Selective ortho-cleavage of methoxymethyl- and 4-methoxybenzyl ethers

Iodine in methanol has been found to be an effective catalyst system for the cleavage of alkoxymethyl ethers. This catalyst system is particularly useful for the selective removal of ortho-methoxymethyl- and ortho-(4-methoxybenzyl) ethers in the presence of their para-counterparts. Further investigation of various metal salts in methanol for their ability to cleave alkoxymethyl ethers revealed high-valent salts as effective catalysts, presumably through the release of small quantities of HCl.     

Proton-exchanged montmorillonite-mediated reactions of methoxybenzyl esters and ethers

Proton-exchanged montmorillonite (H-mont) was found to be an eco-friendly and cost-effective catalyst for the generation of O-methylated quinone methides (QM) from the corresponding p or o-methoxybenzyl esters and ethers. Nucleophilic trapping of the O-methylated QM with arenes, alcohols, 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds, silyl enol ethers, and allylsilanes has been carried out, respectively, leading to eco-friendly benzylation reactions. Using this protocol, H-mont-mediated deprotection of PMB-protected esters and ethers have been realized for the first time. This work would pave the way for further exploration in O-alkylated QM that are of chemical and biological significance.     

Inositol derived crown ethers: effect of auxiliary protecting groups and the relative orientation of crown ether oxygen atoms on their metal ion binding ability

The binding constants of crown ethers prepared from tetra-O-substituted myo- and scyllo-inositol derivatives and 2-O-substituted myo- and scyllo-inositol-1,3,5-orthoformates, with metal picrates show that the O-substituents and the relative orientation of the crown ether oxygen atoms contribute significantly to the binding of crown ethers with metal ions. In particular, the binding efficiency of myo-inositol derived crown ethers to silver and potassium ions could be enhanced by introducing benzyl ethers in the inositol ring. Hence binding efficacy and selectivity of metal ions to inositol derived crown ethers can be tuned by varying substituents on the myo-inositol ring and/or the relative orientation of crown ether oxygen atoms.     

Effective chemoselective deprotection of 3,4-dimethoxybenzyl (DMB) ethers in the presence of benzyl and p-methoxybenzyl (PMB) ethers by phenyliodine(III) bis(trifluoroacetate) (PIFA)

In this Letter, a selective deprotection of the alcohol protecting 3,4-dimethoxybenzyl (^3,4DMB) group is described. The hypervalent iodine(III) reagent phenyliodine bis(trifluoroacetate) (PIFA) is found to be an efficient reagent for the chemoselective deprotection of ^3,4DMB ethers in the presence of benzyl, p-methoxybenzyl, methoxymethyl, tert-butyldimethylsilyl, and tert-butyldiphenylsilyl ethers under mild conditions. This is the first example of the selective deprotection of the ^3,4DMB group from a hydroxy group with PIFA.     

Zinc-catalyzed Williamson ether synthesis in the absence of base

Zinc powder was found to be a highly efficient catalyst for the synthesis of aromatic ethers using microwave heating in the presence of N,N-dimethylformamide as well as under stirring in an oil-bath using tetrahydrofuran as solvent without any inorganic base. This method can be used for selective mono-, di- or tri-O-alkylations.     

Aza-Diels-Alder reaction in fluorinated alcohols. A one-pot synthesis of tetrahydroquinolines

Hexafluoroisopropanol and trifluoroethanol are found to promote imino-Diels-Alder reactions of the N-aryl aldimine 1 with alkyl vinyl ethers to afford the corresponding tetrahydroquinolines in good yields without Lewis acid under mild and neutral conditions. The reaction is also efficient in a three component process from aldehyde, amine and vinyl ethers.     

Palladium-catalyzed C-O bond formation: direct synthesis of phenols and aryl/alkyl ethers from activated aryl halides

A simple and efficient palladium-catalyzed carbon-oxygen bond formation is reported. The palladium-tri-tert-butylphosphine complex was found to be effective in converting haloarenes to corresponding substituted phenols. This methodology offers a direct transformation of aryl halides to phenols, as well as the straightforward application to generate a wide variety of diaryl or alkyl/aryl ethers.     

Bismuth triflate catalyzed Claisen rearrangement of allyl naphthyl ethers

Bismuth triflate was found to be an efficient catalyst for the Claisen rearrangement of allyl naphthyl ethers. The reaction proceeds smoothly with a catalytic amount of bismuth triflate (20 mol %) to afford the corresponding ortho-allyl naphthol in moderate to good yields in most cases.     

