HOTf-Catalyzed, Solvent-Free Oxyarylation of Ynol Ethers and Thioethers

Overview
Ethers can be prepared from organic compounds by various methods. Some of them are discussed below,
Preparation of Ethers by Alcohol Dehydration
In this method, in the presence of protic acids, alcohol dehydrates to produce alkenes and ethers under different conditions. For example, in the presence of sulphuric acid, dehydration of ethanol at 413 K yields ethoxyethane, whereas it yields ethene at 443 K.

Introduction
One of the convenient methods for the preparation of aldehydes and ketones is via hydration of alkynes. Hydroboration-oxidation of alkynes is an indirect hydration reaction in which an alkyne is treated with borane followed by oxidation with alkaline peroxide to form an enol that rapidly converts into an aldehyde or a ketone. Terminal alkynes form aldehydes, whereas internal alkynes give ketones as the final product.

Alkenes are converted to 1,2-diols or glycols through a process called dihydroxylation. It involves the addition of two hydroxyl groups across the double bond with two different stereochemical approaches, namely anti and syn. Dihydroxylation using osmium tetroxide progresses with syn stereochemistry.

In addition to the oxymercuration–demercuration method, which converts the alkenes to alcohols with Markovnikov orientation, a complementary hydroboration-oxidation method yields the anti-Markovnikov product. The hydroboration reaction, discovered in 1959 by H.C. Brown, involves the addition of a B–H bond of borane to an alkene giving an organoborane intermediate. The oxidation of this intermediate with basic hydrogen peroxide forms an alcohol.

Diols are compounds with two hydroxyl groups. In addition to syn dihydroxylation, diols can also be synthesized through the process of anti dihydroxylation. The process involves treating an alkene with a peroxycarboxylic acid to form an epoxide. Epoxides are highly strained three-membered rings with oxygen and two carbons occupying the corners of an equilateral triangle. This step is followed by ring-opening of the epoxide in the presence of an aqueous acid to give a trans diol.

Overview
Epoxides result from alkene oxidation, which can be achieved by a) air, b) peroxy acids, c) hypochlorous acids, and d) halohydrin cyclization.
Epoxidation with Peroxy Acids
Epoxidation of alkenes via oxidation with peroxy acids involves the conversion of a carbon–carbon double bond to an epoxide using the oxidizing agent meta-chloroperoxybenzoic acid, commonly known as MCPBA. Since the O–O bond of peroxy acids is very weak, the addition of electrophilic oxygen of peroxy acids to...