Phase-vanishing methodology for efficient bromination, alkylation, epoxidation, and oxidation reactions of organic substrates.

[reaction: see text] In cases where both reactants in a phase-vanishing reaction are less dense than the fluorous phase, an alternative to the U-tube method is to employ a solvent with greater density than the fluorous phase, such as 1,2-dibromoethane. This modification has been successfully applied to the methylation of a phenol derivative with dimethyl sulfate and to the m-CPBA-induced epoxidation of alkenes, N-oxide formation from nitrogen-containing compounds, and S-oxide or sulfone formation from organic sulfides.