Benzopyrenes, protonation

Colpa et al. (1963) calculated p/if(S1 )-values for a series of aromatic hydrocarbons, but could not detect fluorescence changes in the regions of acidity indicated by the Forster cycle, although fluorescence spectra attributed to proton complexes of 3,4-benzopyrene and 1,2-benzanthracene were observed in some solutions containing only the neutral molecule in the ground state. Flurry and co-workers (1963, 1966, 1967) have carried out theoretical and Forster cycle calculation on the excited state basicities of poly-methylbenzenes and Kuz min et al. (1967) have also calculated p/ (Sj)- and p/ (Tj)-values for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons increases in base strength of from 7 to 30 powers of ten were derived for Sj. 

According to Hall (80a) adsorption on silica-alumina in the presence of isoctane, displays for pyrene bands at 462 and 467, and for 3,4-benzopyrene, the carcinogenic hydrocarbon, bands at 520 and 782 mju., corresponding evidently to similar cation radicals and to carbonium cations. It was presumed that these latter are not of the protonated form, but represent a positively charged configuration, covalently bound to an electrophilic (Al) site, like that schematically represented in Section VD for chemisorbed olefins. 

Pyrones, which are the ring-oxygen equivalents of pyridones, are simply a- and y-hydroxy-pyrylium salts from which an 0-proton has been removed. There is little to recommend that 2- and 4-pyrones be viewed as aromatic they are perhaps best seen as cyclic unsaturated lactones and cyclic p-oxy-a,P-unsaturated-ketones, respectively, for example 2-pyrones are hydrolysed by alkali, just like simpler esters (lactones). It is instructive that, whereas the pyrones are converted into pyridones by reaction with amines or ammonia, the reverse is not the case - pyridones are not transformed into pyrones by water or hydroxide. Some electrophilic C-substitutions are known for pyrones and benzopyrenes, the oxygen guiding the electrophile ortho or para, however there is a tendency for electrophihe addition to the C-C double bond of the heterocyclic ring, again reflecting their non-aromatic nature. Easy Diels-Alder additions to 2-pyrones are further evidence for diene, rather than aromatic, character. 

The first pyrylium salt without hydroxy or alkoxy substituents made by the protonation or alkylation of 4-pyrones was obtained in 1911 by Baeyer and Piccard fi"om 4-pyrones and Grignard reagents. Isolation of these compounds was often difficult, and their characterization was confiised by a lack of a clear understanding of their electronic structure. However, there was much interest in benzopyrenes (coumarins, flavones, and chromones) and benzopyrylium (flavylium, chromylium) salts isolated fi om plants (anthocyanins, anthocyanidines) to which they conferred a large diversity of colors. 

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