Aromatic compounds from peroxides

Duguet J P, Bruchel A, Mallevialle J (1990 a) Application of Combined Ozone - Hydrogen Peroxide for the Removal of Aromatic Compounds from a Groundwater, Ozone Science Engineering 12 281-294. 

Duguet JP, Anselme C, Mazounie P, Mallevialle J. Application of combined ozone-hydrogen peroxide for the removal of aromatic compounds from a ground water. Ozone Sci Eng 1990 12 281-294. 

This last result bears also on the mode of conversion of the adduct to the final substitution product. As written in Eq. (10), a hydrogen atom is eliminated from the adduct, but it is more likely that it is abstracted from the adduct by a second radical. In dilute solutions of the radical-producing species, this second radical may be the adduct itself, as in Eq. (12) but when more concentrated solutions of dibenzoyl peroxide are employed, the hydrogen atom is removed by a benzoyloxy radical, for in the arylation of deuterated aromatic compounds the deuterium lost from the aromatic nucleus appears as deuterated benzoic acid, Eq. (13).The over-all reaction for the phenylation of benzene by dibenzoyl peroxide may therefore be written as in Eq, (14). 

The competitive method employed for determining relative rates of substitution in homolytic phenylation cannot be applied for methylation because of the high reactivity of the primary reaction products toward free methyl radicals. Szwarc and his co-workers, however, developed a technique for measuring the relative rates of addition of methyl radicals to aromatic and heteroaromatic systems. - In the decomposition of acetyl peroxide in isooctane the most important reaction is the formation of methane by the abstraction of hydrogen atoms from the solvent by methyl radicals. When an aromatic compound is added to this system it competes with the solvent for methyl radicals, Eqs, (28) and (29). Reaction (28) results in a decrease in the amount... 

One of numerous examples of LOX-catalyzed cooxidation reactions is the oxidation and demethylation of amino derivatives of aromatic compounds. Oxidation of such compounds as 4-aminobiphenyl, a component of tobacco smoke, phenothiazine tranquillizers, and others is supposed to be the origin of their damaging effects including reproductive toxicity. Thus, LOX-catalyzed cooxidation of phenothiazine derivatives with hydrogen peroxide resulted in the formation of cation radicals [40]. Soybean LOX and human term placenta LOX catalyzed the free radical-mediated cooxidation of 4-aminobiphenyl to toxic intermediates [41]. It has been suggested that demethylation of aminopyrine by soybean LOX is mediated by the cation radicals and neutral radicals [42]. Similarly, soybean and human term placenta LOXs catalyzed N-demethylation of phenothiazines [43] and derivatives of A,A-dimethylaniline [44] and the formation of glutathione conjugate from ethacrynic acid and p-aminophenol [45,46],... 

With concentrated mineral acids azobenzene gives red salts, as may be shown by pouring hydrochloric acid on it. Addition of hydrogen leads to the re-formation of the hydrazo-compound. Oxygen is added on and the azoxy-compound formed by the action of hydrogen peroxide or nitric acid. The synthesis of asymmetrical aromatic azo-compounds from nitroso-compounds and primary amines was discussed above. 

Figure 2. Schematic representation of electron transfer from an aromatic compound to O2 with a Cu-exchanged clay as the catalyst and the formation of polymers (Reaction A) and hydrogen peroxide (Reaction B).

Besides a variety of other methods, phenols can be prepared by metal-catalyzed oxidation of aromatic compounds with hydrogen peroxide. Often, however, the selectivity of this reaction is rather poor since phenol is more reactive toward oxidation than benzene itself, and substantial overoxidation occurs. In 1990/91 Kumar and coworkers reported on the hydroxylation of some aromatic compounds using titanium silicate TS-2 as catalyst and hydrogen peroxide as oxygen donor (equation 72) . Conversions ranged from 54% to 81% with substituted aromatic compounds being mainly transformed into the ortho-and para-products. With benzene as substrate, phenol as the monohydroxylated product... 

A principally different approach for the indirect electrochemical oxidation of aromatic compounds goes via the formation of hydroxyl radicals from cathodically generated hydrogen peroxide and from reductively formed iron(II) ions. The thus in situ formed Fenton reagent can lead to side-chain as well as nuclear oxidations of aromatic compounds. Side-chain oxidations to form benzaldehydes according to Eqs. (18)—(24) can also be initiated by the redox pairs and Cu instead of... 

Decomposition of Aromatic Acyl Peroxides. The decomposition of aromatic acyl peroxides in liquid aromatic compounds is similar to the decomposition of nitrosoacetylarylamines and appears to involve the intermediate formation of free radicals. When dibenzoyl peroxide is heated in benzene, biphenyl, benzoic acid, and small amounts of phenyl benzoate, p-terphenyl, and quaterphenyl are produced. 4 That the second component enters into the reaction is shown by the formation of 4-chlorobiphenyl from the decomposition of di-p-chlorobenzoyl peroxide in benzene 84 and of dibenzoyl peroxide in-chlorobenzene 86... 

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