Triflic acid catalyst

Silica-supported triflic acid catalysts were prepared by various methods (treatment of silica with triflic acid at 150°C or adsorption of the acid from solutions in trifluoroacetic acid or Freon-113) and tested in the isobutane-1-butene alkylation.161 All catalysts showed high and stable activity (near-complete conversion at room temperature in a continuous flow reactor at 22 bar) and high selectivity to form saturated C8 isomers (up to 99%) and isomeric trimethylpentanes (up to 86%). Selectivities to saturated C8 isomers, however, decreased considerable with time-on-stream (79% and 80% after 24 h). 

Tributyltin alkoxides can also be prepared under acid conditions by the alcoholyis of tributyltin hydride or allyltributyltin in the presence of a triflic acid catalyst presumably the reaction involves the tin triflate as an intermedate.13... 

Keywords zirconia, sol-gel, triflic acid, catalysts, esterification... 

The stmctural architecture of siUcone polymers, such as the number of D, T, and Q sites and the number and type of cross-link sites, can be deterrnined by a degradative analysis technique in which the polymer is allowed to react with a large excess of a capping agent, such as hexamethyidisiloxane, in the presence of a suitable equiUbration catalyst (eq. 38). Triflic acid is often used as a catalyst because it promotes the depolymerization process at ambient temperature (444). A related process employs the KOH- or KOC2H -catalyzed reaction of siUcones with excess Si(OC2H )4 (eq. 39) to produce ethoxylated methylsiUcon species, which are quantitatively deterrnined by gc (445). 

Triflates of aluminum, gallium and boron, which are readily available by the reaction of the corresponding chlorides with triflic acid, are effective Fnedel-Crafis catalysis for alkylation and acylation of aromatic compounds [119, 120] Thus alkylation of toluene with various alkyl halides m the presence of these catalysts proceeds rapidly at room temperature 111 methylene chloride or ni-tromethane Favorable properties of the triflates in comparison with the correspond mg fluorides or chlorides are considerably decreased volatility and higher catalytic activity [120]... 

Another conceptually unique approach in alkene aziridination has come from Johnston s labs. These workers shrewdly identified organic azides as nitrene equivalents when these compounds are in the amide anion/diazonium resonance form. Thus, when a range of azides were treated with triflic acid and methyl vinyl ketone at 0 °C, the corresponding aziridines were obtained, in synthetically useful yields. In the absence of the Bronsted acid catalyst, cycloaddition is observed, producing triazolines. The method may also be adapted, through the use of unsaturated imi-des as substrates, to give anti-aminooxazolidinones (Scheme 4.25) [32]. 

In a related reaction, the Danishefsky diene 1434 cyclizes with ethyl pyruvate 1435 in the presence of catalytic amounts of the asymmetric Lewis acid catalyst 1436, at -72 °C in THF, to give the Diels-Alder adduct 1437, in 85% yield and 91% ee, and the ring-opened product 1438, which cyclizes, however, with triflic acid to give 1437 [11] (Scheme 9.9). 

Reaction of 1487 with HMDS 2 with AI2O3 as acidic catalyst instead of triflic acid also gives ca. 81% pure distilled 1494, b.p. 68°C/18Torr [44] (Scheme 9.55). 

With TMSOTf 20 as catalyst instead, reduction of acetals or ketals has also been achieved with triethylsilane 84b in the presence of triflic acid/BSA 22a [56] or with triethylsilane 84b/Nafion-H, which can be readily recovered [57]. 

The oxazaborolidines B and C derived from proline are also effective catalysts. The protonated forms of these catalysts, generated using triflic acid or triflimide, are very active catalysts,95 and the triflimide version is more stable above 0° C. Another protonated catalyst D is derived from 2-cyclopentenylacetic acid. 

Triflic acid has also been supported on a porous silica carrier (220). The authors emphasized the importance of a strong interaction between the acid and the support to prevent leaching of the acid. In pulsed liquid-phase isobutane/ 1-butene alkylation experiments at 298 K, the catalysts produced a very high-quality alkylate, made up almost exclusively of isooctanes. With silanol groups on the silica surface or with added water, triflic acid was found to form a monohydrate that was firmly grafted to the silica surface. 

Boron tris(trifluoromethanesulfonate). This triflate is obtained by reaction of BC1, with triflic acid in S02C1F at -78°. Distillation at reduced pressure provides a solid, m. p. 45°, b. p. 68-73°/0.5 mm. It is extremely hygroscopic, and is soluble m CRiC, CHjNOi, CH CN. Aluminum and gallium triflate are poorly soluble in the common solvents. All three triflates can function as Friedel-Crafts catalysts, but the boron triflate is the most effective as a soluble catalyst. ... 

