Water suspension medium

Thermal solid-state reactions were carried out by keeping a mixture of powdered reactant and reagent at room temperature or elevated temperature, or by mixing with pestle and mortar. In some cases, the solid-state reactions proceed much more efficiently in a water suspension medium or in the presence of a small amount of solvent. Sometimes, a mixture of solid reactant and reagent turns to liquid as the reaction proceeds. All these reactions are called solid-state reactions in this chapter. Solid-state reactions were found to be useful in the study of reaction mechanisms, since it is easy to monitor the reaction by continuous measurement of IR spectra. 

Very interestingly, bromination of the crystalline powder of 1 with 7 in a water suspension medium proceeded much more efficiently. For example, a suspension of powdered 1 and 7 in a small amount of water was stirred at room temperature for 15 h, and the reaction mixture was filtered and air-dried to... 

Complexation with a Chiral Host in a Water Suspension Medium... 

Some solid-solid reactions were shown to proceed efficiently in a water suspension medium in Sect. 2.1. When this reaction, which gives a racemic product, is combined with an enantioselective inclusion complexation with a chiral host in a water suspension medium, a unique one-pot preparative method of optically active product in a water medium can be constructed. Some such successful examples are described. 

Table 10 Result of one-pot preparation method of optically active epoxides (67a-d) by a combination of epoxidation of cyclohexenone and enantiomer resolution in a water suspension medium... 

When a mixture of methyl phenyl sulfide (69a) (1 g, 8.1 mmol), 30% H2O2 (1.84 g, 16.2 mmol), and water (10 ml) was stirred at room temperature for 24 h, rac-lOa was produced (Scheme 11). To the water suspension medium of rac-70a was added 10c (2 g, 4 mmol), and the mixture was stirred for 15 h to give a 1 1 inclusion complex of 10c with (+)-70a. Heating the filtered complex in vacuo gave (+)-70a of 57% ee (0.45 g, 82% yield). From the filtrate left after separation of the inclusion complex, (-)-70a of 54% ee (0.4 g, 73% yield) was obtained by extraction with ether. By the same procedure, optically active 70b-d were also prepared (Table 11). In the case of (+)-70b and (-)-70c,the efficiency of the enantiomeric resolution was very high. 

Optically active Diels-Alder adducts were also prepared by using a one-pot preparative method and enantioselective formation of inclusion complex with optically active hosts in a water suspension medium.68 For example, A-ethylmaleimide reacts with 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene in water to give the racemic adduct 1. Racemic 1 and the optically active host 2 form enantioselectively a 1 1 inclusion complex of 2 with (+)-l in a water suspension. The inclusion complex can be filtered and heated to release (+)-l with 94% ee (Eq. 12.23). 

Although some kinds of optically active compounds can be prepared by an asymmetric synthesis using a chiral catalyst, this method is not applicable for preparation of all kinds of compounds. Furthermore, optical yields of the product are not always very high. On the contrary, optical resolution method by inclusion complexation with a chiral host is applicable to various kinds of guest compounds as described in this chapter. When optically pure product cannot be obtained by one resolution procedure, perfect resolution can be accomplished by repeating the process, although asymmetric synthetic process cannot be repeated. Especially, optical resolutions by inclusion complexation with a chiral host in a water suspension medium and by fractional distillation in the presence of a chiral host are valuable as green and sustainable processes. 

Miyamoto, H., Yasaka, S., Takaoka, R, Tanaka, K., and Toda, F. (2001) One-pot Preparation of Optically Active sec-Alcohols, Epoxides, and Sulfoxides by a Combination of Synthesis and Enantiomeric Resolution with Optically Active Hosts in a Water Suspension Medium, Eanantiomer, 6, 51-55. 

Very efficient Michael addition reactions of amines, thiophenoi and acetylacetate to chalcone in a water suspension medium have been developed as completely organic solvent-free reactions. 

As a typical example of Michael addition of an amine to chalcone in a water suspension medium, a suspension of powdered chalcone (70a) in a small amount of water containing mBuNH2 (71e) and the surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammo-nium bromide (72) was stirred at room temperature for 4 h. The reaction product was filtered and air dried to give the Michael addition product 73e as a colorless powder in 98% yield. The filtrate containing 72 can be used again [34]. By the same procedure, Michael addition reactions of the various amines 71a-q to 70a were carried out and pure amineadducts were obtained in good yields (Table 15-19) [34], The solubility of the amines in water is not related to the efficiency of the reaction. Amines (71h-k) which are poorly soluble in water reacted with 70a in the water suspension as effectively as the water-soluble amines (Table 15-19). 

Table 15-19. Michael addition reactions of amires (71) to chalcone (70a) in a water suspension medium containing 72 as a surfactant.

Michael addition of thiophenol (74) to /7-methoxychalcone (70f) also proceeded efficiently in a water suspension medium. When a mixture of 70f, 74, K2CO3, 72 and water was stirred for 24 h at room temperature and the reaction product was filtered and air dried, the addition product 75 was obtained in 92% yield. Although similar Michael addition reactions can be carried out in solution [35], the procedure of the solid state reaction is rather simple, economical and free from pollution problems involving organic solvents [34]. 

The Michael addition reaction in water suspension medium is also applicable to carbon-carbon bond formation. A mixture of 70a, methyl acetylacetate (76), 72 and water was stirred for 5 h at room temperature, then the reaction product was filtered and dried to give the addition product 77 in 98% yield [34]. Although a similar solvent-free Michael addition reaction of 70a with diethyl malonate at 60 °C has been reported, organic solvent was still necessary to isolate the product from the reaction mixture [36]. 

Host-guest inclusion complexations are usually carried out in organic solvents. As a green process, inclusion complexation can be performed in a water suspension medium or in the solid state. When the solid-state reaction in a water suspension medium is combined with an enantioselective inclusion complexation in the same water medium, a one-pot green preparative method for obtaining optically active compounds can be designed. In all these cases, enantiomers separated as inclusion complexes are recovered by distillation of the inclusion complex. When enantioselective inclusion complexation in the solid state is combined with the distillation technique, a unique green process for enantiomeric separation can result. 

Enantiomeric separations of bicyclic acid anhydride 69, lactones 70 and 71 and carboximides 72 and 73 by complexation with la-c in organic solvents were also successful (Table 3.3-3) [26]. These complexations can probably be carried out in a water suspension medium and hence be described as green processes. rac-Panto-lactone (74) was separated to produce (S)-(-)-74 of 99% ee in 30% yield by complexation with Ic [27]. Enantiomerically impure monoterpenes were purified by inclusion complexation with a chiral host compound. For example, (lS,5S)-(-)-verbe-none (75a) of 78% ee gave 99% ee enantiomer by complexation with la. By similar treatment of 75b of 91% ee with la as above, (lR,5R)-(-i-)-75b of 98% ee was obtained [28]. 

Green One-Pot Preparative Process for Obtaining Optically Active Compounds by a Combination of Solid-state Reaction and Enantiomeric Separation in a Water Suspension Medium... 

A new green preparative method for obtaining optically active compounds can be designed using one-pot solid-state reactions and enantiomeric separation processes, carried out continuously in a water suspension medium. Some successful examples are described in this section. 

In this section, one-pot preparations of optically active compounds by a combination of solid-state reaction and enantioselective inclusion complexation in a water suspension medium are described. In order to establish the suspension procedure as a general enantiomeric separation method, enantiomeric separations of various compounds by complexation in hexane and water suspension media were studied. Furthermore, by combining enantioselective inclusion complexation with a chiral host in the solid state with distillation, a fascinating enantiomeric separation method by fractional distillation was established. 

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