Abstract
Reactant incompatibility is often a problem in organic synthesis. Here, we report an investigation of a nucleophilic substitution reaction, involving incompatible substrate and nucleophile, performed in three different self‐assembly systems, two liquid crystalline phases and one microemulsion, and also in slurries of finely divided mesoporous silica with either hexagonal or cubic symmetry. The reactants used were 4‐tert‐butylbenzyl bromide and potassium iodide. The reaction turned out to be extremely fast in the two liquid crystalline phases, intermediate in the mesoporous materials and somewhat slower—although still fast compared to the two‐phase system—in the microemulsion. The very high reactivity in the liquid crystalline phases is believed to be associated with the very high interfacial area of these systems. This work shows that surfactant liquid crystals can be used as minireactors for organic reactions. Removal of the surfactant after completed reaction is a practical problem, however, that needs to be taken into account.
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