Reduction aromatic hydrocarbons

Metallic sodium. This metal is employed for the drying of ethers and of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons. The bulk of the water should first be removed from the liquid or solution by a preliminary drying with anhydrous calcium chloride or magnesium sulphate. Sodium is most effective in the form of fine wire, which is forced directly into the liquid by means of a sodium press (see under Ether, Section II,47,i) a large surface is thus presented to the liquid. It cannot be used for any compound with which it reacts or which is affected by alkalis or is easily subject to reduction (due to the hydrogen evolved during the dehydration), viz., alcohols, acids, esters, organic halides, ketones, aldehydes, and some amines. 

Silver sulfate has been described as a catalyst for the reduction of aromatic hydrocarbons to cyclohexane derivatives (69). It is also a catalyst for oxidation reactions, and as such has long been recommended for the oxidation of organic materials during the deterrnination of the COD of wastewater samples (70,71) (see WASTES, INDUSTRIAL WATER, INDUSTRIAL WATERTTEATI NT). 

Reactions other than those of the nucleophilic reactivity of alkyl sulfates iavolve reactions with hydrocarbons, thermal degradation, sulfonation, halogenation of the alkyl groups, and reduction of the sulfate groups. Aromatic hydrocarbons, eg, benzene and naphthalene, react with alkyl sulfates when cataly2ed by aluminum chloride to give Fhedel-Crafts-type alkylation product mixtures (59). Isobutane is readily alkylated by a dipropyl sulfate mixture from the reaction of propylene ia propane with sulfuric acid (60). 

Conventional nitrocellulose lacquer finishing leads to the emission of large quantities of solvents into the atmosphere. An ingeneous approach to reducing VOC emissions is the use of supercritical carbon dioxide as a component of the solvent mixture (172). The critical temperature and pressure of CO2 are 31.3°C and 7.4 MPa (72.9 atm), respectively. Below that temperature and above that pressure, CO2 is a supercritical fluid. It has been found that under these conditions, the solvency properties of CO2 ate similar to aromatic hydrocarbons (see Supercritical fluids). The coating is shipped in a concentrated form, then metered with supercritical CO2 into a proportioning airless spray gun system in such a ratio as to reduce the viscosity to the level needed for proper atomization. VOC emission reductions of 50% or more are projected. 

Table 12.1. Oxidation and Reduction Potentials for Some Aromatic Hydrocarbons"...

In the presence of a proton source, the radical anion is protonated and further reduction occurs (the Birch reduction Part B, Section 5.5.1). In general, when no proton source is present, it is relatively difficult to add a second electron. Solutions of the radical anions of aromatic hydrocarbons can be maintained for relatively long periods in the absence of oxygen or protons. 

Cyclooctatetraene provides a significant contrast to the preference of aromatic hydrocarbons for one-electron reduction. It is converted to a diamagnetic dianion by addition of two electrons. It is easy to understand the ease with which the cyclooctatetraene radical accepts a second electron because of the aromaticity of the 10-7t-electron aromatic system which results (Section 9.3). 

Recently reductions by a new hydride reagent, sodium bis(2-methoxy-ethoxy)aluminum hydride, have been investigated. This compound is similar to LiAlH4 in its reducing properties but because it is soluble in aromatic hydrocarbons and more stable in air than LiAlH4, it may be more convenient to use. 

Paradoxically, although they are electron-rich, S-N compounds are good electron acceptors because the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs) are low-lying relative to those in the analogous carbon systems. For example, the ten r-electron [SsNs] anion undergoes a two-electron electrochemical reduction to form the trianion [SsNs] whereas benzene, the aromatic hydrocarbon analogue of [SsNs], forms the monoanion radical [CeHg] upon reduction. ... 

Reduction of fullerenes to fullerides — Reversible electrochemical reduction of Ceo in anhydrous dimethylformamide/toluene mixtures at low temperatures leads to the air-sensitive coloured anions Qo" , ( = 1-6). The successive mid-point reduction potentials, 1/2, at -60°C are -0.82, -1.26, -1.82, -2.33, —2.89 and —3.34 V, respectively. Liquid NH3 solutions can also be used. " Ceo is thus a very strong oxidizing agent, its first reduction potential being at least 1 V more positive than those of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. C70 can also be reversibly reduced and various ions up to... 

