Long-chain alkylbenzenes are industrially synthesized precursors to commercial surfactants such as laundry detergent. The process of benzene alkylation currently utilizes homogeneous acidic catalysts (HF, AlCl3, etc.), which cause a multitude of problems such as production of toxic waste, hazards to workers, and corrosion of expensive industrial equipment. These problems can be avoided by the use of heterogeneous highly acidic catalysts. Solid catalysts do not corrode equipment and are relatively simple to remove from the post-reaction mixture. Phosphotungstic acid (PTA) supported on silica gel could be a possible catalyst due to its high acidity with an estimated pKa ≈ -13. However, it is soluble in many solvents and can be leached from silica gel during the process. The objective of this research is to obtain a superacidic stable heterogeneous catalyst containing covalently immobilized PTA, and evaluate its activity and stability in the alkylation of benzene by long-chain alkenes. The catalyst PTA/SiO2 was prepared via the sol-gel method by co-condensation of PTA with tetraethoxysilane in acidic media. Surfactant Pluronic P123 was used as a template to form porous structure. Then the catalyst was granulated to prevent caking of the powder during reaction. For granulation, the powder PTA/SiO2 was mixed with aluminum oxide (an inert adhesive agent) and pressured at 7 t to make tablets. The tablets were converted to granules of 1-2 mm diameter and calcined at 400 °C to remove moisture. FT-IR spectra confirmed the presence of PTA in the obtained material. Analysis by atomic absorption spectroscopy showed PTA contents of 0.027 mmol/g. The catalyst was mesoporous with BET surface area of 168 m2/g and mean particle size of 856 nm. The reaction of alkylation of benzene by octene-1 and decene-1 was carried out in a fixed bed flow reactor at 200-250 °C where mixtures of benzene and an alkene flowed through the catalyst with constant rate. Products were collected and analyzed on a GC chromatograph. The catalyst demonstrated good catalytic activity at temperatures above 200 °C. In all experiments mixtures of isomeric alkylbenzenes were obtained with 2-phenylalkanes as main products. Decreasing of flow rate and ratio alkene:benzene favored conversion of alkenes. Characterization of the catalyst after the reaction showed little changes in porosity and particle size. No leaching of PTA was observed. However, carbon deposits were found on the catalyst that requires regeneration before next use in catalysis.

Azetidine is a four-membered nitrogen-containing heterocyclic ring that has recently received a great deal of attention as a molecular scaffold for the design and preparation of biologically active compounds. Structure-activity studies employing functionalized azetidines have led to the development of variety of drug molecules and clinical candidates encompassing a broad spectrum of biological activities. Herein, the synthesis a novel series of 3-aryl-3-arylmethoxyazetidines is described. Selected 3-aryl-3-arylmethoxyazetidines were evaluated for their binding affinity to multiple monoaminergic transporters for the potential treatment of methamphetamine addiction. It was discovered that this scaffold exhibits high binding affinity (nM) for both the serotonin and dopamine transporters. In addition, a new method was developed for the synthesis of 3,3-diarylazetidines. This new approach provides a facile and efficient method to synthesize a variety of diaryl heterocycles including 3,3-diarylazetidines, 3,3-diarylpyrrolidines, and 4,4-diarylpiperidines in moderate to good yields.

