{ALFA} Phase-transfer catalyst of wide application. Some illustrative examples are given below. See also Appendix 2.

{ALFA} ß-Lactones are formed by the cyclization of ß-bromoacids under phase-transfer conditions: Chem. Pharm. Bull., 29, 1063 (1981).

{ALFA} Effective catalyst for amination reactions of alkyl or activated aryl halides, by increasing the solubility of ammonia in organic media: J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 267 (1987).

{ALFA} An improved procedure for the Curtius rearrangement involves reaction of acid chlorides with azide ion under phase-transfer conditions: Synthesis, 38 (1983).

{ALFA} K salts of ω-bromocarboxylic acids can be cyclized to lactones under effectively "high-dilution" conditions by extracting into toluene in the presence of a small amount of catalyst. The 16-membered ring lactone was formed in 92% yield: J. Org. Chem., 48, 1533 (1983).

{ALD} Beilstein: 4,IV,557

{uni_hamburg} Short: III/31a

{ALFA} Aromatic carboxamides undergo N-alkylation with alkyl halides using KOH under solvent-free conditions: Synth. Commun., 22, 1661 (1992).

{ALFA} Primary alkyl chlorides can be converted to alcohols in excellent yield by phase-transfer reaction with sodium formate and hydrolysis of the resulting formate esters: Synthesis, 763 (1986).

{ALFA} Has been used as an "ionic liquid" in the regioselective O-alkylation of ambident nucleophiles: Tetrahedron Lett., 33, 4435 (1992). A method is described whereby the "solvent" can be recovered quantitatively. A semi-molten mixture with KF or CsF has been found to be an effective system for fluorodehalogenation of, e.g., benzyl bromide: J. Fluorine Chem., 73, 185 (1995).