| Summary: | M.Sc. (Chemistry) === The work in this thesis describes some catalytic reactions of aluminium triflate. This Lewis acid has been shown to be of great value in the catalysis of several types of organic transformations. These include but are not limited to the alcoholysis and aminolysis of epoxides, uses in methoxycarbonylation catalysis and in esterification reactions. Therefore, aluminium triflate holds promise for application in both the bulk and fine chemistry industries. Aluminium triflate has received little interest compared to some other, more costly triflates such the lanthanide triflates. Oxetanes were used in various catalysis experiments during this study, yet few are commercially available. Therefore, various synthetic approaches to the synthesis of 2-phenyl-oxetane were explored. There were many failed attempts, but the preparation was eventually successful using a sulfur ylide route with good yield. The next part of this thesis explores the boundaries of ring-opening reactions of oxetanes. Lewis acid ring-opening of oxetanes has been neglected compared to that of epoxides, likely because it is a more difficult undertaking. Yet, alcoholysis reactions showed good yields with a variety of different alcohol substrates. Some of the alcohols contained functionality which could provide access to further modification. Furthermore, the aminolysis and thiolysis of oxetanes were explored, essentially without success. However, with an activated oxetane it was shown that oxetanes could be opened with good yield under mild conditions with amines and thiols...
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