Adduct purification

Last updated

Adduct purification is a technique for preparing extremely pure simple organometallic compounds, which are generally unstable and hard to handle, by purifying a stable adduct with a Lewis acid and then obtaining the desired product from the pure adduct by thermal decomposition.

Epichem Limited is the licensee of the major patents in this field, and uses the trademark EpiPure to refer to adduct-purified materials; Professor Anthony Jones at Liverpool University is the initiator of the field and author of many of the important papers.

The choice of Lewis acid and of reaction medium is important; the desired organometallics are almost always air- and water-sensitive. Initial work was done in ether, but this led to oxygen impurities, and so more recent work involves tertiary amines or nitrogen-substituted crown ethers.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amide</span> Organic compounds of the form RC(=O)NR′R″

In organic chemistry, an amide, also known as an organic amide or a carboxamide, is a compound with the general formula R−C(=O)−NR′R″, where R, R', and R″ represent any group, typically organyl groups or hydrogen atoms. The amide group is called a peptide bond when it is part of the main chain of a protein, and an isopeptide bond when it occurs in a side chain, such as in the amino acids asparagine and glutamine. It can be viewed as a derivative of a carboxylic acid with the hydroxyl group replaced by an amine group ; or, equivalently, an acyl (alkanoyl) group joined to an amine group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis acids and bases</span> Chemical bond theory

A Lewis acid (named for the American physical chemist Gilbert N. Lewis) is a chemical species that contains an empty orbital which is capable of accepting an electron pair from a Lewis base to form a Lewis adduct. A Lewis base, then, is any species that has a filled orbital containing an electron pair which is not involved in bonding but may form a dative bond with a Lewis acid to form a Lewis adduct. For example, NH3 is a Lewis base, because it can donate its lone pair of electrons. Trimethylborane (Me3B) is a Lewis acid as it is capable of accepting a lone pair. In a Lewis adduct, the Lewis acid and base share an electron pair furnished by the Lewis base, forming a dative bond. In the context of a specific chemical reaction between NH3 and Me3B, a lone pair from NH3 will form a dative bond with the empty orbital of Me3B to form an adduct NH3•BMe3. The terminology refers to the contributions of Gilbert N. Lewis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alkylation</span> Transfer of an alkyl group from one molecule to another

Alkylation is a chemical reaction that entails transfer of an alkyl group. The alkyl group may be transferred as an alkyl carbocation, a free radical, a carbanion, or a carbene. Alkylating agents are reagents for effecting alkylation. Alkyl groups can also be removed in a process known as dealkylation. Alkylating agents are often classified according to their nucleophilic or electrophilic character. In oil refining contexts, alkylation refers to a particular alkylation of isobutane with olefins. For upgrading of petroleum, alkylation produces a premium blending stock for gasoline. In medicine, alkylation of DNA is used in chemotherapy to damage the DNA of cancer cells. Alkylation is accomplished with the class of drugs called alkylating antineoplastic agents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trimethylaluminium</span> Chemical compound

Trimethylaluminium is one of the simplest examples of an organoaluminium compound. Despite its name it has the formula Al2(CH3)6 (abbreviated as Al2Me6 or TMA), as it exists as a dimer. This colorless liquid is pyrophoric. It is an industrially important compound, closely related to triethylaluminium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triphenylphosphine</span> Chemical compound

Triphenylphosphine (IUPAC name: triphenylphosphane) is a common organophosphorus compound with the formula P(C6H5)3 and often abbreviated to PPh3 or Ph3P. It is widely used in the synthesis of organic and organometallic compounds. PPh3 exists as relatively air stable, colorless crystals at room temperature. It dissolves in non-polar organic solvents such as benzene and diethyl ether.

Triethylamine is the chemical compound with the formula N(CH2CH3)3, commonly abbreviated Et3N. It is also abbreviated TEA, yet this abbreviation must be used carefully to avoid confusion with triethanolamine or tetraethylammonium, for which TEA is also a common abbreviation. It is a colourless volatile liquid with a strong fishy odor reminiscent of ammonia. Like diisopropylethylamine (Hünig's base), triethylamine is commonly employed in organic synthesis, usually as a base.