This type of alkoxylation chemistry cannot be performed with conventional alkali metal hydroxide catalysts because the hydroxide will saponify the triglyceride ester groups under typical alkoxylation reaction conditions. Similar competitive hydrolysis occurs with alternative catalysts such as triflic acid or other Brpnsted acid/base catalysis. Efficient alkoxylation in the absence of significant side reactions requires a coordination catalyst such as the DMC catalyst zinc hexacyano-cobaltate. DMC catalysts have been under development for years [147-150], but have recently begun to gain more commercial implementation. The use of the DMC catalyst in combination with castor oil as an initiator has led to at least two lines of commercial products for the flexible foam market. Lupranol Balance 50 (BASF) and Multranol R-3524 and R-3525 (Bayer) are used for flexible slabstock foams and are produced by the direct alkoxylation of castor oil. 

In order to obtain further insight into the mechanism of the Mannich-type reaction, sulfone IP and silyl enol ether derived from acetophenone were reacted in the presence HOTf or TMSOTf, which could be produced in the reaction medium when using Bi(0Tf)3-4H20 as catalyst. It appeared that these two compounds efficiently catalyze the Mannich-type reaction (Table 7, entries 2 and 3). The reaction does not occur in the presence of 2,6-di-/<7V-buty I-4-methyl-pyridine [DTBMP] (1.0 equiv. of lp, 1.3 equiv. of silyl enol ether, 0.5 mol% of Bi(0Tf)34H20, 1.5 mol% of 2,6-di-/c/V-buty l-4-methy I-pyridine, 22 °C, 20 h, 99% recovery of lp), which indicates that triflic acid is involved in the mechanism (Table 7, entry 4). 

The rearrangement of aryl and naphthyl acetates has been reported to be catalyzed by Bi(0Tf)3xH20 (Scheme 9) [68, 69]. As previously reported, only ortho-Fries products (l-hydroxy-2-acylaromatics) were produced from substrates for which ortho acylation was possible. In the case of 2,6-dimethoxyphenyl acetate, only the 3,5-dimethoxy-2-hydroxy acetophenone was produced, indicating that in this case the mechanism involves an intermolecular acyl-group transfer. As in other reactions, the nature of the true catalyst is still unclear since triflic acid also catalyzes this reaction. 

In the case of sulfonylation (Scheme 10) [56] and sulfinylation reactions [34], Bi salts proved again to be efficient catalysts. In contrast to the arylsulfonylation, which is under partial control of triflic acid, depending on the substrates, a complete synergistic effect between triflic acid and Bi chloride has been found in the alkanesulfonylation of arenes. In this case, the formation of mixed triflic/alkane-sulfonic anhydrides leads to the active electrophilic species. The formation of the latter exclusively requires the transient formation of a Bi chlorobistriflate species that acts as an intermediate shuttle for triflic acid, leading to the formation of the mixed anhydride precited (Scheme 11). Our experiments have shown that triflic... 

Kinetic studies of diallyltosylamide RCM reaction monitored by NMR and UV/VIS spectroscopy showed that thermal activation of the catalyst precursors la and Ib (25-80 °C) led to the in situ formation of a new species which could not be identified but appeared to be the active catalytic species [52]. Attempts to identify this thermally generated species were made in parallel by protonation of the catalysts I. Indeed, the protonation of allenylidene-ruthenium complex la by HBF4 revealed a significant increase in catalyst activity in the RCM reaction [31,32]. The influence of the addition of triflic acid to catalyst Ib in the ROMP of cyclooctene at room temperature (Table 8.2, entries 1,3) was even more dramatic. For a cyclooctene/ruthenium ratio of 1000 the TOF of ROMP with Ib was 1 min and with Ib and Sequiv. of TfOH it reached 950min [33]. 

A highly regioselective, efficient, and clean anti-Markovnikov hydration of terminal acetylenes has been realized through the use of catalytic amounts of Ru complexes.561 Typically, [CpRu(dppm)Cl] catalyzes the reaction at 100°C to give aldehydes in high yields (81-94%). Triflic acid or trifluoromethanesulfonimide effectively catalyzes the hydration of alkynes without a metal catalyst to afford Markovnikov products (ketones).562... 

New Soluble Catalysts. Trifluoromethansulfonic acid (triflic acid, TfOH)42 and acyl triflates, that is mixed anhydrides of carboxylic acids and triflic acid,43 44 were first reported to be effective for Friedel-Crafts acylation in 1972. Significantly lower yields (<30%) were obtained with other Brpnsted acids. High activities were also observed for perfluorobutanesulfonic acid.37... 

Partially proton-exchanged Na faujasite X, in turn, is the best catalyst for selective monochlorination with tert-butyl hypochlorite.258 NaX, NaY, and NaKL zeolites used in the chlorination of toluene with sulfuryl chloride undergo rapid deactivation because of the accumulation of polychlorinated toluenes in the pores of the catalysts and dealumination.259, 260 Direct electrophilic fluorination of aromatics can be effected by using Selectfluor in the presence of triflic acid.261 Electrophilic fluorination may also be carried out by R2NF and R3N+FA reagents.262 Elemental fluorine may also act as a powerful electrophile in acidic media (sulfuric acid, trifluoroacetic acid, or formic acid), but monosubstituted aromatics give isomeric mixtures.263-265... 

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