )-diastercorner with high selectivity, ethyl aluminium dichloride gives the (2S )-diastereomer in only 56% de. 

Within the context of mixed Lewis-acid catalysts, Marek and Lopour also showed that if aluminium iodide was used, its best partner in terms of initiation efficiency was titanium tetrachloride. 

The demand for environmentally friendly chemistry and its widespread applicability have made water an increasingly popnlar solvent for organic transformations. Mixtures of water and other solvents snch as tetrahydrofnran are now commonly anployed for a number of organic transformations. For instance, the Lewis acid catalysed aldol reaction of silyl enol ethers, commonly known as the Mnkaiyama aldol reaction, which was firstly reported in the early seventies, can be carried ont in snch media. With titanium tetrachloride as the catalyst this reaction proceeds regioselectively in high yields, but the reaction has to be carried ont strictly nnder non-aqneons conditions in order to prevent decomposition of the catalyst and hydrolysis of the sUyl enol ethCTS. In the absence of the catalyst it was observed that water had a beneficial influence on this process (Table 4, entry D) . Nevertheless, the yields in the nncatalysed version WCTe still unsatisfactory. Improved results were obtained with water-tolerant Lewis acids. The first reported example for Lewis acid catalysis in aqueous media is the hydroxymethylation of silyl enol ethers with commercial formaldehyde solution using lanthanide trillates. In the meantime, the influence of several lanthanide triflates in cross-aldol reactions of various aldehydes was examined " " ". The reactions were most effectively carried out in 1 9 mixtures of water and tetrahydrofnran with 5-10% Yb(OTf)3, which can be reused after completion of the reaction (Table 19, entry A). Although the realization of this reaction is quite simple, the choice of the solvent is crucial (Table 20). 

The catalytic degradation of the polymers can be studied by a variety of catalysts. Walter Caminsky et al. studied the catalytic degradation of polypropylene using Lewis acid catalysts such as aluminum chloride and mixtures with titanium tetrachloride. These catalysts are soluble in molten polyolefin, and this helps to reduce the concentration catalyst to 0.1 or 1 % [31]. They observed that there is dramatic increase in the amount of small hydrocarbons (C4) by the usage of these catalysts. Different conditions were used to cany out this experiment in batch reactor (PR-1) and in fluidized bed reactor (LWS-5). It is clearly revealed from the gas chromatograms (Fig. 13.3) that the products run without catalyst contain... 

Sung and coworkers have investigated titanium tetrachloride as a catalyst for nucleophilic substitution reactions of f-butyl alcohol and ben l alcohols containing 71-donating substituents with a variety of nucleophiles, obtaining excellent conversions and selectivities compared to other Lewis acids, even in the presence of primary or secondary alcohols (Scheme 5.12). ... 

Nitroparaffins afford an unique reaction medium for Friedel-Crafts reactions since these solvents will dissolve Lewis acid catalysts such as anhydrous aluminum chloride (AICI3), boron trifluoride (BF3), titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4), and stannic tetrachloride (SnC ). The role of nitromethane as a metal stabilizer for various chlorinated and fluorinated solvents involves its ability to complex with metal salts like aluminum chloride from the solvent-metal reaction. 

The regiochemistry of the reaction is strongly influenced by the identity of the Lewis acid catalyst employed as well as by the reaction temperature. For example, with indium chloride in place of aluminum chloride, compound 5 is obtained in higher selectivity (total yield 58%, 5 6 7=88 9 3). On increasing the temperature in the reaction with indium chloride, the product composition is changed and compound 6 is the predominant one (total yield 57%, 5 6 7=0 84 16). Quite similar results are achieved with iron trichloride, tin tetrachloride, and zinc chloride, while in the case of antimony pentachloride and titanium tetrachloride, compound 5 is the major product. 

Titanium tetrachloride continues to be a popular Lewis acid catalyst in synthesis. Of the many examples quoted in this years literature, several have attracted our attention, a -Methoxyurethanes, for example, react with trimethyl-silylcyanide or phenylisocyanide in the presence of TiCL to give a-aminocyanides or amino-acid derivatives, respectively, in very high yields. The initial a-methoxy urethanes are derived easily, and in quantity, by anodic oxidation of the corresponding urethanes in methanol (Scheme 14). A full paper... 

Usually the stronger acids are also the more effective co-catalysts, but exceptions to this rule are known. Trichloroacetic acid, but not the equally strong picric acid, will co-catalyze the system isobutene-titanium tetrachloride in hexane.2 8 Some Lewis acid-olefin systems will not polymerize at all in the absence of a co-catalyst, an example being isobutene with boron trifluoride.2 4 This fact, together with the markedly slower reaction usual with carefully dried materials, has nourished the current suspicion that a co-catalyst may be necessary in every Lewis acid-olefin polymerization. It is very difficult to eliminate small traces of water which could act as a co-catalyst or generate mineral acid, and it may well be that the reactions which are slower when drier would not go at all if they could be made completely dry. 

Pentadienyltrimethylstannanes undergo regioselective conjugate additions to aldehydes, catalysed by Lewis acids. The dominant product obtained depends on the catalyst used, as shown in reaction 46. In the case of titanium tetrachloride catalysis the reaction is also stereoselective and only one diasteroisomer is obtained297. Reaction with chiral aldehydes leads to asymmetric induction with similar organotin compounds298. 

The dependence of the diastereomeric ratio on the choice of Lewis acid can be understood when considering the geometry of the Lewis acid complex. In the case of the titanium tetrachloride catalysed reaction, the interaction of the ester and the catalyst is strongly supported by the first crystal structure observed of the Lewis acid with a chiral dienophile (Figure 4)118. 

Cationic mechanisms are much more characteristic of the polymerization of oxygen heterocycles, both ethers and acetals. A wide variety of catalysts has been used, including protonic acids, such Lewis acids as boron trifluoride, phosphorus pentafluoride, stannic chloride, antimony pentachloride, titanium tetrachloride, zinc chloride, and ferric chloride, and salts of carbocations or tri-alkyloxonium ions having anions derived from Lewis acids. Some complex, coordination catalysts that appear to operate by a mechanism... 

Several catalysts and initiator systems have been tested for the polymerization of GlcAnBzl3, including the following Lewis acids boron trifluoride and its etherate, phosphorus pentafluoride, titanium tetrachloride, and antimony pentachloride and pentafluoride. Several cationic initiators have also been used, including (triphenylmethyl) antimony hexachloride, 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl hexa-fluorophosphate, acetyl hexafluorophosphate, pentamethylbenzyl hexa-fluorophosphate (most of which were generated in situ), and triethyl-... 

This procedure illustrates a general method for the preparation of crossed aldols. The aldol reaction between various silyl enol ethers and carbonyl compounds proceeds smoothly according to the same procedure (see Table I). Sllyl enol ethers react with aldehydes at -78°C, and with ketones near 0°C. Note that the aldol reaction of sllyl enol ethers with ketones affords good yields of crossed aldols which are generally difficult to prepare using lithium or boron enolates. Lewis acids such as tin tetrachloride and boron trifluoride etherate also promote the reaction however, titanium tetrachloride is generally the most effective catalyst. 

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