A high loading sulfonic acid-functionalized ordered nanoporous silica as an efficient and recyclable catalyst for chemoselective deprotection of tert-butyldimethylsilyl ethers

A high loading sulfonic acid-functionalized ordered nanoporous silica efficiently catalyzes the deprotection of a variety of alcoholic TBDMS (tert-butyldimethylsilyl)ethers in methanol. The catalyst shows high thermal stability (up to 240 °C) and can be recovered and reused for at least seven reaction cycles without loss of reactivity. This method can be used to deprotect TBDMS ethers of alcohols in the presence of TBDMS ethers of phenols.     

Electrochemical fluorination of chlorine-containing ethers

The electrochemical fluorination of chlorine-containing ethers has been studied. In general, it was found that a chlorine bonded to an a-carbon atom in the ethers was readily removed during electrochemical reaction in anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, whilst a chlorine bonded to the β-carbon atom was retained to yield β-chlorinated polyfluoroethers.Through the use of this method, several new chloropolyfluoroethers, e.g. 2-chloro-1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl difluoromethyl ether, 2,2-dichloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl trifluoromethyl ether 2,2-dichloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl difluoromethyl ether, 2,2-dichloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl chlorodifluoromethyl ether, 2-chloro-1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl chlorodifluoromethyl ether and 2,2-trichloro-1,1-difluoroethyl trifluoromethyl ether, have isolated and characterized.     

Rapid additions of bulky tert-butyldimethylsilyl cyanide to hindered ketones promoted by heterogeneous tin ion-exchanged montmorillonite catalyst

Tin ion-exchanged montmorillonite (Sn-Mont) was found to be a powerful heterogeneous catalyst for the cyanosilylation of various ketones including congested ones with a bulky cyanide source, tert-butyldimethylsilyl cyanide (TBDMSCN), giving the corresponding cyanohydrin tert-butyldimethylsilyl ethers in good (85%) to excellent (>98%) yields at room temperature. Compared to the previously reported catalysts, Sn-Mont is easy to prepare, environmentally benign, nontoxic, noncorrosive, and recyclable.     

Stereochemistry of the 1,2-Wittig rearrangement: A synthesis of syn-1,3-diol monoethers

The [1,2] Wittig rearrangement of β-alkoxyalkyl allyl ethers has been studied and found to provide syn-1,3-diol derivatives in 14–32% yield and with useful levels of diastereoselection.     

Elaboration of the ether cleaving ability and selectivity of the classical Pearlman's catalyst [Pd(OH)2/C]: concise synthesis of a precursor for a myo-inositol pyrophosphate

The cleavage of propargyl, allyl, benzyl, and PMB ethers by Pd(OH)₂/C can be tuned in that order, by varying the reaction conditions. Other moieties such as C-C double bonds, esters, trityl ether, p-bromo and p-nitrobenzyl ethers are stable to these reaction conditions. Cleavage of allyl ethers can be made catalytic by using 1:1 mixture of Pd(OH)₂/C and Pd/C. The synthetic potential of the selective ether cleaving ability of Pd(OH)₂/C, essentially under neutral conditions, has been demonstrated by an efficient synthesis of a precursor for the preparation of an inositol pyrophosphate derivative.     

Rearrangements of organometallic compounds : X. The mechanism of 1,2-aryl migration in the Wittig rearrangement of α-metallated benzyl aryl ethers

The mechanism of 1,2-aryl shifts in the Wittig rearrangement of α-metallated benzyl aryl ethers has been investigated by a detailed examination of the behavior of the following ethers: benzyl phenyl ether, benzyl para-tert-butyl- and meta-tert-butyl-phenyl ethers, benzyl 2-bromo-4-tert-butylphenyl ether and dibenzo[b,d] pyran. The failure to trap any aldehyde intermediate, the ease of rearrangement for the pyran, the lack of evidence for an aryne intermediate with the benzyl butyl ethers and other circumstantial evidence have led to the proposal of an intramolecular pathway in which radical pairs are generated and then collapse to the isomeric carbinolate.     

Metalloporphyrin Cr(TPP)Cl-catalyzed Claisen rearrangement of simple aliphatic allyl vinyl ethers and its unique stereoselectivity

The catalytic Z-selective Claisen rearrangement of simple aliphatic allyl vinyl ethers can be achieved using a chromium(III) porphyrin complex, Cr(TPP)Cl, as a catalyst: Cr(TPP)Cl significantly enhances reversal of E-Z selectivity in the thermal Claisen rearrangement of allyl vinyl ethers, especially, 4,5- and 4,6-disubstituted derivatives, at low catalyst loading.     

