Aminyl radicals, formation

The reductive couphng of imines can follow different pathways, depending on the nature of the one-electron reducing agent (cathode, metal, low-valent metal salt), the presence of a protic or electrophihc reagent, and the experimental conditions (Scheme 2). Starting from the imine 7, the one-electron reduction is facihtated by the preliminary formation of the iminiiim ion 8 by protonation or reaction with an electrophile, e.g., trimethylsilyl (TMS) chloride. Alternatively, the radical anion 9 is first formed by direct reduction of the imine 7, followed by protonation or reaction with the electrophile, so giving the same intermediate a-amino radical 10. The 1,2-diamine 11 can be formed from the radical 10 by dimerization (and subsequent removal of the electrophile) or addition to the iminium ion 8, followed by one-electron reduction of the so formed aminyl radical. In certain cases/conditions the radical 9 can be further reduced to the carbanion 12, which then attacks the... 

One-electron oxidation of the adenine moiety of DNA and 2 -deoxyadenos-ine (dAdo) (45) gives rise to related purine radical cations 46 that may undergo either hydration to generate 8-hydroxy-7,8-dihydroadenyl radicals (47) or deprotonation to give rise to the 6-aminyl radicals 50. The formation of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2 -deoxyadenosine (8-oxodAdo) (48) and 4,6-diamino-5-formamidopyrimidine (FapyAde) (49) is likely explained in terms of oxidation and reduction of 8-hydroxy-7,8-dihydroadenyl precursor radicals 47, respectively [90]. Another modified nucleoside that was found to be generated upon type I mediated one-electron oxidation of 45 by photoexcited riboflavin and menadione is 2 -deoxyinosine (51) [29]. The latter nucleoside is likely to arise from deamination of 6-aminyl radicals (50). Overall, the yield of formation of 8-oxodAdo 48 and FapyAde 49 upon one-electron oxidation of DNA is about 10-fold-lower than that of 8-oxodGuo 44 and FapyGua 43, similar to OH radical mediated reactions [91]. 

New cyclizations via photochemically generated aminyl radicals have been reported, including further examples of the Hofmann-Loeffler-Freytag reaction.313 Intramolecular addition of an aminyl radical, generated by photochemically induced nitrogen chlorine bond homoysis, is also accompanied by cyclization as illustrated by the conversion of the unsaturated N-chloroamide 378 to the pyrrolidine 379.314 Piperidine formation can also... 

Aminyl radicals react with peroxyl radicals by two ways with the formation of either N—O or C—O bonds [63], The decomposition of the resulting unstable peroxides gives rise to the nitroxyl radical and iminoquinone, respectively. 

The most rapid reaction is N—N-dimerization (the rates of reactions A, B, C are related as 1 0.15 0.02 [94], Naphthylaminyl radicals recombine with the formation of N—C-dimers only [95], probably because voluminous naphthalene rings sterically hinder N—N-dimerization. A correlation between the rate constant of hyperfine splitting on the nitrogen atom of the aminyl radical and the rate constant of recombination of substituted ( (YC6H4)2N ) diphenyl-aminyl radicals was observed [95],... 

Organic acids retard the formation of nitroxyl radicals via the reaction of the peroxyl radical with the aminyl radical [10], Apparently, the formation of a hydrogen bond of the >N H0C(0)R type leads to the shielding of nitrogen, which precludes the addition of dioxygen to it, yielding the nitroxyl radical. Thus, the products of the oxidation of alcohols, namely, acids have an influence on the mechanism of the cyclic chain termination. 

As noted above, the duration of the retarding action of an inhibitor is directly proportional to the / value. In systems with a cyclic chain termination mechanism, the / coefficient depends on the ratio of the rate constants for two reactions, in which the inhibitor is regenerated and irreversibly consumed. In the oxidation of alcohols, aminyl radicals are consumed irreversibly via the reaction with nitroxyl radical formation (see earlier) and via the following reaction [11] ... 

The formation of the nitroxyl radical and quinone imine precludes the possibility of the recovery of amine and, hence, any of the above reactions interrupts the cycle at the aminyl radical. Taking these reactions into account, we come to the following expression for the coefficient / ... 

A new cyclic mechanism of chain termination by nitroxyl radicals, including the formation of aminyl radicals as intermediate species, has been proposed by Korcek and coworkers [42,43]. It was shown that the addition of 4,4 -dioctyldiphenylnitroxyl radical to the hexa-decane that is oxidized (T = 433 K) leads to the formation of the corresponding diphenyl-amine as an intermediate compound during its transformations. The following cyclic mechanism of chain termination was suggested ... 

Inhibition mechanisms by A/-cyclopropyl MPTP analogues are also discussed in terms of two catalytic pathways, one of which is based on an initial SET step from the nitrogen lone pair, as proposed by Silverman, and the second is based on an initial a-carbon hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) step, as proposed by Edmondson, leading to a radical and dihydropyridinium product formation. The observation that MAO B catalyzes the efficient oxidation of certain 1-cyclopropyl-4-substituted-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridines to the corresponding dihydropyridinium metabolites suggests that the catalytic pathway for these cyclic tertiary allylamines may not proceed via the putative SET-generated aminyl radical cations [122], Further studies will be necessary to clarify all the facets of the mechanism of inhibition of MAO by cyclopropylamines. 

Aminyl radicals can also be generated from amide bases and organic oxidants via an electron transfer process. The utility of /V-lithio-Af-butyl-5-methyl-l-hex-4-enamine (10) as a mechanistic probe for such a process was studied (Scheme 2) (88JA6528). The formation of cyclic pyrrolidine... 