Les réactions permettant la création de liaisons carbone-carbone sont des outils essentiels dans le domaine de la synthèse organique. Elles permettent d'accéder à des structures de plus en plus complexes. Cependant le contrôle de ces réactions en utilisant des partenaires hautement fonctionnalisés reste un enjeu majeur.Le développement de nouvelles méthodologies de synthèse basées sur la réactivité des acrylamides chiraux dérivés d'acides aminés est étudié dans ces travaux. Une nouvelle version de la réaction d'alkylation de pyrroles de type Friedel-Crafts a été développée en utilisant le caractère électrophile d'acrylamides chiraux hautement fonctionnalisés. Le pyrrole peut être monoalkylé ou dialkylé de façon sélective conduisant à de nouvelles structures hétérocycliques portant des enchaînements peptidiques pouvant contenir jusqu'à quatre résidus d'acides aminés. Les acrylamides chiraux portant un motif allyltriméthylsilane conjugué ont été utilisés comme nouveaux réactifs permettant des réactions d'allylation hautement diastéréosélectives et chimiospécifiques vis-à-vis d'aldéhydes. L'extension de cette méthodologie aux aldéhydes α- aminés a été réalisée et permet un accès aisé à des structures analogues des acides γ-aminés. / Reactions allowing carbon-carbon bond creation are essential tools in the field of organic synthesis. These reactions are used to access to more and more complex structures. However their control in the case of highly functionnalized partners is still a serious concern.Development of new methodologies based on the reactivity of aminoacid derivating chiral acrylamides is reported. A new version of pyrrole alkylation reaction was developed using the electrophilic behaviour of highly functionnalized chiral acrylamides. Pyrrole can be selectivly monoalkylated or dialkylated leading to new heterocyclic structures bearing peptidic sequences containing up to four aminoacids residues. Chiral acrylamides bearing a conjuguated allyltrimethylsilane moiety have been used as new reagent in highly diastereoselective and chemospecific towards aldehydes allylation reactions. This methodology was extended to α-aminoaldehydes allowing easy access to γ-aminoacidsanalogues.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The catalytic support materials used in the present study are zeolite HBEA and MCM-41. These high silica zeolites were synthesised from coal fly ash (CFA) waste via a novel approach that involved a fusion step, acid assisted silica extraction and removal of Al, Ca and Na from the silica by treatment with oxalic acid. The generated silica was converted to HBEA and MCM-41 via conventional hydrothermal treatment. The metal incorporation onto HBEA was done via two approaches namely; liquid phase ion exchange (LIE) and wet impregnation (WI) while the loading on MCM-41 was only done via WI since the material does not possess exchange sites. The metal solution precursors were AMD and Fe extracted from CFA (FeAsh) via acid leaching followed by pH regulation by concentrated NaOH. This is the first time these solutions were tested as possible metal precursors in catalyst synthesis. / 2021-08-30

Chapter one; “(-)-Rhazinilam and (-)-Rhazinal: Alkaloids with Anti-mitotic Properties Derived from Kopsia teoi”, provides the background information behind the motives that initiated this research project. The plant alkaloid (-)-rhazinilam [(-)-1] and its naturally-occurring derivative (-)-rhazinal [(-)-13] both exhibit potent anti-mitotic activities and, as such, are interesting targets for total synthesis. Chapter one is a review of the literature regarding these two compounds and discusses the occurrence, proposed biosynthetic origins, structural elucidation and biological activites of compound (-)-1 and that of its analogues including alkaloid (-)-13. Previous total syntheses of these two compounds are then examined, concluding with the only reported total synthesis of compound (-)-13. Developed within the Banwell research group, this total synthesis produced the racemic modification of alkaloid (-)-13 due to a lack of any stereocontrol in the key intramolecular Michael addition step. This unprecedented key step, involving cyclisation of the C2 of pyrrole onto an N-tethered and ?,?-disubstituted acrylate to produce a quaternary-carbon stereogenic centre, would be of greatly enhanced utility if it could be achieved in a catalytic-enantioselective fashion. The realisation of this goal is the central aim of the research conducted within this thesis. ¶ Chapter two; “Investigating Asymmetric Induction in the Intramolecular Michael Addition of pyrrole to N-Tethered Acrylates and Related Species”, introduces the model study used to direct research towards achieving the goal of asymmetric induction in the title process. The model is a somewhat simplified version of the original process used in the total synthesis of compound (-)-13 involving cyclisation of the C2 of pyrrole onto an N-tethered and ?