ABSTRACT
A common practical problem in synthetic organic chemistry is to attain proper phase contact between nonpolar organic compounds and inorganic salts. There are many examples of important reactions where this is a potential problem: alkaline hydrolysis of esters, oxidative cleavage of olefins with permanganate-periodate, addition of hydrogen sulfite to aldehydes and to terminal olefins, and preparation of alkyl sulfonates by treatment of alkyl chloride by sulfite or by addition of hydrogen sulfite to α-olefin oxides. The list can be extended further. In all examples given, there is a compatibility problem to be solved if the organic component is a large nonpolar molecule.