Aminyl radicals also can be generated via electrochemical oxidation of amide bases or O-substituted hydroxylamines. Suginome has studied radical cyclizations involving oxidations of lithium alkenylamides as a route to ccs-l-methyl-2,5-disubstituted pyrrolidines (85TL6085). Electrolysis of lithium alkenylamide 17a, generated from the amine and butyllithium at - 78°C, led to the formation of 18a, exclusively cis, in 52% yield (Scheme 4). The reactions require 0.25 M UC104 in THF HMPA (30 1) as the supporting electrolyte. A variety of 2-substituted amines were studied. 

The use of /V-chloramines, in principle, allows the facile generation of aminyl radicals upon UV photolysis in neutral media. A radical chain can be envisioned for the formation of 2-chIoromethylpyrrolidines (Scheme 7). In practice, however, there is a slow step in this sequence, step A and/or B, such that other reaction pathways, disproportionation or H-abstraction from the solvent, compete. Surzur has studied the reaction in Scheme 7 in the alcoholic solvents MeOH and /-PrOH, which serve as hydrogen atom sources, and achieved acceptable ratios of cyclic products 25 and 26 to acyclic amine 27 (70TL3107). Other /V-chloroalkenylamines gave similar results (71TL903 80TL287). /8-chloro-substituted amine products such as 25 were the sole products when the reactions were carried out in acetic acid-water mixtures these reactions involve aminium cation radicals and are discussed further in Section III,B. 

Neutral aminyl radicals generated from tin hydride-mediated reactions of sulfenamides (Section II,F) have been shown to undergo cyclizations when energetically favored by addition to a strained alkene or by formation of a stabilized intermediate benzylic radical. In both cases, the reverse reaction, cleavage of the /3-amino radical, apparently did not occur (92TL4993). 

In the literature, the simultaneous formation of the major NMMO degradation products N-methylmorpholine, morpholine and formaldehyde [20] is always attributed to the disproportionation of the primary aminyl radical 3, as a - not further defined - redox process between two molecules of 3, in which one is reduced to N-methylmorpholine (2) and the other oxidized to N-(methylene)morpholinium cation (17), which upon addition of water, forms morpholine and formaldehyde. Also this disproportionation can be rationalized as a radical coupling reaction which proceeds through recombination of N-centered 3 and C-centered 4, via the ammonium aminal intermediate 16 as the actual recombination product (Scheme 6). The intermediacy of this species was indeed confirmed by isolation from the reaction mixture and full characterization [17]. Compound 16 is quite labile and immediately de-... 

Marcus treatment does not exclude a radical pathway in lithium dialkyl-amide reduction of benzophenone. It does, however, seem to be excluded (Newcomb and Burchill 1984a,b) by observations on the reductions of benzophenone by N-lithio-N-butyl-5-methyl-l-hex-4-enamine in THF containing HMPA. Benzophenone is reduced to diphenylmethanol in good yield, and the amine yields a mixture of the acyclic imines no cyclic amines, expected from radical cyclization of a putative aminyl radical, were detected. An alternative scheme (17) shown for the lithium diethylamide reduction, accounts for rapid formation of diphenylmethoxide, and for formation of benzophenone ketyl under these conditions. Its key features are retention of the fast hydride transfer, presumably via the six-centre cyclic array, for the formation of diphenylmethoxide (Kowaski et al., 1978) and the slow deprotonation of lithium benzhydrolate to a dianion which disproportion-ates rapidly with benzophenone yielding the ketyl. The mechanism demands that rates for ketyl formation are twice that for deprotonation of the lithium diphenylmethoxide, and, within experimental uncertainty, this is the case. 

Exo-trig ring closure of a 3-(2-methyleneaziridin-l-yl)propyl radical leads to the generation of 3-methylenepiperidine (261) through the formation of a strained bicyclic aziridinylcarbinyl radical, and subsequent C-N (3-cleavage to an aminyl radical, as shown in eq. 3.104. 

An interesting variant of the intiator system discussed is the combination of Michler ketone (4.4 -dimethylamino benzophenone, MK) and substituted benzo-phenones [103]. The triplet-state of MK (cj>isc = 0.91 in cyclohexane, 0.24 in i-propanol) is capable of forming an exciplex with the ground-state benzophenone. Again, similar reactions as outlined in Scheme 8 yield the Michler aminyl radical and diphenyl ketyl radical. Owing to their favorable light absorption up 3S0 to 430 nm, and the efficient radical formation, these combinations are widely used in practice. 

The one-electron oxidation of a secondary amine results in the formation of a secondary aminium ion which on deprotonation gives an aminyl radical (Scheme 1). The nature of the final products derived from these intermediates dqiends very much on the structure of the substrate and the reaction conditions. If the amine has a hydrogen atom on the a-carbon atom the major products usually result from deprotonation at this a-position. With aromatic secondary amines, products can result from coupling of the delocalized radicals at a ring carbon atom. The formal dimerization of aminyl radicals shown in Scheme 21 is therefore not often a useful method of preparation of hydrazines. Nickel peroxide has been used to oxidize diphenylamine to tetraphenylhydrazine in moderate yield, and other secondary arylamines also give... 

Miyabe et al. developed a tandem addition/cycUzation reaction featuring an unprecedented addition of alkoxycarbonyl-stabihzed radicals on oxime ethers [117], and leading to the diastereoselective formation of /1-amino-y-lactone derivatives [118,119]. The reaction proceeds smoothly in the absence of toxic tin hydride and heavy metals via a route involving a triethylborane-mediated iodine atom-transfer process (Scheme 37). Decisive points for the success of this reaction are (1) the differentiation of the two electrophilic radical acceptors (the acrylate and the aldoxime ether moieties) towards the nucleophilic alkyl radical and (2) the high reactivity of triethylborane as a trapping reagent toward a key intermediate aminyl radical 125. The presence of the bulky substituent R proved to be important not only for the... 

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