-monosubstituted Michael acceptor, to produce a tertiary-carbon stereogenic centre. This simplification allows the rapid synthesis of a broad range of potential substrates for use in the title process, thus enabling the investigation of various different approaches to inducing asymmetry therein. High levels of asymmetric induction are observed with the use of chiral substrates or catalysts, facilitating the synthesis of both 6- and 7-membered rings annulated to pyrrole with construction of the relevant tertiary-carbon stereogenic centre in enantio-enriched form. For the reactions producing a 6-membered ring annulated to pyrrole, unambiguous proof of the absolute sense of asymmetric induction observed in the intramolecular Michael addition event is established using a chemical correlation study involving elaboration of a key indolizine-type cyclisation product, to the plant alkaloid of known absolute stereochemistry, (-)-tashiromine [(-)-75]. For the reaction producing a 7-membered ring annulated to pyrrole, the same information is obtained via X-ray crystallographic analyses of a dibrominated derivative of a key pyrroloazepine-type cyclisation product. ¶ Chapter three “An Enantioselective Total Synthesis of the Alkaloid (-)-Rhazinal: An Anti-mitotic Agent Isolated from Kopsia teoi.”, focuses on the application of methodology developed in the previous chapter, to the original goal of inducing asymmetry in the intramolecular Michael addition reaction, involving cyclisation of the C2 of pyrrole onto an N-tethered and ?,?-disubstituted acrylate to produce a quaternary-carbon stereogenic centre. This is ultimately achieved in a catalytic-enantioselective fashion, resulting in the first such total synthesis of the anti-mitotic alkaloid (-)-rhazinal [(-)-13]. ¶ Chapter four “Extending the Reaction Manifold to the Syntheses of Related Natural Products: A Formal Total Synthesis of (+)-Aspidospermidine and Syntheses of (-)-Rhazinilam and (-)-Leuconolam from (-)-Rhazinal”, describes three extensions to the reaction manifold used in the enantioselective total synthesis of alkaloid (-)-13: The acquisition in an enantioselective manner, of an intermediate previously obtained in racemic form, en route to the racemic modification of the natural product (±)-aspidospermidine [(±)-134], constitutes a formal and enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-aspidospermidine [(+)-134]. The direct deformylation of (-)-rhazinal [(-)-13], is carried out, to produce the parent alkaloid (-)-rhazinilam [(-)-1]. The pyrrole ring present in (-)-rhazinilam [(-)-1] is oxidised, to produce the related natural product (-)-Leuconolam [(-)-12] which has not, hitherto, been prepared by total synthesis. ¶Chapter five contains the experimental procedures and characterisation data associated with compounds described in chapters two to four.

Doctor Educationis / The research focused on the synthesis, characterisation and activity of zeolite supported metal catalysts for the Friedel-Crafts alkylation of benzene with t-butyl chloride. Alkyl benzenes are traditionally produced via systems that employ the use of Lewis acids or strong mineral acids. There have been widespread concerns over these approaches based on their environmental impacts and separation difficulties. Recent approaches have endeavoured the much to use more environmentally eco-friendly systems and zeolites have proved to be versatile support materials. The use of zeolites has also shown to greatly improve product selectivity as well as easing separation constraints. However the adoption of zeolites on large scale Friedel-Crafts alkylation has been hampered by the high cost of zeolite production from commercial sources. On the other hand fly ash has been found to be a viable starting material for zeolite synthesis. Apart from that South Africa is faced with fly disposal challenges and there is continual accumulation of fly ash at the coal fired power stations, which provide about 77 % of the power produced in the country. In this light the use of fly ash will help to reduce the disposal constraints as well as providing a cheap starting material for zeolite synthesis. In this study the hierarchical Zeolite X has been successfully synthesised from fly ash via a hydrothermal treatment. The zeolite was then loaded with Fe/Mn via two approaches namely liquid phase ion exchange and incipient wetness impregnation. For comparison purposes seasoned commercial support materials namely HBEA and MCM- 41 were also loaded with the same metals and characterised with various techniques namely; HRSEM, EDS, HRTEM, XRD, SAED, ICP-OES and N2 adsorption analysis, It was found from the characterisation undertaken that the integrity of the respective supports was generally retained upon metal loading. Both the ICP-OES and the EDS proved