Paz Trillo

Fluorinated Alcohols As Promoters for the Metal-Free Direct Substitution Reaction of Allylic Alcohols with Nitrogenated, Silylated, and Carbon Nucleophiles

The direct allylic substitution reaction using allylic alcohols in 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) and 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) as reaction media is described. The developed procedure is simple, works under mild conditions (rt, 50 and 70 °C), and proves to be very general, since different nitrogenated nucleophiles and carbon nucleophiles can be used achieving high yields, especially when HFIP is employed as solvent and aromatic allylic alcohols are the substrates. Thus, sulfonamides, carbamates, carboxamides, and amines can be successfully employed as nitrogen-based nucleophiles. Likewise, silylated nucleophiles such as trimethylsilylazide, allyltrimethylsilane, trimethylsilane, and trimethylsilylphenylacetylene give the corresponding allylic substitution products in high yields. Good results for the Friedel-Crafts adducts are also achieved with aromatic compounds (phenol, anisole, indole, and anilines) as nucleophiles. Particularly interesting are the results obtained with electron-rich anilines, which can behave as nitrogenated or carbon nucleophiles depending on their electronic properties and the solvent employed. In addition, 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds (acetylacetone and Meldrums acid) are also successfully employed as soft carbon nucleophiles. Studies for mechanism elucidation are also reported, pointing toward the existence of carbocationic intermediates and two working reaction pathways for the obtention of the allylic substitution product.

Direct Nucleophilic Substitution of Free Allylic Alcohols in Water Catalyzed by FeCl3⋅6 H2O: Which is the Real Catalyst?

The allylic substitution reaction, and particularly the direct allylic amination reaction, of free allylic alcohols in water catalyzed by FeCl3⋅6 H2O is described. This novel environmentally‐friendly methodology allows the use of a wide variety of nitrogenated nucleophiles such as sulfonamides, carbamates, benzamides, anilines, benzotriazoles, and azides, generally giving good yields of the corresponding substitution products. The synthetic applicability of the process is also demonstrated because the reaction can be performed on gram‐scale. Additionally, carbon nucleophiles such as silylated nucleophiles, aromatic compounds, and malonates also proved to be suitable for this transformation. Finally, the nature of the catalytic species present in aqueous media is unveiled, pointing towards the formation of hexaaquo iron(III) complexes.

Pursuing Chemical Efficiency by Using Supported Organocatalysts for Asymmetric Reactions under Aqueous Conditions

This work was financially supported by the University of Alicante (VIGROB-173, GRE12-03, UAUSTI13-01, UAUSTI13-02).