N-Iodosuccinimide (NIS) as a mild and highly chemoselective catalyst for deprotection of tert-butyldimethylsilyl ethers

A variety of alcoholic TBDMS (t-butyldimethylsilyl) ethers are easily removed in excellent yields by treatment with a catalytic amount of N-iodosuccinimide (NIS, 5 mol %) in methanol. This method is able to deprotect TBDMS ethers of alcohols in the presence of TBDMS ethers of phenols.     

13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of ethers and glycols

The ¹³C NMR spectra of 21 linear and branched ethers together with the corresponding alcohols have been determined in an attempt to correlate the shieldings in both series. It has been found that the shielding of a carbon in an acyclic ether can be given by the summation of additive shift parameters for substituents and correction parameters for the substitution patterns based on the shielding of the parent alcohol. On examination of solvent-induced shifts for α- and β-carbons in ethers and alcohols, significant ones have been noted in carbon tetrachloride→dimethylsulfoxide and carbon tetrachloride→trifluoroacetic acid. No appreciable concentration-dependent shifts of the shieldings have been observed in both ethers and alcohols. For the shieldings of α-carbons in acyclic glycols, it has been noticed that the observed and predicted values are in accord in 1,3-, 1,4- and 1,5-glycols but deviate in 1,2-glycols. The latter has been examined in a polycyclic system, where the deviations ( > 3·5ppm) in a cis (gauche) 1,2-glycol are larger than those (<2·5 ppm) in a trans (anti-parallel) 1,2-glycol.     

An efficient and chemoselective deprotection of tert-butyldimethylsilyl (TBDMS) ethers using tailor-made ionic liquid

Phenolic tert-butyldimethylsilyl (TBDMS) ethers can be deprotected to yield phenols in excellent yield using tailor-made ionic liquid [dihexaEGim][OMs] (dihexaEGim = dihexaethylene glycolic imidazolium salt) as an organic catalyst with alkali-metal fluoride in tert-amyl alcohol. On the contrary, all TBDMS protecting groups can be cleaved cleanly from the bis-TBDMS ether using the same reaction in CH₃CN solvent instead of tert-alcohol at 100 °C. This [dihexaEGim][OMs]/tert-amyl alcohol media system allows the highly selective phenolic deprotection reaction of various bis-TBDMS ethers containing both phenolic and aliphatic TBDMS ethers to provide the corresponding phenols in high yield.     

Discovery of Novel Cyclic Ethers with Synergistic Antiplasmodial Activity in Combination with Valinomycin

With drug resistance threatening our first line antimalarial treatments, novel chemotherapeutics need to be developed. Ionophores have garnered interest as novel antimalarials due to their theorized ability to target unique systems found in the Plasmodium-infected erythrocyte. In this study, during the bioassay-guided fractionation of the crude extract of Streptomyces strain PR3, a group of cyclodepsipeptides, including valinomycin, and a novel class of cyclic ethers were identified and elucidated. Further study revealed that the ethers were cyclic polypropylene glycol (cPPG) oligomers that had leached into the bacterial culture from an extraction resin. Molecular dynamics analysis suggests that these ethers are able to bind cations such as K⁺, NH₄⁺ and Na⁺. Combination studies using the fixed ratio isobologram method revealed that the cPPGs synergistically improved the antiplasmodial activity of valinomycin and reduced its cytotoxicity in vitro. The IC₅₀ of valinomycin against P. falciparum NF54 improved by 4–5-fold when valinomycin was combined with the cPPGs. Precisely, it was improved from 3.75 ± 0.77 ng/mL to 0.90 ± 0.2 ng/mL and 0.75 ± 0.08 ng/mL when dosed in the fixed ratios of 3:2 and 2:3 of valinomycin to cPPGs, respectively. Each fixed ratio combination displayed cytotoxicity (IC₅₀) against the Chinese Hamster Ovary cell line of 57–65 µg/mL, which was lower than that of valinomycin (12.4 µg/mL). These results indicate that combinations with these novel ethers may be useful in repurposing valinomycin into a suitable and effective antimalarial.     

Chromium mediated stereoselective synthesis of (Z)-1-fluoro-2-alkenyl alkyl and trialkylsilyl ethers from dibromofluoromethylcarbinyl ethers

Reactions of 2,2-dibromo-2-fluoroethyl alkyl ethers and dibromofluoromethylcarbinyl silyl ethers with CrCl₂ and Mn powder provided 2-fluorovinyl alkyl ethers and 1-fluoro-2-alkenyl enol silyl ethers in high yields and in Z selective manner.