Arene oxides substituted

Arene oxides can be intermediates in the bacterial transformation of aromatic compounds and initiate rearrangements (NIH shifts) (Dalton et al. 1981 Cerniglia et al. 1984 Adriaens 1994). The formation of arene oxides may plausibly provide one mechanism for the formation of nitro-substituted products during degradation of aromatic compounds when nitrate is present in the medium. This is discussed in Chapter 2. 

A clever application of this reaction has recently been carried out to achieve a high yield synthesis of arene oxides and other dihydroaromatic, as well as aromatic, compounds. Fused-ring /3-lactones, such as 1-substituted 5-bromo-7-oxabicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-en-8-ones (32) can be readily prepared by bromolactonization of 1,4-dihydrobenzoic acids (obtainable by Birch reduction of benzoic acids) (75JOC2843). After suitable transformation of substituents, mild heating of the lactone results in decarboxylation and formation of aromatic derivatives which would often be difficult to make otherwise. An example is the synthesis of the arene oxide (33) shown (78JA352, 78JA353). 

The nature and position of substitution has a profound influence upon the oxepin-arene oxide equilibrium position. The effect of substituents on the relative energies of each valence tautomer has been calculated (80JA1255) and these theoretical results are in accord with the limited experimental data which are available. In general terms, oxepins substituted at the 3-position are less favored than the corresponding arene oxides, while the reverse obtained for 2- and 4-substituted oxepins. This substituent effect has been rationalized in terms of a preference for the maximum number of alternative resonance contributors. The influence of both 7r donating and v withdrawing substituents oh the oxepin contribution is summarized in Scheme 2. This latter effect may be considered as an electronic substituent effect. 

Factors which affect the oxepin-benzene oxide equilibrium positions are similarly expected to influence the thiepin-benzene episulfide distribution at equilibrium. Since however the thianorcaradiene tautomer has not to date been detected, the main evidence for this form is based upon the thermal instability and reactions of the thiepin system. Thus it is assumed that where the thianorcaradiene isomer is present, a spontaneous thermal decomposition involving extrusion of a sulfur atom will occur. Substitution at the 2,7-positions in the oxepin-arene oxide system leads to a preference for the seven-membered ring form and this effect was further enhanced by bulky substituents (e.g. Bu ). A similar effect was observed in thiepins and thus the remarkable thermal stability of (49) (2,7-r-butyl groups) and (51) (2,7-hydroxyisopropyl groups) contrasts with the behavior of thiepin (55)(2,7-isopropyl groups), which was thermally unstable even at -70 °C (78CL723). The stability of thiepin (49) results from the 2,7-steric (eclipsed) interactions which obtain in the thianorcaradiene form but which are diminished in the thiepin tautomeric form (relative to the episulfide tautomer). 

The arene oxide valence tautomer of oxepins in principle should undergo nucleophilic substitution reactions (Sn2) which are characteristic of simple epoxides. In reality oxepin-benzene oxide (7) is resistant to attack by hard nucleophiles such as OH-, H20, NH2- and RNH2. Attempts to obtain quantitative data on the relative rates of attack of nucleophiles on (7) in aqueous solution hqye been thwarted by competition from the dominant aromatization reaction. 

While both hydrogenation and epoxidation reactions of (7) (and substituted forms) occur on the oxepin valence tautomer, cycloaddition reactions proceed more readily on the arene oxide form (where the diene is closer to planarity). Thus the dienophiles DM AD and maleic anhydride (MA) readily yielded [4 + 2] cycloadducts with (7) as shown in Scheme 22 (67AG(E)385). A similar type of singlet oxygen cycloaddition reaction gave an unstable endoperoxide (106) which upon heating yielded trans-benzene trioxide quantitatively (equation 14). (75JOC3743). 

Substituted l,2,4-triazoline-3,5-diones are excellent dienophiles which react rapidly at room temperature with oxepins, but particularly with the arene oxide valence tautomer. A similar [4+2] cycloaddition reaction between the episulfide tautomer of thiepin (44) and 4-phenyl-l,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione has been reported (74AG(E)736>. Benzene episulfide (the valence tautomer of thiepin 44) was generated in situ by thermal decomposition of the diepisulfide (151) at 20 °C and trapped as a cycloadduct at the same temperature (equation 34). A 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction between thiepin (152) and diazomethane has been reported (56CB2608). Two possible cycloadduct products are shown since the final structure has not been unequivocally established (equation 35). 

Water conjugation Water Epoxide hydrolase (microsomes) Arene oxides, cis-disubstituted and mono-substituted oxiranes Benzopyrene 7,8-epoxide, styrene 1,2-oxide, carbamazepine epoxide... 

Nitrogen heterocycles continue to be valuable reagents and provide new synthetic approaches such as NITRONES FOR INTRAMOLECULAR -1,3 - DIPOLAR CYCLOADDITIONS HEXAHYDRO-1,3,3,6-TETRAMETHYL-2,l-BENZISOX AZOLINE. Substituting on a pyrrolidine can be accomplished by using NUCLEOPHILIC a - sec - AM IN O ALKYL ATION 2-(DI-PHENYLHYDROXYMETHYL)PYRROLIDINE. Arene oxides have considerable importance for cancer studies, and the example ARENE OXIDE SYNTHESIS PHENANTHRENE 9,10-OXIDE has been included. An aromatic reaction illustrates RADICAL ANION ARYLATION DIETHYL PHENYLPHOSPHONATE. 

