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+ Catalysis
+ Catalyst
+ Chemistry
+ Palladium catalysis
+ Heterogeneous catalysis
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Michael Lodman

Can the addition of alcohol to an alkene to form ether be...

Damien Leimbach  Follow

An interaction of Lewis acid and alcohol should release a proton which would further the reaction with alkene in the usual manner.

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Donald Emily  Follow

Hi Candy,
Since, you mentioned that you managed to get the ether product using the said catalyst, what I can suggest is that there are two sites in this catalyst. One site is Bronsted acid site and other is Lewis acid site. It is difficult to say which site is actively or completely involved in the mechanism. You can have a look on attached references. They might give you some hint.
Thanks

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Alfred Dumasi  Follow

The addition of alcohol to an alkene to form ether be catalysed by an Lewis acid catalyst .It is possible because alcohol in presence of Lewis acid releases proton which protonates an alkene to form carbocation which gets attacked by alcohol to form oxonium iob which releases proton to form an ether.

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Castle Richard  Follow

With alcohol being nearly neutral pH, and the alkene being potentially unstable  almost any metal, acid, or base can catalyze the addition at some temperature, conversion, and purity level.
 The case of isobutylene is particularly interesting yielding either t- butyl or iso-butyl ether depending on the choice of catalyst and operating conditions.
In your question it would be helpful to determine which isomer of your ether you are getting or ratio of isomers, as a clue to the mechanism.

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