Benzenoids

A tetracyclic benzenoid hydrocarbon suspected of being a carcinogen. 

Aminoazobenzene is a very weak base, and consequently it will not form salts with weak organic acids, such as acetic acid, although it will do so with the strong mineral acids, such as hydrochloric acid. Aminoazobenzene is a yellowish-brown compound, whilst the hydrochloride is steel blue. The colour of the latter is presumably due to the addition of the proton to the phenyl-N-atom, the cation thus having benzenoid and quinonoid forms ... 

The electronic spectra of benzenoid systems differ in a characteristic manner from their acyclic analogues. Thus benzene, unhke hexatriene. 

Several substituted cyclohexane derivatives may also be obtained by the reduction of a benzenoid precursor. Partial reduction of resorcinol, for example, and subsequent methyla-tion yields 2-methylcyclohexane-I,3-dione, which is frequently used in steroid synthesis (M.S. Newman, 1960 see also p. 71f.), From lithium-ammonia reduction of alkoxybenzenes l-alkoxy-l,4-cyclohexadienes are obtained (E.J. Corey, 1968 D). 

The material in the succeeding chapters describes both the synthesis of the indole ring and means of substituent modification which are especially important in indole chemistry. The first seven chapters describe the preparation of indoles from benzenoid precursors. Chapter 8 describes preparation of indoles from pyrroles by annelation reactions. These syntheses can be categorized by using the concept of bond disconnection to specify the bond(s) formed in the synthesis. The categories are indicated by the number and identity of the bond(s) formed. This classification is given in Scheme 1.1. 

To involve allylic resonance in stabilizing the arenium ion formed during attack at C 2 the benzenoid character of the other ring is sacrificed... 

Ansamacrolides. Antibiotics ia the ansamacroHde family ate also referred to as ansamycias. They are benzenoid or naphthalenoid aromatic compounds ia which nonadjacent positions are bridged by an aliphatic chain to form a cycHc stmcture. One of the aliphatic—aromatic junctions is always an amide bond. Rifampin is a semisyntheticaHy derived member of this family and has clinical importance. It has selective antibacterial activity and inhibits RNA polymerase. 

Aldehydes and Ketones. Pyrrole aldehydes and ketones are somewhat less reactive than the corresponding benzenoid derivatives. The aldehydes do not undergo Cannizzaro or Perkin reactions but condense with a variety of compounds that contain active methylene groups. They also react with pyrroles under acidic conditions to form dipyrryhnethenes (26). The aldehydes can be reduced to the methyl or carbinol stmctures. The ketones undergo normal carbonyl reactions. 

Ha.logena.tlon, One review provides detailed discussion of direct and indirect methods for both mono- and polyhalogenation (20). As with nitration, halogenation under acidic conditions favors reaction in the benzenoid ring, whereas reaction at the 3-position takes place in the neutral molecule. Radical reactions in the pyridine ring can be important under more vigorous conditions. 

Many benzenoid quaternary cationic surfactants possess germicidal, fungicidal, or algicidal activity. Solutions of such compounds, alone or in combination with nonionic surfactants, are used as detergent sanitizers in hospital maintenance. Classified as biocidal products, their labeling is regulated by the U.S. EPA. The 1993 U.S. shipments of cationic surfactants represented 16% of the total sales value of surfactant production. Some of this production is used for the preparation of more highly substituted derivatives (101). 

Two-Dimensional Representation of Chemical Structures. The lUPAC standardization of organic nomenclature allows automatic translation of a chemical s name into its chemical stmcture, or, conversely, the naming of a compound based on its stmcture. The chemical formula for a compound can be translated into its stmcture once a set of semantic rules for representation are estabUshed (26). The semantic rules and their appHcation have been described (27,28). The inverse problem, generating correct names from chemical stmctures, has been addressed (28) and explored for the specific case of naming condensed benzenoid hydrocarbons (29,30). 

Table 11 summarizes the main results on the tautomerism of mono-hydroxy-, -mercapto-, -amino- and -methyl-azines and their benzo derivatives, in water. At first sight the equilibrium between 2-hydroxypyridine (71) and pyridin-2-one (72) is one between a benzenoid and a non-benzenoid molecule respectively (71a 72a). However, the pyridinone evidently... 