that the desired metals were successfully introduced onto the zeolitic support materials. The calculated percentage metal loading for the catalysts prepared via incipient wetness impregnation was closely related to the actual values obtained from the ICP-OES analysis for both the monometallic and the bimetallic catalysts (Fe/Mn). It was observed that the amount of metal that can be introduced on a zeolite via liquid phase ion exchange is largely dependent on the cation exchange capacity of the zeolite Supported metal catalysts for FC alkylation Page v and of the catalysts prepared using 0.25 M Fe solution it was found that Zeolite X had the highest Fe wt% loading of 11.4 %, with the lowest loading of 2.2 % obtained with the MCM-41 supported catalyst. The XRD patterns for the both HBEA and the MCM-41 supported metal catalysts resembled the patterns of the respective prestine support materials except in the case of catalysts with anFe wt % of more than 10, which exhibited peaks due to the Fe2O3 crystallites. In the case of the hierarchical Zeolite X, the metal loaded support had a significant reduction in the XRD peak intensities. The prepared catalysts were tested for the alkylation of benzene with t-butyl chloride. The benzene was also used as the solvent. The alkylation reaction was carried out in a round bottomed flask under reflux conditions and stirring at a temperature of 45 oC over a period of 5 h. A total of 18 catalysts was tested and the highest percentage conversion of 100 % was obtained with the 10%FeH after a reaction time of 2 h. The general trend obtained with the majority of the catalysts was characterised with a rapid initial increase and then steady state was achieved. Generally after a reaction time of 3 h almost all the catalysts had reached steady state in terms of the percentage conversion obtained. The outcomes reflect that the inclusion of Mn does not enhance the conversion but rather decreases it. It was also found that the Mn was not active in the alkylation of benzene as shown by the inactivity of the 10%MnM, where 10% by weight Mn was loaded on MCM-41. However the other monometallic catalysts containing Mn supported on Zeolite X and HBEA were found to be active. The activity is attributed to the presence of Brønsted acid sites in these zeolites which are not present in MCM-41. The selectivity studies reflect that the inclusion of Mn does slightly improve the selectivity towards the formation of the monoalkylated product (t-butyl benzene). The highest selectivity of 91.1 % was obtained with the 10%FeMnM after a reaction time of 4 h. MCM-41 supported catalysts had a relatively higher selectivity compared to the other supports. Considering the Fe monometallic catalysts tested it generally can be said that the yield were in the order HBEA > MCM-41 > Zeolite X. It however should be noted that the percentage yield is calculated from the conversion and selectivity percentages, this implies that the factors affecting these parameters will consequently affect the percentage yield obtained. Supported metal catalysts for FC alkylation Page vi The alkylation reaction was found to be characterised by the formation of two intermediate products which could not be identified. These products were formed during the transient start up stages of the reaction and would disappear from the reaction mixture with longer reaction times, and after 3 h in almost all the reactions studied the intermediates were not detected in the reaction mixture. The main products found were the monoalkylated product (desired product) and the para isomer (1,4-t-di-butyl benzene). There were no other dialkylated isomers or trialkylated products detected. The formation of the para isomer was usually after a reaction time of 2 h in most reactions. The research managed to show that the hierarchical Zeolites X can be synthesised from fly ash and ion exchange and incipient wetness impregnation are appropriate approaches that can be used to introduce Fe/Mn onto the support materials studied. The catalysts prepared were active to varying degrees in the Friedel-Crafts alkylation of benzene with t-butylchloride, with the exception of the 10%MnM which was found to be inactive.

This study analyzes the reactivity and selectivity of Friedel-Crafts alkylations using benzylic alcohols and phenols in the presence of a Lewis acid, to synthesize methoxylated bisphenols as a benign alternative to BPA. The degree of methoxylation on the electrophile appears to affect the yield of the reaction while the degree of methoxylation on the nucleophile appears to affect the selectivity. A more methoxylated electrophile results in a lower yield whereas a more methoxylated nucleophile results in a change in ratio between the bisphenol isomers and/or causes other isomers to form. Neither the yield nor the selectivity appears to be affected significantly by the temperature.