Synthesis and chemical transformation of fused tetrazoles derived from 2‐bromomethyl‐ and 2‐iodomethyl‐3,5,6,7‐tetrahydro‐4(2H)‐benzofuranones

The 2‐bromomethyl‐3,5,6,7‐tetrahydrobenzofuranones 1a‐d were subjected to triazidochlorosilanesodium azide‐mediated Schmidt rearrangement to afford the corresponding tetrazolofuroazepine derivatives 2a‐d via methylene shift. Under similar reaction conditions, the 2‐iodomethyl‐3,5,6,7‐tetrahydrobenzofuranones 1e‐h afford mixtures of the corresponding tetrazolofuroazepines 2e‐h and the 4‐azido‐2‐iodomethyl‐2,3‐dihydrobenzofuran derivatives 3a‐c . A mechanism is proposed to account for the divergence in the reactivity of these 2‐halogenomethyltetrahydrobenzofuranones (X = Br versus I). In turn, the 2‐halogenomethyltetrazolofuroazepines 2a,b,d‐h and the 4‐azido‐2‐iodomethyl‐2,3‐dihydrobenzofurans 3a,b underwent nucleophilic substitution with triethyl phosphite and dehydrohalogenation using DBU in refluxing toluene to give the corresponding tetrazolofuroazepines 4a‐d and 5a‐c and benzofurans 6a,b .     

Stability and activity of carbon nanofiber-supported catalysts in the aqueous phase reforming of ethylene glycol

Nickel, cobalt, copper and platinum nanoparticles supported on carbon nano-fibers were evaluated with respect to their stability, catalytic activity and selectivity in the aqueous phase reforming of ethylene glycol (230 C, autogenous pressure, batch reactor). The initial surface-specific activities for ethylene glycol reforming were in a similar range but decreased in the order of Pt (15.5 h1 ) >Co(13.0 h1 ) >Ni(5.2 h1 ) while the Cu catalyst only showed low dehydrogenation activity. The hydrogen molar selectivity decreased in the order of Pt (53%)>Co(21%)>Ni (15%) as a result of the production of methane over the latter two catalysts. Over the Co catalyst acids were formed in the liquid phase while alcohols were formed over Ni and Pt. Due to the low pH of the reaction mixture, especially in the case of Co (as a result of the formed acids), significant cobalt leaching occurs which resulted in a rapid deactivation of this catalyst. Investigations of the spent catalysts with various techniques showed that metal particle growth is responsible for the deactivation of the Pt and Ni catalysts. In addition, coking might also contribute to the deactivation of the Ni catalyst.     

Iodo- and bromo-enolcyclization of 2-(2-propenyl)cyclohexanediones and 2-(2-propenyl)cyclohexenone derivatives using iodine in methanol and pyridinium hydrobromide perbromide in dichloromethane

alpha-Allylcyclohexane-1,3-diones undergo one-pot iodine-methanol promoted iodocyclization and oxidative aromatization to afford variously substituted 2-iodomethyltetrahydrobenzofuran-4-ones (minor) and 2-iodomethyl-4-methoxydihydrobenzofuran derivatives (major). On the other hand, the alpha-allyl-1,3-cyclohexanediones react with pyridinium hydrobromide perbromide in dichloromethane to afford mixtures of 2-bromomethyltetrahydrobenzofuran-4-ones (major) and 3-bromomethyltetrahydrobenzopyran-5-ones (minor). The prepared products and their derivatives were characterized using a combination of NMR, FT-IR and mass spectroscopic techniques.