Vicinal halohydrins

When treated with bromine or chlorine in aqueous solution alkenes are con verted to vicinal halohydrins A haloni um ion IS an intermediate The halogen adds to the carbon that has the greater number of hydrogens Addition is anti... 

Base promoted cyclization of vicinal halohydrms (Section 16 10) This reaction is an intramolecu lar version of the Williamson ether synthesis The alcohol function of a vicinal halohydrin is con verted to its conjugate base which then displa ces halide from the adjacent carbon to give an epoxide... 

Halohydrin (Section 6 17) A compound that contains both a halogen atom and a hydroxyl group The term is most often used for compounds in which the halogen and the hydroxyl group are on adjacent atoms vicinal halohydrins) The most commonly encountered halohydrins are chlorohydnns and brornohydrins... 

In aqueous solution chlorine and bromine react with alkenes to fonn vicinal halohydrins, compounds that have a halogen and a hydroxyl group on adjacent carbons. 

Base-promoted ring closure of vicinal halohydrins... 

The following section describes the preparation of epoxides by the base-promoted ring closure of vicinal halohydrins. Because vicinal halohydrins are customarily prepared from alkenes (Section 6.17), both methods—epoxidation using peroxy acids and ring closure of halohydrins—are based on alkenes as the starting materials for preparing epoxides. 

The formation of vicinal halohydrins from alkenes was described in Section 6.17. Halohydrins are readily converted to epoxides on treatment with base ... 

PEG proves to be an efficient reaction medium for the reaction of vicinal halohydrin with carbon dioxide in the presence of a base to synthesize cyclic carbonates (Scheme 5.9) [42], Notably, PEG400 (MW = 400) as an environmentally friendly solvent exhibits a unique influence on reactivity compared with conventional organic solvents. Various cyclic carbonates can be prepared in high yield employing this protocol. The process presented here has potential applications in the industrial production of cyclic carbonates because of its simplicity, cost benefits, ready availability of starting materials, and mild reaction conditions. 

Wang JL, He LN, Dou XY et al (2009) Poly (ethylene glycol) an alternative solvent for the synthesis of cyclic carbonate from vicinal halohydrin and carbon dioxide. Aust J Chem 62(8) 917-920... 

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