Acridine aromaticity

Acridine is a heterocyclic aromatic compound obtained from coal tar that is used in the syn thesis of dyes The molecular formula of acndine is C13H9N and its ring system is analogous to that of anthracene except that one CH group has been replaced by N The two most stable reso nance structures of acridine are equivalent to each other and both contain a pyndine like struc tural unit Wnte a structural formula for acridine... 

Aromatic macrocycles, flat hydrophobic molecules composed of fused, heterocyclic rings, such as ethidium bromide, acridine orange, and actinomycin D... 

The results are consistent with the rate-determining step being addition of the aryl radical to the aromatic ring, Eq. (9). Support for this mechanism is derived from the results of three other studies (a) When A -nitrosoacetanilide is decomposed in pyridine, the benzene formed by abstraction of hydrogen from pyridine by phenyl radical accounts for only 1 part in 120 of the reaction leading to phenyl-pyridines. (b) 9,9, 10,lCK-Tetrahydro-10,10 -diphenyl-9,9 -bianthryl is formed in the reaction between phenyl radicals and anthracene, probably by the addition mechanism in Eq. (11). Adducts are also formed in the reactions of benzyl radicals with anthracene- and acridine. ... 

Goldschmidt and Beer have examined the products formed during the thermal decomposition of diacyl peroxides of the type [COgMe —(CHziw—CHz—COO] 2, where n = 1 and 3, in the presence of a series of organic compounds including pyridine and acridine. The products and yields of the reaction with some aromatic and heterocyclic compounds are shown in Table VI. As expected, acridine and... 

It is notable that pyridine is activated relative to benzene and quinoline is activated relative to naphthalene, but that the reactivities of anthracene, acridine, and phenazine decrease in that order. A small activation of pyridine and quinoline is reasonable on the basis of quantum-mechanical predictions of atom localization encrgies, " whereas the unexpected decrease in reactivity from anthracene to phenazine can be best interpreted on the basis of a model for the transition state of methylation suggested by Szwarc and Binks." The coulombic repulsion between the ir-electrons of the aromatic nucleus and the p-electron of the radical should be smaller if the radical approaches the aromatic system along the nodal plane rather than perpendicular to it. This approach to a nitrogen center would be very unfavorable, however, since the lone pair of electrons of the nitrogen lies in the nodal plane and since the methyl radical is... 

Besides aromatic hydrocarbons such as pyrene (above), benzanthracene (Becker et al., 1977a), benzoin derivatives (Baumann et al., 1982), aromatic and heteroaromatic ketones (Fomin et al., 1980 Baumann et al., 1985), azo dyes (Timpe et al., 1982), methylene blue (Becker et al., 1986 a Becker and Kohrs, 1990), acridine yellow... 

The aromatic spacer group of the model receptors prevent the formation of intramolecular hydrogen bonds between the opposing carboxyls yet these functions are ideally positioned for intermolecular hydrogen bonds of the sort indicated in 32. The acridine derivatives do indeed form stoichiometric complexes with oxalic, malonic (and C-substituted malonic acids) as well as maleic and phthalic acids, Fumaric, succinic or glutaric acids did not form such complexes. Though protonation appears to be a necessary element in the recognition of these diacids, the receptor has more to... 

In polar solvents, the structure of the acridine 13 involves some zwitterionic character 13 a [Eq. (7)] and the interior of the cleft becomes an intensely polar microenvironment. On the periphery of the molecule a heavy lipophilic coating is provided by the hydrocarbon skeleton and methyl groups. A third domain, the large, flat aromatic surface is exposed by the acridine spacer unit. This unusual combination of ionic, hydrophobic and stacking opportunities endows these molecules with the ability to interact with the zwitterionic forms of amino acids which exist at neutral pH 24). For example, the acridine diacids can extract zwitterionic phenylalanine from water into chloroform, andNMR evidence indicates the formation of 2 1 complexes 39 such as were previously described for other P-phenyl-ethylammonium salts. Similar behavior is seen with tryptophan 40 and tyrosine methyl ether 41. The structures lacking well-placed aromatics such as leucine or methionine are not extracted to measureable degrees under these conditions. 

Acridine dyes such as the antimalarial agent quinacrine (Atabrine) shown next are large planar aromatic compounds that intercalate or sandwich themselves between the stacked bases of the helix. 

Acridine is a three-ring nitrogen heterocycle, classified as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), some of which are proposed to be human carcinogens based on the evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. Acridine is present in crude oil and tar pitch, as well as in emissions resulting from their combustion. 

Several N-methyl-9-acridinecarboxylic acid derivatives (e.g., 10-methyl-9-acridinecarboxylic chloride and esters derived therefrom [39]) are chemiluminescent in alkaline aqueous solutions (but not in aprotic solvents). The emission is similar to that seen in the CL of lucigenin and the ultimate product of the reaction is N-methylacridone, leading to the conclusion that the lowest excited singlet state of N-methylacridone is the emitting species [40], In the case of the N-methyl-9-acridinecarboxylates the critical intermediate is believed to be either a linear peroxide [41, 42] or a dioxetanone [43, 44], Reduced acridines (acridanes) such as N-methyl-9-bis (alkoxy) methylacridan [45] also emit N-methylacridone-like CL when oxidized in alkaline, aqueous solutions. Presumably an early step in the oxidation process aromatizes the acridan ring. 

