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"Click" and Olefin Metathesis Chemistry in Water at Room Temperature Enabled by Biodegradable Micelles
Bruce H Lipshutz1, Zarko Bošković, Christopher S Crowe
1Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, 93106, United States.
Abstract:
The two laboratory reactions focus on teaching several concepts associated with green chemistry. Each uses a commercial, nontoxic, and biodegradable surfactant, TPGS-750-M, to promote organic reactions within the lipophilic cores of nanoscale micelles in water. These experiments are based on work by K. Barry Sharpless (an azide-alkyne "click" reaction) and Robert Grubbs (an olefin cross-metathesis reaction); both are suitable for an undergraduate organic laboratory. The copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne [3+2] cycloaddition of benzyl azide and 4-tolylacetylene is very rapid: the triazole product is readily isolated by filtration and is characterized by thin-layer chromatography and melting point analysis. The ruthenium-catalyzed olefin cross-metathesis reaction of benzyl acrylate with 1-hexene is readily monitored by thin-layer chromatography and gas chromatography. The metathesis experiment comparatively evaluates the efficacy of a TPGS-750-M/water medium relative to a traditional reaction performed in dichloromethane (a common solvent used for olefin metathesis).
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