The Uses of Potassium Tert-butoxide

Potassium tert-butoxide is the chemical compound with the formula K⁺(CH₃)₃CO⁻. It is a strong base just like all alkoxides, which is useful in organic synthesis. It exists as a tetrameric cubane-type cluster. It hydrolyzes in water, but has excellent solubility in organic solvents, like tert-butanol.

Uses

Some reasons for the popularity of tert-butoxide as a base catalyst are:

• It is free from solvation.

• This compound is stable for storage.

• The structural deficiency of its hyodrogen atoms for self-deprotonation.

• Its relatively lesser tendency of undergoing SN2 reactions to develop into tert-butyl ethers.

Potassium tert-butoxide is useful in organic synthesis. The tert-butoxiide group of compounds is found useful as a powerful, non-nucleophilic base. It is not as powerful as amide bases like lithium diisopropylamide, but stronger than potassium hydroxide. The steric bulk of the group resists it from taking part in nucleophilic addition, such as in a Williamson ether synthesis or an SN2 reaction.

What's further, the reaction of an alkylhalide with a strong base can be deployed for the manufacture of an alkene, provided that a mixture of isomers is not generated in the process. Potassium tert-butoxide is particularly suitable with a smaller amount of hindered substrates to avoid competing substitution.