The oxygen-perturbed singlet-triplet spectra of aromatic carbonyl compounds were investigated by Warwick and Wells (Fig. 23). Transitions to states were enhanced by the perturbing agent while transitions to (n,7t ) states remained unaffected. It should be mentioned, however, that Evans also observed an oxygen-perturbed increase of the intensity of the Tnn So transitions in pyrazine and acridine. 

Products isolated from the thermal fragmentation of A-arylbenzamide oximes and A-arylbenzamide O-phenylsulfonyl oximes have been accounted for by invoking a free-radical mechanism which is initiated by the preferential homolysis of the N-O bond." Time-resolved IR spectroscopy has revealed that photolysis of A, A -diphenyl-l,5-dihydroxy-9,10-anthraquinone diimine affords acridine-condensed aromatic products via excited-state intramolecular proton transfer." The absolute and relative rates of thermal rearrangements of substituted benzyl isocyanides have been measured,and it has been found that the relative rates are independent of temperature and exhibit excellent Hammett correlations. Thionitrosoarene (25), thought to be generated by desulfurization of the stable A-thiosulfinylaniline (24), has been established" " as an intermediate in the formation of 3,3a-dihydro-2,l-benzisothiazole (26) from o-alkylthionitrosoarene (24). 

Pyridine, quinoline and acridine show more positive oxidation potentials than the corresponding aromatic hydrocarbons. The oxidation potentials in Table 6.9 should be compared with data in Table 6.1. 

Alkaloid biosynthesis needs the substrate. Substrates are derivatives of the secondary metabolism building blocks the acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA), shikimic acid, mevalonic acid and 1-deoxyxylulose 5-phosphate (Figure 21). The synthesis of alkaloids starts from the acetate, shikimate, mevalonate and deoxyxylulose pathways. The acetyl coenzyme A pathway (acetate pathway) is the source of some alkaloids and their precursors (e.g., piperidine alkaloids or anthraniUc acid as aromatized CoA ester (antraniloyl-CoA)). Shikimic acid is a product of the glycolytic and pentose phosphate pathways, a construction facilitated by parts of phosphoenolpyruvate and erythrose 4-phosphate (Figure 21). The shikimic acid pathway is the source of such alkaloids as quinazoline, quinoline and acridine. 

Azonia substitution at a naphthalene bridgehead position gives the quinolizinium ion (16). Oxonia substitution, elsewhere, forms the 1- and 2-benzopyrylium ions (17) and (18). The two most well-known monoaza systems with three aromatic fused rings are acridine (19), derived structurally from anthracene, and phenanthridine (20), an azaphenanthrene. The better-known diaza systems include phenazine (21) and 1,10-phenanthroline (22), while systems with three linearly fused pyridine rings are called anthyridines, e.g. the 1,9,10-isomer (23). 

Nucleophilic reagents attack pyridine at the a-position to form an adduct that rearomatizes by dissociation (Scheme 1). Only very strong nucleophiles, e.g. NH2-, RLi, LAH, Na-NH3, react, and for the second step to afford a substitution product (5), conditions that favour hydride loss are required. Adducts formed with hydride ions (from LAH) or carbanions (from lithium alkyls) are relatively more stable than the others at low temperature, and dihydropyridines (6) can be obtained by careful neutralization. Fusion of a benzene ring to pyridine increases reactivity towards nucleophiles, and attack is now found at both a- and y-positions in quinoline (7) and at C-l in isoquinoline (8). This may be attributed to a smaller loss of aromaticity in forming the initial adduct than in pyridine, and thus a correspondingly decreased tendency to rearomatize is also observed. Acridine reacts even more easily, but nucleophilic attack is now limited to the y -position (9), as attachment of nucleophiles at ring junctions is very rare. 

Ullmann and Fetvadjian reported the modification which made the synthesis more generally useful, when they heated together equimolar amounts of an aromatic amine and a phenol with paraformaldehyde or with benzaldehyde, thus making it possible to obtain unsymmetrical acridines (03CB1027). Thus, from 2-naphthol and 1-naphthylamine they obtained dibenzo[c,/]acridine (613), and from 2-naphthol and 2-naphthylamine dibenzo[c,fi]acridine (614). In a similar manner, from 1-aminoacridine and the two naph-thols are obtained the benzo [a]- and benzo[c]-naphtho[2,3-fi]acridines (615) and (616), and from 2-aminoacridine and the naphthols the benzo[a]- and benzo[c]-naphtho[2,3-/]acridines (617) and (618) (69JCS(C)1337). The isomeric benzofa]- and benzo[c]-... 

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