<i>n</i>-Butyllithium Chemical compound

n-Butyllithium C4H9Li (abbreviated n-BuLi) is an organolithium reagent. It is widely used as a polymerization initiator in the production of elastomers such as polybutadiene or styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS). Also, it is broadly employed as a strong base (superbase) in the synthesis of organic compounds as in the pharmaceutical industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tantalum(V) chloride</span> Chemical compound

Tantalum(V) chloride, also known as tantalum pentachloride, is an inorganic compound with the formula TaCl5. It takes the form of a white powder and is commonly used as a starting material in tantalum chemistry. It readily hydrolyzes to form tantalum(V) oxychloride (TaOCl3) and eventually tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5); this requires that it be synthesised and manipulated under anhydrous conditions, using air-free techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol</span> Chemical compound

2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol is the organic compound with the formula CF3CH2OH. Also known as TFE or trifluoroethyl alcohol, this colourless, water-miscible liquid has a smell reminiscent of ethanol. Due to the electronegativity of the trifluoromethyl group, this alcohol exhibits a stronger acidic character compared to ethanol.

In chemistry a donor number (DN) is a quantitative measure of Lewis basicity. A donor number is defined as the negative enthalpy value for the 1:1 adduct formation between a Lewis base and the standard Lewis acid SbCl5 (antimony pentachloride), in dilute solution in the noncoordinating solvent 1,2-dichloroethane with a zero DN. The units are kilocalories per mole for historical reasons. The donor number is a measure of the ability of a solvent to solvate cations and Lewis acids. The method was developed by V. Gutmann in 1976. Likewise Lewis acids are characterized by acceptor numbers (AN, see Gutmann–Beckett method).

Boron trichloride is the inorganic compound with the formula BCl3. This colorless gas is a reagent in organic synthesis. It is highly reactive toward water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antimony pentachloride</span> Chemical compound

Antimony pentachloride is a chemical compound with the formula SbCl5. It is a colourless oil, but typical samples are yellowish due to dissolved chlorine. Owing to its tendency to hydrolyse to hydrochloric acid, SbCl5 is a highly corrosive substance and must be stored in glass or PTFE containers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oseltamivir total synthesis</span>

Oseltamivir total synthesis concerns the total synthesis of the antiinfluenza drug oseltamivir marketed by Hoffmann-La Roche under the trade name Tamiflu. Its commercial production starts from the biomolecule shikimic acid harvested from Chinese star anise and from recombinant E. coli. Control of stereochemistry is important: the molecule has three stereocenters and the sought-after isomer is only 1 of 8 stereoisomers.

Acid–base extraction is a subclass of liquid–liquid extractions and involves the separation of chemical species from other acidic or basic compounds. It is typically performed during the work-up step following a chemical synthesis to purify crude compounds and results in the product being largely free of acidic or basic impurities. A separatory funnel is commonly used to perform an acid-base extraction.

In chemistry, work-up refers to the series of manipulations required to isolate and purify the product(s) of a chemical reaction. The term is used colloquially to refer to these manipulations, which may include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Methylrhenium trioxide</span> Chemical compound

Methylrhenium trioxide, also known as methyltrioxorhenium(VII), is an organometallic compound with the formula CH3ReO3. It is a volatile, colourless solid that has been used as a catalyst in some laboratory experiments. In this compound, rhenium has a tetrahedral coordination geometry with one methyl and three oxo ligands. The oxidation state of rhenium is +7.

Heteroatom-promoted lateral lithiation is the site-selective replacement of a benzylic hydrogen atom for lithium for the purpose of further functionalization. Heteroatom-containing substituents may direct metalation to the benzylic site closest to the heteroatom or increase the acidity of the ring carbons via an inductive effect.

In organic chemistry, the Baylis–Hillman, Morita–Baylis–Hillman, or MBH reaction is a carbon-carbon bond-forming reaction between an activated alkene and a carbon electrophile in the presence of a nucleophilic catalyst, such as a tertiary amine or phosphine. The product is densely functionalized, joining the alkene at the α-position to a reduced form of the electrophile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dimethylcadmium</span> Chemical compound

Dimethylcadmium is the organocadmium compound with the formula Cd(CH3)2. It is a colorless, highly toxic liquid that fumes in air. It is a linear molecule with C-Cd bond lengths of 213 pm. The compound finds limited use as a reagent in organic synthesis and in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). It has also been used in the synthesis of cadmium selenide nanoparticles, although efforts have been made to replace it in this capacity due to its toxicity.

1,1'-Dilithioferrocene is the organoiron compound with the formula Fe(C5H4Li)2. It is exclusively generated and isolated as a solvate, using either ether or tertiary amine ligands bound to the lithium centers. Regardless of the solvate, dilithioferrocene is used commonly to prepare derivatives of ferrocene.

References