Substituents on benzene or benzenoid rings in fused pyridazines, i.e. in cinnolines and phthalazines, usually exhibit reactivity which is similar to that found in the correspondingly substituted fused aromatic compounds, such as naphthalene, and is therefore not discussed here. 

A large body of information is available on the UV spectra of pyrazine derivatives (B-61MI21400, B-66MI21400). Pyrazine in cyclohexane shows two maxima at 260 nm (log e 3.75) and 328 nm (log e 3.02), corresponding to ir->ir and n ir transitions respectively (72AHC(14)99). Auxochromes show similar hypsochromic and bathochromic shifts to those observed with the corresponding benzenoid derivatives. 

When activating substituents are present in the benzenoid ring, substitution usually becomes more facile and occurs in accordance with predictions based on simple valence bond theory. When activating substituents are present in the heterocyclic ring the situation varies depending upon reaction conditions thus, nitration of 2(177)-quinoxalinone in acetic acid yields 7-nitro-2(177)-quinoxalinone (21) whereas nitration with mixed acid yields the 6-nitro derivative (22). The difference in products probably reflects a difference in the species being nitrated neutral 2(177)-quinoxalinone in acetic acid and the diprotonated species (23) in mixed acids. 

Conflicting reports on the nitration of phenazine have appeared, but the situation was clarified by Albert and Duewell (47MI21400). The early work suggested that 1,3-dinitroph-enazine could be prepared in 66% yield under standard nitration conditions however, this proved to be a mixture of 1-nitrophenazine and 1,9-dinitrophenazine (24). As with pyrazines and quinoxalines, activating substituents in the benzenoid rings confer reactivity which is in accord with valence bond predictions thus, nitration of 2-methoxy- or 2-hydroxy-phenazine results in substitution at the 1-position. 

The reactions of haloquinoxalines in which the halogen atom is bonded to the benzenoid ring have not been well studied, but by analogy with examples in the phenazine series it would seem probable that they are unlikely to be displaced with the same ease as those bonded directly to the heterocyclic ring. It is evident from the foregoing discussion that A-oxidation has a pronounced effect on their reactivity, and, by this means, considerable latitude in the specific functionalization of dihalo or polyhalo derivatives may be exercised. 

The fusion of a benzene ring to pyrazine results in a considerable increase in the resistance to reduction and it is usually difficult to reduce quinoxalines beyond the tetrahydroquinoxa-line state (91). Two possible dihydroquinoxalines, viz. the 1,2- (92) and the 1,4- (93), are known, and 1,4-dihydroquinoxaline appears to be appreciably more stable than 1,4-dihydropyrazine (63JOC2488). Electrochemical reduction appears to follow a course anzdogous to the reduction of pyrazine, giving the 1,4-dihydro derivative which isomerizes to the 1,2- or 3,4-dihydroquinoxaline before subsequent reduction to 1,2,3,4-tetra-hydroquinoxaline (91). Quinoxaline itself is reduced directly to (91) with LiAlH4 and direct synthesis of (91) is also possible. Tetrahydroquinoxalines in which the benzenoid ring is reduced are well known but these are usually prepared from cyclohexane derivatives (Scheme 30). 

The reactivity of the amino groups at the pteridine nucleus depends very much upon their position. All amino groups form part of amidine or guanidine systems and therefore do not behave like benzenoid amino functions which can usually be diazotized. The 4-, 6-and 7-amino groups are in general subject to hydrolysis by acid and alkali, whereas the 2-amino group is more stable under these conditions but is often more susceptible to removal by nitrous acid. 

One of the more useful predicative applications of the relatively crude Hiickel method has been to illustrate quantitatively the effect of benzenoid annelation on the resonance energies of furan and thiophene. The results are summarized in Figure 1. As expected, thiophenes are more stable than the corresponding furans and 3,4-fusion results in less stable compounds than 2,3-fusion (77CR(C)(285)42l). 

