Evaluation of cyclopentyl methyl ether (CPME) as a solvent for radical reactions

We have explored the potential of cyclopentyl methyl ether (CPME) as a solvent for radical reactions. Hydrostannation, hydrosilylation, hydrothiolation, and tributyltin hydride mediated reductions were successfully carried out in CPME. GC-MS analysis indicated that CPME degraded into methyl pentanoate, cyclopentanone, 2-cyclopenten-1-ol, and cyclopentanol under thermal radical conditions, albeit only slightly. We also achieved radical-containing one-pot reactions in CPME as a demonstration of its applicability to multi-step reactions.