Synlett 2015; 26(12): 1737-1743
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1380810
letter
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Polyethyleneimine-Supported Triphenylphosphine and Its Use as a Highly Loaded Bifunctional Polymeric Reagent in Chromatography-Free One-Pot Wittig Reactions

Xuanshu Xia
Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, P. R. of China   Email: phtoy@hku.hk
,
Patrick H. Toy*
Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, P. R. of China   Email: phtoy@hku.hk
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Received: 25 March 2015

Accepted after revision: 20 April 2015

Publication Date:
18 June 2015 (online)


Abstract

A polyethyleneimine-supported triphenylphosphine reagent has been synthesized and used as a highly loaded bifunctional homogeneous reagent in a range of one-pot Wittig reactions that afforded high yields of the desired products after simple purification procedures. The approach also served efficiently in tandem reaction sequences involving a one-pot Wittig reaction followed by conjugate reduction of the newly formed alkene product in situ. In these transformations, the phosphine oxide groups generated in the Wittig reaction served as the catalyst for activating trichlorosilane in the subsequent reduction reaction.

Supporting Information

 
  • References and Notes

  • 1 Wittig G, Geissler G. Justus Liebigs Ann. Chem. 1953; 580: 44
  • 3 Constable DJ. C, Dunn PJ, Hayler JD, Humphrey GR, Leazer JL. Jr, Linderman RJ, Lorenz K, Manley J, Pearlman BA, Wells A, Zaks A, Zhang TY. Green Chem. 2007; 9: 411

    • For examples of the use of ion-supported phosphines in Wittig reactions, see:
    • 6a Shimojuh N, Imura Y, Moriyama K, Togo H. Tetrahedron 2011; 67: 951
    • 6b Lebel H, Davi M, Roy M.-N, Zeghida W, Charette AB. Synthesis 2011; 2275
  • 7 For an example of the conversion of Ph3PO waste from Wittig reactions into a filterable salt for easy removal, see: Byrne PA, Rajendran KV, Muldoon J, Gilheany DG. Org. Biomol. Chem. 2012; 10: 3531
  • 8 For a review on organic polymer supports for organic chemistry, see: Lu J, Toy PH. Chem. Rev. 2009; 109: 815
  • 10 Leung PS.-W, Teng Y, Toy PH. Synlett 2010; 1997
  • 13 For the use of the oxides of 1 and 3 as reagent precursors in a wide range of halogenation reactions, see: Xia X, Toy PH. Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014; 10: 1397
  • 14 Various structures have been used to represent 4 in a range of publications. Since we used 4 purchased from the Aldrich Chemical Co., we use the structure shown in its catalogue.
  • 15 Haimov A, Cohen H, Neumann R. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004; 126: 11762
  • 17 Roice M, Christensen SF, Meldal M. Chem. Eur. J. 2004; 10: 4407
  • 18 Ganesan SS, Ganesan A, Kothandapani J. Synlett 2014; 25: 1847
  • 19 See the Supporting Information.
  • 20 General Procedure for One-Pot Wittig Reactions: Polymer 8 (0.2 g, 0.4 mmol phosphine) was dissolved in CHCl3 (1 mL) in a 10-mL round-bottomed flask equipped with a magnetic stirrer and a reflux condenser, and 13 (0.3 mmol) and 16 (0.2 mmol) were added. The mixture was stirred at 65 °C until the reaction was determined to be complete by TLC or 1H NMR analysis. The reaction mixture was then cooled to r.t. and poured into a mixture of Et2O (10 mL) and hexane (30 mL) in a beaker. The flask was rinsed with additional Et2O (10 mL), and the combined organic solution was allowed to stand for 10 min before it was filtered through a short pad of diatomaceous earth, using additional Et2O (2 × 10 mL) for rinsing. The filtrate was concentrated under reduced pressure to afford the desired product in an essentially pure state based on 1H NMR analysis. Ethyl Cinnamate (8Aa): 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 7.79 (d, J = 16.0 Hz, 1 H), 7.53–7.51 (m, 2 H), 7.38–7.37 (m, 3 H), 6.44 (d, = 16.0 Hz, 1 H), 4.26 (q, J = 7.1 Hz, 2 H), 1.34 (t, J = 7.1 Hz, 3 H). 13C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 167.1, 144.7, 134.6, 130.3, 129.0, 128.2, 118.4, 60.6, 14.4. MS: m/z calcd for C11H12O2: 176.1; found: 176.1.
  • 21 Lu J, Toy PH. Chem. Asian J. 2011; 6: 2251
  • 23 For a recent example of another reaction system in which a by-product of one reaction catalyzes a subsequent transformation, see: Zhu F, Xu P.-W, Zhou F, Wang C.-H, Zhou J. Org. Lett. 2015; 17: 972
  • 24 General Procedure for Tandem Wittig/Conjugate Reduction Reactions: The Wittig reaction was conducted as before,[20] but when it was determined to be complete, the mixture was cooled to 0 °C in an ice-water bath, and HSiCl3 (0.4 mmol) was added. The reaction mixture was stirred for 2 h at 0 °C and then warmed to room temperature. When the reaction was determined to be complete by TLC analysis, the excess HSiCl3 and solvent were evaporated under reduced pressure. The resulting mixture was dissolved in CHCl3 (20 mL) and then added to sat. aq Na2CO3 (20 mL). The mixture was stirred for 30 min, then the aqueous phase was separated and washed with CH2Cl2 (3 × 15 mL). The combined organic layer was dried over MgSO4 and concentrated under reduced pressure to afford the desired product in an essentially pure state based on 1H NMR analysis. 1-(4-Bromophenyl)-3-phenylpropan-1-one (21Ad): 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 7.82 (d, J = 8.6 Hz, 2 H), 7.59 (d, J = 8.6 Hz, 2 H), 7.30–7.21 (m, 5 H), 3.26 (t, J = 7.5 Hz, 2 H), 3.06 (t, J = 7.5 Hz, 2 H). 13C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 198.3, 141.1, 135.6, 132.0, 129.6, 128.7, 128.5, 128.3, 126.3, 40.5, 30.1. MS: m/z calcd for C15H13BrO: 288.0; found 288.2.