Annelation of a benzene ring on to the [Z>] faee of the heteroeyelie ring does not have any pronouneed effeet upon the ehemieal shifts of the heteroeyelie protons (cf. Table 8). The rather unexpeeted heteroatom sequenee for shifts to progressively lower field for both H-2 and H-3 remains NHsolvent dependent and as in pyrrole it is also eoupled to the ring protons with Ji,2 = 2.4Hz and Ji,3 = 2.1 Hz. The assignment of the benzenoid protons H-5 and H-6 has eaused some eonfusion in the literature as they have almost... 

As might be anticipated from the behaviour of the parent heterocycles, C-2 of indole, benzo[i]furan and benzo[i]thiophene (Table 13) is shifted to lower field than C-3. However, the shifts for C-2 (O, 144.8 Se, 128.8 S, 126.1 NH, 124.7 Te, 120.8) and C-7a (O, 155.0 Se, 141.3 S, 139.6 NH, 135.7 Te, 133.0) in the benzo[i] heterocycles vary irregularly (80OMR(l3)3l9), and the sequence is different to that observed for C-2 in the parent heterocycles, namely 0>Se>Te>S>NH. Also noteworthy is the upheld position of C-7, especially in indole and benzofuran, relative to the other benzenoid carbons at positions 4, 5 and 6. A similar situation pertains in the dibenzo heterocycles (Table 14), where not only are C-1 and C-8 shifted upheld in carbazole and dibenzofuran relative to the corresponding carbons in dibenzothiophene and fluorene, but similar, though smaller, shifts can be discerned for C-3 and C-6 in the former compounds. These carbon atoms are of course ortho and para to the heteroatom and the shifts reflect its mesomeric properties. Little variation in the carbon-hydrogen coupling constants is observed for these dibenzo compounds with V(qh) = 158-165 and V(c,h) = 6-8 Hz. 

Annelation increases the complexity of the spectra just as it does in the carbocyclic series, and the spectra are not unlike those of the aromatic carbocycle obtained by formally replacing the heteroatom by two aromatic carbon atoms (—CH=CH—). Although quantitatively less marked, the same trend for the longest wavelength band to undergo a bathochromic shift in the heteroatom sequence O < NH < S < Se < Te is discernible in the spectra of the benzo[Z>] heterocycles (Table 17). As might perhaps have been anticipated, the effect of the fusion of a second benzenoid ring on to these heterocycles is to reduce further the differences in their spectroscopic properties (cf. Table 18). The absorption of the benzo[c]... 

In most cases the frequencies of substituent groups attached to these heterocycles differ little from those observed for their benzenoid counterparts. The only notable exception is the spectral behaviour of carbonyl groups attached to position 2. These have attracted much attention as they frequently give rise to doublets, and occasionally multiplets. In the case of (34), (35) (76JCS(P2)l) and (36) (76JCS(P2)597) the doublets arise from the presence of two conformers (cf. Section 3.01.5.2), whereas for the aldehydes (37) the doublets are... 

Indole can be nitrated with benzoyl nitrate at low temperatures to give 3-nitroindole. More vigorous conditions can be used for the nitration of 2-methylindole because of its resistance to acid-catalyzed polymerization. In nitric acid alone it is converted into the 3-nitro derivative, but in a mixture of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids 2-methyl-5-nitroindole (47) is formed. In sulfuric acid, 2-methylindole is completely protonated. Thus it is probable that it is the conjugate acid which is undergoing nitration. 3,3-Dialkyl-3H-indolium salts similarly nitrate at the 5-position. The para directing ability of the immonium group in a benzenoid context is illustrated by the para nitration of the conjugate acid of benzylideneaniline (48). 

In many cases, substituents linked to a pyrrole, furan or thiophene ring show similar reactivity to those linked to a benzenoid nucleus. This generalization is not true for amino or hydroxyl groups. Hydroxy compounds exist largely, or entirely, in an alternative nonaromatic tautomeric form. Derivatives of this type show little resemblance in their reactions to anilines or phenols. Thienyl- and especially pyrryl- and furyl-methyl halides show enhanced reactivity compared with benzyl halides because the halogen is made more labile by electron release of the type shown below. Hydroxymethyl and aminomethyl groups on heteroaromatic nuclei are activated to nucleophilic attack by a similar effect. 

---