Oxidation of Other Arenes. Aromatic compounds with longer alkyl side chains can be converted to ketones or carboxylic acids. All the previously discussed reagents except Cr02Cl2 usually afford the selective formation of ketones from alkyl-substituted arenes. Oxidation with Cr02Cl2 usually gives a mixture of products. These include compounds oxidized in the P position presumably formed via an alkene intermediate or as a result of the rearrangement of an intermediate epoxide.110,705... 

NADH-dependent reductase, thus allowing the biopterin cofactor to function catalytically (72JBC(247)6082). That the conversion of phenylalanine to tyrosine involves an arene oxide intermediate is suggested by the observation of the so-called NIH shift phenomenon (i.e. migration and retention of the para substituents such as deuterium, tritium, methyl and bromine when these para-substituted phenylalanines are enzymatically hydroxylated) <66BBR(24)720, 67MI11000). 

The [(arene)Mn(CO)3]+ system is very promising, but more development work is necessary in order to assess the full possibilities for overall addition-oxidation, substitution for hydrogen. 

Dansette and Jerina25 found that cis- 1,2-glycols (34) on treatment with trimethyl orthoacetate in refluxing benzene containing a trace of benzoic acid are converted to an enantiomeric mixture of 2-methyl-2-methoxydioxolanes (orthoesters) (35 and 36). On reaction of this mixture with trimethylsilyl chloride, substitution with inversion takes place, and trans-chlorohydrin acetate (37) is formed. The chlorohydrin acetate is cyclized to an arene oxide on treatment with sodium methoxide. 

The acid-catalyzed dehydration of substituted 1,4-dihydro-1,4-dihy-droxybenzenes (129) forms the corresponding arene oxides (130) in poor yield along with several other products.61... 

In these 4,5-substituted compounds mentioned, the arene oxide is the low-energy component over the range from room temperature to — 65°C. 

Detailed study of the mechanism of solvolysis of a number of non-K-region arene oxides like 86,90 alkyl substituted benzene oxides,91 45,47,88 and 4888 has been carried out. They present a simple and consistent picture (Fig. 3). Below pH 6 all of them show general acid catalysis, and above pH 6 the rate remains constant with an increase in pH. The pH dependence of aromatiza-tion of 45 is described in terms of two independent reactions taking place... 

The formation of 3-halophenols in the metabolism of chlorobenzene, bromobenzene, and fluorobenzene215 cannot be explained on the basis of arene oxides as intermediates. These metabolites may represent examples of a direct hydroxylation of the ring. Besides, the magnitude of the isotopic effects observed during the metabolic formation of such meta-substituted phenols... 

Bis(trifluoroacetoxy)iodo]benzene (14, BTIB) can be utilized in hexafluoro-2-propanol for the installation of nucleophiles at the ortho-position of para-sub-stituted alkoxyarenes [59-63]. Such reactions have been employed for the construction of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom (N,0,S) bonds, trimethylsi-lyl compounds serving as useful progenitors of the heteroatom nucleophiles (Scheme 20). Oxidative substitutions of this type appear to proceed through arene radical-cations, generated by single electron-transfer within BTIB/sub-strate charge-transfer complexes. 

Gold has emerged as an effective catalyst for the selective oxidation of methane to methanol. Various possible pathways for the oxidation are discussed.29 Suitably substituted furans are transformed into phenols by the use of gold catalyst (1). It has been suggested, on the basis of kinetic isotope effect and trapping studies, that the key intermediate is an arene oxide. The postulation is also supported by DFT calculations.30... 

Results of kinetic and ESR studies are consistent with an electron transfer mechanism [reactions (214)-(216)]. The electron transfer mechanism of oxidative substitution of arenes by Co(III) in TFA contrasts with the analogous oxidation of the same arenes with Pb(IV) trifluoroacetate in TFA,... 

We suggest that electron transfer and electrophilic substitutions are, in general, competing processes in arene oxidations. Whether the product is formed from the radical cation (electron transfer) or from the aryl-metal species (electrophilic substitution) is dependent on the nature of both the metal oxidant and the aromatic substrate. With hard metal ions, such as Co(III), Mn(III), and Ce(IV),289 reaction via electron transfer is preferred because of the low stability of the arylmetal bond. With soft metal ions, such as Pb(IV) and Tl(III), and Pd(II) (see later), reaction via an arylmetal intermediate is predominant (more stable arylmetal bond). For the latter group of oxidants, electron transfer becomes important only with electron-rich arenes that form radical cations more readily. In accordance with this postulate, the oxidation of several electron-rich arenes by lead(IV)281 289 and thallium(III)287 in TFA involve radical cation formation via electron transfer. Indeed, electrophilic aromatic substitutions, in general, may involve initial charge transfer, and the role of radical cations as discrete intermediates may depend on how fast any subsequent steps involving bond formation takes place. 

The following oxidative substitution of arenes has been reported by Henry568 ArH + X-+oxidant- ArX (401)... 

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