Aromatic alkyl groups, oxidation

Oxidation of aromatic alkyl groups. Aromatic methyl or ethyl groups para or ortho2 to an alkoxy function can be oxidized by DDQ in refluxing methanol to aldehydes or methyl ketones, respectively. Simultaneous dehydrogenation can also be effected. ... 

Aromatic side chain alkyl group oxidation—e.g., toluene oxidation to benzoic acid and... 

Alkyl groups attached to aromatic rings are oxidized more readily than the ring in alkaline media. Complete oxidation to benzoic acids usually occurs with nonspecific oxidants such as KMnO, but activated tertiary carbon atoms can be oxidized to the corresponding alcohols (R. Stewart, 1965 D. Arndt, 1975). With mercury(ll) acetate, allyiic and benzylic oxidations are aJso possible. It is most widely used in the mild dehydrogenation of tertiary amines to give, enamines or heteroarenes (M. Shamma, 1970 H. Arzoumanian. 1971 A. Friedrich, 1975). 

Alkylated aromatics have excellent low temperature fluidity and low pour points. The viscosity indexes are lower than most mineral oils. These materials are less volatile than comparably viscous mineral oils, and more stable to high temperatures, hydrolysis, and nuclear radiation. Oxidation stabihty depends strongly on the stmcture of the alkyl groups (10). However it is difficult to incorporate inhibitors and the lubrication properties of specific stmctures maybe poor. The alkylated aromatics also are compatible with mineral oils and systems designed for mineral oils (see Benzene Toulene Xylenes and ethylbenzene). ... 

An additional curious feature of alkylaromatic oxidation is that, under conditions where the initial attack involves electron transfer, the relative rate of attack on different alkyl groups attached to the same aromatic ring is quite different from that observed in alkane oxidation. For example, the oxidation of -cymene can lead to high yields of -isopropylbenzoic acid (2,205,297,298). 

Aromatic biguanides such as proguanil (181) have been found useful as antimalarial agents. Investigation of the metabolism of this class of drugs revealed that the active compound was in fact the triazine produced by oxidative cyclization onto the terminal alkyl group. The very rapid excretion of the active entity means that it cannot be used as such in therapy. Consequently, treatment usually consists in administration of either the metabolic precursor or, alternately, the triazine as some very insoluble salt to provide slow but continual release of drug. 

From the preceding discussion, it is easily understood that direct polyesterifications between dicarboxylic acids and aliphatic diols (Scheme 2.8, R3 = H) and polymerizations involving aliphatic or aromatic esters, acids, and alcohols (Scheme 2.8, R3 = alkyl group, and Scheme 2.9, R3 = H) are rather slow at room temperature. These reactions must be carried out in the melt at high temperature in the presence of catalysts, usually metal salts, metal oxides, or metal alkoxides. Vacuum is generally applied during the last steps of the reaction in order to eliminate the last traces of reaction by-product (water or low-molar-mass alcohol, diol, or carboxylic acid such as acetic acid) and to shift the reaction toward the... 

The latter reagent also methylates certain heterocyclic compounds (e.g., quinoline) and certain fused aromatic compounds (e.g., anthracene, phenanthrene). The reactions with the sulfur carbanions are especially useful, since none of these substrates can be methylated by the Friedel-Crafts procedure (11-12). It has been reported that aromatic nitro compounds can also be alkylated, not only with methyl but with other alkyl and substituted alkyl groups as well, in ortho and para positions, by treatment with an alkyllithium compound (or, with lower yields, a Grignard reagent), followed by an oxidizing agent such as Bra or DDQ (P- 1511). 

It is interesting to note that the oxidation of sulphoxides by peracids is faster in alkaline than in acidic solution. This is in contrast to the oxidation of sulphides and amines with the same reagents " . The oxidation rate of ortho-substituted aryl alkyl sulphoxides with aromatic peracids is less than the corresponding meta- and para-substituted species due to steric hindrance of the incoming peracid anion nucleophiles . Steric bulk in the alkyl group also has some effect . Such hindrance is not nearly so important in the oxidation reaction carried out under acidic conditions . 

Scheme 12.22 provides some examples of the oxidation of aromatic alkyl substituents to carboxylic acid groups. Entries 1 to 3 are typical oxidations of aromatic methyl groups to carboxylic acids. Entries 4 and 5 bring the carbon adjacent to the aromatic ring to the carbonyl oxidation level. 

An unusual solvent effect was observed in cycloadditions of aromatic nitrile N-oxides with alkyl-substituted p-benzoquinones in ethanol-water (60 40) the reaction rates were 14-fold greater than those in chloroform (148). The use of ion pairs to control nitrile oxide cycloadditions was demonstrated. A chiral auxiliary bearing an ionic group and an associated counterion provides enhanced selectivity in the cycloaddition the intramolecular salt effect controls the orientation of the... 

The typical metabolic reactions of pyrethroids are hydrolysis of an ester linkage and oxidation of an alkyl group or an aromatic ring in either acid or alcohol moiety, as shown in Fig. 6. The oxidative cleavage of the C=C bond of the prop-l-enyl... 

Oxidative attack on a carbon-hydrogen bond of an alkyl group a to a nitrogen atom is not restricted to saturated aliphatic amines. In fact X in an X-N-CH- structural subunit can be virtually any common atomic grouping that can be found in stable organic molecules. For example, w-carbon hydrogens of Aralkyl-substituted aromatic cyclic amines (119), aryl amines (120), amides (121), amidines (122), A-nitrosodialkylamines (123), etc. are all subject to oxidative attack, carbinolamine formation, and in most cases release of an aldehyde or ketone depending on the substitution pattern (1° or 2°)... 

Anodic side chain substitution is a competing reaction to nuclear substitution of aromatic compounds. In side chain substitution, the first formed acidic radical cation is deprotonated at the a-carbon atom of an alkyl group to form a radical. This is further oxidized to a benzyl cation, which reacts with a nucleophile (Scheme 9, path d). The factors that influence the ratio of nuclear to side chain substitution have been described in 5.4.1. 

The final stage of the reaction in Scheme 3.65 involves protonation, yielding the derivative of 1,4-dihydronaphthalene. The oxidation may produce a 4-substituted binaphthyl, which is not contaminated with the isomeric products. It is worth noting here that the described ion-radical method of introduction of the alkyl group into the aromatic nucleus has an advantage over the radical or heteroly tic alkylation. In these cases, the neutral substrate may produce a composite mixture of isomeric products. The binaphthyl anion-radical reaction proceeds regioselectively and nonstereospecifically. 

---