Acetone, bromo fluoro

A suspension of 17a,21-dihydroxypregna-4,9(ll)-diene-3,20-dione 21-acetate (0.77 g) and iV-bromoacetamide (0.3 g) in anhydrous methylene dichloride (40 ml) is added over 2-3 min with stirring to a mixture of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride (10.19 g), and anhydrous tetrahydrofuran (18 g) in a polyethylene bottle at —80° (acetone-dry ice). After 1 hr at —80° the reaction mixture is kept for a further 1 hr at 0° and then added cautiously to an excess of an ice-cold solution of sodium carbonate. Extraction with methylene dichloride and crystallization from acetone-hexane furnish 9a-bromo-ll -fluoro-17a,21-dihydroxypregn-4-ene-3,20-dione 21-acetate (0.69 g), mp 205-208°, raised by several crystallizations from acetone-hexane to 215-217° [aju 142° (CHCI3) max 240-242 mju (e 15,500). 

To a solution of 6.78 g of 6a-fluoro-9a-bromo-11 (3,17a,21-trihydroxy-16a-methyl-1,4-preg-nadiene-3,20-dione-21 -acetate in 175 ml of acetone was added 6.78 g of potassium acetate and the resulting suspension was heated under reflux for a period of 17 hours. The mixture was then concentrated to approximately 60 ml volume at reduced pressure on the steam bath, diluted with water and extracted with methylene chloride. The methylene chloride extracts were combined, washed with water, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and evaporated. 

Alkyl- and aryl-hydrazones of aldehydes and ketones readily peroxidise in solution and rearrange to azo hydroperoxides [1], some of which are explosively unstable [2], Dry samples of the p-bromo- and p-fluoro-hydroperoxybenzylazobenzenes, prepared by oxygenation of benzene solutions of the phenylhydrazones, exploded while on filter paper in the dark, initiated by vibration of the table or tapping the paper. Samples were later stored moist with benzene at —60°C to prevent explosion [3], A series of a-phenylazo hydroperoxides derived from the phenyl-or p-bromophcnyl-hydrazones of acetone, acetophenone or cyclohexanone, and useful for epoxidation of alkenes, are all explosive [4], The stability of several substituted phenylazo hydroperoxides was found to be strongly controlled by novel substituent effects [5],... 

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