This procedure illustrates a general method for preparing aromatic hydrocarbons by the tandem alkylation-reduction of aromatic ketones and aldehydes.2 Additional examples are given in Table I. 

ALCOHOL represents a convenient method of converting allyl alcohol to 2-substituted 1-propanols, while a one-pot reaction sequence of alkylation (alkyl lithium) and reduction (lithium—liquid ammonia) provides excellent yields of AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS FROM AROMATIC KETONES AND ALDEHYDES. 

More recently it has become apparent that proton equilibria and hence pH can be equally important in aprotic and other non-aqueous solvents. For example, the addition of a proton donor, such as phenol or water, to dimethylformamide has a marked effect on the i-E curve for the reduction of a polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (Peover, 1967). In the absence of a proton donor the curve shows two one-electron reduction waves. The first electron addition is reversible and leads to the formation of the anion radical while the second wave is irreversible owing to rapid abstraction of protons from the solvent by the dicarbanion. 

The palladium(O) complex undergoes first an oxydative addition of the aryl halide. Then a substitution reaction of the halide anion by the amine occurs at the metal. The resulting amino-complex would lose the imine with simultaneous formation of an hydropalladium. A reductive elimination from this 18-electrons complex would give the aromatic hydrocarbon and regenerate at the same time the initial catalyst. 

If, instead of a palladium catalyst, a nickel catalyst, such as the bipyridylnickel(II) bromide, is used for the arylation of amines (Fig. 7), the reduction of the aryl halide into the corresponding aromatic hydrocarbon is still present for the primary or secondary benzylamines but, the arylation into substituted anilines is the main reaction even most often the only one, for the other types of amines. 

Reduction is an important reaction under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Reductases mediate a wide variety of reactions that are summarized briefly here, and have been discussed in detail in Part 2 dealing with electron acceptors and further in Part 5 with metalloenzymes. The reductases that are components of the aromatic dioxygenases and that are involved in the aerobic bacterial degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons are noted parenthetically in Chapter 8, Parts 1 and 2. 

Peijnenburg WJGM, MJ t Hart, HA den Hollander, D van de Meent, HH Verboom, NL Wolfe (1992) QSARs for predicting reductive transformation constants of halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons in anoxic sediment systems. Environ Toxicol Chem 11 301-314. 

Compared with monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the five-membered azaarenes, the pathways used for the degradation of pyridines are less uniform, and this is consistent with the differences in electronic structure and thereby their chemical reactivity. For pyridines, both hydroxylation and dioxygenation that is typical of aromatic compounds have been observed, although these are often accompanied by reduction of one or more of the double bonds in the pyridine ring. Examples are used to illustrate the metabolic possibilities. 

For some halides, it is advantageous to use finely powdered lithium and a catalytic amount of an aromatic hydrocarbon, usually naphthalene or 4,4 -di- -bu(ylbiphcnyl (DTBB).28 These reaction conditions involve either radical anions or dianions generated by reduction of the aromatic ring (see Section 5.6.1.2), which then convert the halide to a radical anion. Several useful functionalized lithium reagents have been prepared by this method. In the third example below, the reagent is trapped in situ by reaction with benzaldehyde. 

Li, H. and Westerholm, R., Determination of mono- and di-nitro polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by on-line reduction and high-performance liquid chromatography with chemiluminescence detection, /. Chromatogr. A, 664,177, 1994. 

Bioventing technology was developed by the U.S. EPA Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory to treat soil contaminated by numerous industrial wastes, which is subjected to aerobic microbial degradation, especially to promote the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.65 It uses a series of air injection probes, each of which is attached to a low-pressure air pump. The air pump operates at extremely low pressures to allow the inflow of oxygen without volatilization of contaminants. Additional additives such as ozone or nutrients may also be supplied to stimulate microbial growth.77... 

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