Aryl azides thermolysis phenyl azide

Photolysis of aryl azides in amine solution, with a tertiary amine as cosolvent to promote stabilization of the singlet nitrene, has met with some success. For example, the yield of 2-piperidino-3 W-azepme. obtained by the photolysis of phenyl azide in piperidine, is increased from 35 to 58% in the presence of A A /V. /V -tetramethylethylenediamine (TMLDA).180 Also, an improved yield (36 to 60 %) of A,(V-diethyl-3W-azepin-2-amine (38, R = Et) can be obtained by irradiating phenyl azide in triethylamine, rather than in dicthylaminc, solution.181 Photolysis (or thermolysis) of phenyl azide in TMEDA produces, in each case, 38 (R = Et) in 40% yield.181 In contrast, irradiation of phenyl azide in aniline with trimethylamine as cosolvent furnishes jV-phenyl-377-azepin-2-amine (32, R = Ph) in only low yield (2%).35... 

Historically the first fully unsaturated azepine was obtained by Wolff in 1912 by the decomposition of phenyl azide in aniline. However, the actual structure of this product, named dibenzamil , remained unknown until 1955, when Huisgen and coworkers showed it to be an anilinoazepine, originally formulated as the 7-anilino-2H-azepine, but later corrected, mainly on the basis of HNMR evidence, to the 2-anilino 3H-tautomer (221 R1=PhNH R2 = H). Subsequently, the thermolysis and photolysis of aryl azides in primary, secondary and, in certain instances, tertiary amine solution has become a standard method for the preparation of 2-amino-3/f-azepines (79AG(E)900,8lAHC(28)23l). 

Huisgen, Szeimies, and Mobius have studied the addition reactions of aryl azides to a,/S-unsaturated esters and nitriles.1 4 Methyl acrylate (73) reacts with aryl azides to form l-aryl-4-carbomethoxy-A -triazolines in agreement with the orientation rule based on electronic effects. These A -triazolines are completely converted by base catalysis into the ring-opened isomer. Thus l-phenyl-4-carbomethoxy-A2-triazo ine (74) gives, in the presence of triethylamine at room temperature, methyl 3-aniline-2-diazopropionate (75). The A2-triazolines as well as the a-diazoesters are thermolabile. 74 is converted into l-phenyl-2-carbomethoxyaziridine (76) and 75 gives methyl 3-anilinoacrylate (77) as thermolysis product.262... 

The primary thermochemical and electron impact induced degradation of aryl azides involves loss of N 2 with formation of an aryl nitrene. The nitrene subsequently reacts in the thermolysis system to give a complex mixture of products (48). ) An ion corresponding to phenyl nitrene is also prominent... 

Another synthesis of azepines from azides involved the photolysis or thermolysis of aryl azides in the presence of nucleophiles. The photolysis of phenyl azide in diethylamine yielded (34%) 2-diethylamino-3/f-azepine (311) °. In the same manner 2-substituted azepines were obtained from phenyl azide and liquid ammonia, aniline and hydrogen sulphide . 

A new synthesis was developed by Y. Kashman et al. for the preparation of the parent pyrido[2,3,4-/c/]acridine skeleton utilizing the Doebner-Miller synthesis. In the first step, 3-aminoacetanilide was reacted with vinyl phenyl ketone in the presence of m-nitrobenzenesulfonic acid sodium salt and acetic acid to afford the corresponding 4-phenylquinolines. The acetamide group was then converted to the corresponding aryl azide, which underwent intramolecular nitrene insertion upon thermolysis to give the desired heterocyclic skeleton. 

Thermolysis of phenyl azide leads to loss of nitrogen with formation of phenyl nitrene. This conclusion is well supported by experiment. Walker and Waters [6] studied the pyrolysis of phenyl azide at 130°C and confirmed the observations of Smith and Hall [7] from 2-substituted azido biphenyls that thermolysis of aryl azides, lacking ortho-substituents, in inert solvents leads... 

Wolff (1912) was the first to observe the ring expansion of phenyl azide, on thermolysis in aniline, to a compound he called dibenzamil (45). It was many years before this compound was shown to be 2-anilino-3if-azepine. This reaction was also found to take place on photolysis of aryl azides in primary and secondary aliphatic amines. The mechanism that was proposed and which has since been generally accepted involves nucleophilic attack by solvent on a benzazirine, that is believed to be in equilibrium with singlet arylnitrene. Nmr evidence has been advanced for the intermediacy of a 1/f-azepine (46) in related expansions which, as expected, rapidly isomerizes to the more stable tautomer. Spectroscopic evidence is still lacking for the aziridine intermediate 47, but this could simply be due to its short lifetime. On the other hand, the recent work of Chapman and Le Roux discussed in Section 1.4 has brought into question the intermediacy of benzazirine in phenyl... 

Decomposition of aryl azides in the presence of Lewis acids does not involve arylnitrenes arylnitrenium-Lewis acid complexes are much more likely intermediates. The reaction of phenyl azide with aluminum chloride and aromatic substrates gives fair yields of diarylamines. This reaction is not undergone by phenyl azide alone on thermolysis or photolysis in aromatic solvents (Section II.l.A) ... 

Monocyclic 1,3-oxazepines (325) with aryl substituents at the 2-, 4- and 7-positions can be prepared in moderate yield (20-40%) by the reaction of aliphatic diazo compounds with 1,3-oxazinium perchlorates (324) (74S187). Tetra- and penta-phenyl-l,3-oxazepines (328 R = H or Ph) have been obtained via the reaction of azide with pyrylium salts (326) (78H(l 1)331). This principle had earlier been applied to the preparation of 1,3-benzoxazepines (74CR(C)(278)1389> and more recently to 3,1-benzoxazepines (81JHC847). The preparation of 2-phenyl-1,3-oxazepine.(331) by the UV irradiation of (329) is mechanistically interesting in that it apparently involves an intermediate (330) of the same type as (327) (73TL1835), but the method has only been used in this one case. One of the few examples of a dihydro-1,3-oxazepine (333) has been prepared by the thermolysis of the aziridine (332) (68JOC4547). 

Aryl and alkyl migration aptitudes were compared in the photolysis and in the thermolysis of 1,1-diphenylethyl azide (37) and 2-phenyl-2-propyl azide (38). For the compound 38 phenyl migration was the... 

Formation.—Phenyl-, 2-naphthyl-, 2-thienyl-, and 2-furanyl-thiets are prepared from aryl methyl ketones, dimethylamine, and methanesulphonyl chloride. X-K y crystal structures establish that the compounds arising from the cycloaddition of alkynes to thioxanthones are thiets, and not spiro-dihydropyrans, as originally proposed. Additional work shows that alkynyl sulphides also give thiets with thioxanthone, and that the adduct (104) is in rapid equilibrium with the open form (105) in solution, although they can be isolated separately. Thiet (106) was isolated after thermolysis of a Dewar thiophen—azide adduct. ... 

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