1.4- Benzoquinone, formation

From the studies of the intracutaneous sensitization of guinea pigs using PPD, hydroquinone, quinhy-drone and benzoquinone it has been suggested that benzoquinone formation plays an important role in the allergic action of PPD [15]. 

Figure 1.9 Reaction pathway for phenoi hydroxyiation with H2O2 as the oxidizing agent and TS-1 as the catalyst. The relative rate constants characterizing product (hydroqui-none or catechol) formation and by-product (benzoquinone) formation and secondary reactions depend on the catalyst and are discussed in the text.

Haga, N., Takayanagi, H., and Tokumaru, K., Photoinduced electron transfer between acenaphthylene and 1,4-benzoquinones. Formation of dimers of acenaphthylene and l l-adducts and effect of excitation mode on reactivity of the charge-transfer complexes, /. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 2, 734, 2002. 

Olariu et al. have reported 1,2-dihydroxybenzene (80.4 12.1)%, 1,4-benzoquinone (3.7 1.2)%, and 2-nitrophenol (5.8 1.0)% as the main OH-initiated oxidation of phenol. 1,2-Dihydroxybenzene is formed through the addition channel as shown in the figure n-E-2. Since they have not observed the formation of 1,4-benzoquinone when phenoxy radicals were produced by reaction of Cl-atoms, they have concluded that 1,4-benzoquinone formation in the OH reaction with phenol must be occurring via the OH addition channel not the abstraction channel. The complete reaction mechanism leading to 1,4-benzoquinone is still not clear. 

To a cold aqueous solution of benzoquinone, add 1 drop of sulphurous acid solution (SOj-water) the solution turns deep green-brown owing to the intermediate formation of quinhydrone, CeH402,CeIl4(0H)2. Now add excess of sulphurous acid the solution becomes colourless owing to the formation of hydroquinone. Add a few drops of FeClj solution the reaction is reversed and the deep yellow colour (distinct from that of FeCl ) is restored. 

Formation of silver mirror or precipitate of silver indicates reducing agent. (This is often a more sensitive test than I (a) above, and some compounds reduce ammoniacal silver nitrate but are without effect on Fehling s solution.) Given by aldehydes and chloral hydrate formates, lactates and tartrates reducing sugars benzoquinone many amines uric acid. 

The most common stereoselective syntheses involve the formation and cleavage of cyclopentane and cyclohexane derivatives or their unsaturated analogues. The target molecule (aff-cts)-2-methyl-l,4-cyclohexanediol has all of its substituents on the same side of the ring. Such a compound can be obtained by catalytic hydrogenation of a planar cyclic precursor. Methyl-l,4-benzoquinone is an ideal choice (p-toluquinone M. Nakazaki, 1966). 

PurpurogaHin (5), a red-brown to black mordant dye, forms from electrolytic and other mild oxidations of pyrogaHol (1). The reaction is beHeved to proceed through 3-hydroxy-(9-benzoquinone (2) and 3-hydroxy-6-(3,4,5-trihydroxyphenyl)-(9-benzoquinone (3). The last, in the form of its tautomeric triketonic stmcture, represents the vinylogue of a P-diketone. Acid hydrolysis leads to the formation of (4), foHowed by cyclization and loss of formic acid... 

Oxidation. Aromatic amines can undergo a variety of oxidation reactions, depending on the oxidizing agent and the reaction conditions. For example, oxidation of aniline can lead to formation of phenyUiydroxylamine, nitrosobenzene, nitrobenzene, azobenzene, azoxybenzene or -benzoquinone. Oxidation was of great importance in the early stages of the development of aniline and the manufacture of synthetic dyes, such as aniline black and Perkin s mauve. 

Cycloaddition reactions of o-benzoquinones with formation of bi- and tetracyclic systems including 2,3-dihydrobenzo[d]dioxine fragment 96SL1143. 

Studies on the Bischler-Napieralski cyclization of A -acetyltryptamine in the presence of indole have led to the isolation of numerous products, among which the indolocarbazole 186 could be found in 3.5% yield. This outcome was rationalized as a result of the intermediacy of a spiroindolenine species formed under these conditions [89H(28)175]. During detailed studies on the polymerization of indole, formation of a low yield of the related indolo[3,2-h]carbazole 187 was discovered in the product mixture originating from the treatment of indole with p-toluenesulfonic acid at elevated temperature [88JCS(P1)2387]. In an investigation of the condensation of p-benzoquinone with 4-substituted anilines, an indolo[3,2-h]carbazole derivative has been reported to be formed in 2% yield (80JOC1493). 

Dehydrogenation is a rarely used method for the production of fully unsaturated azepines, and there are no examples of its use for the formation of simple monocyclic systems, although 3-hydroxy- and 3-methoxy-2//-azepin-2-ones can be obtained by dehydrogenation of the corresponding l,5-dihydro-2//-azepin-2-ones with 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-l,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) in benzene in a sealed tube at 100 48-51-52-67... 

The HQ reaction with oxygen proceeds through several steps, and the precise reaction path is pressure-dependent. The first step is the formation of benzoquinone is shown in the following section. Further reactions result in the formation of low MW alcohols, ketones, andother compounds. 

Before discussing Beckwith s data on that basis, a brief mention must be made of investigations by Lown s group (Naghipur et al., 1989, 1990, and other papers cited there) who claim to have observed the formation of benzoxathiete (10.63) and its valence isomer monothio-l,2-benzoquinone (10.64) in the aprotic diazotization of 2-[(2,-acetoxyethyl)sulfinyl]aniline (10.62). Scheme 10-82 is an abbreviated form of the mechanism proposed by the authors. A more detailed experimental study is clearly required. 

A large number of other sensitizers has been investigated for use in photolytic de-diazoniation. The excited states of these compounds (S ) react either by direct electron transfer (Scheme 10-97), as for pyrene, or by reaction with an electron donor with formation of a sensitizer anion radical which then attacks the diazonium ion (Scheme 10-98). An example of the second mechanism is the sensitization of arenedi-azonium ions by semiquinone, formed photolytically from 1,4-benzoquinone (Jir-kovsky et al., 1981). 

A proof for the formation of alkyl radicals was found by their addition to the aci-nitromethane anion (CH2=N02 ) and by their reaction with p-benzoquinone to give the optically active nitroalkane radical-anion and the semiquinone radicals, respectively. In the case of di-r-butyl sulfoxide the f-butyl radical was observed directly by its absorption spectra. 

Enantiomers (M)- and (P)-helicenebisquinones [32] 93 have been synthesized by high pressure Diels-Alder reaction of homochiral (+)-(2-p-tolylsulfo-nyl)-l,4-benzoquinone (94) in excess with dienes 95 and 96 prepared from the common precursor 97 (Scheme 5.9). The approach is based on the tandem [4 + 2] cycloaddition/pyrolitic sulfoxide elimination as a general one-pot strategy to enantiomerically enriched polycyclic dihydroquinones. Whereas the formation of (M)-helicene is explained by the endo approach of the arylethene toward the less encumbered face of the quinone, the formation of its enantiomeric (P)-form can be the result of an unfavourable interaction between the OMe group of approaching arylethene and the sulfinyl oxygen of 94. 

The ability of compounds with double bonds to act both as electron donors and as electron acceptors in charge transfer complex formation is well known (81,82). Hammond (83) has studied the correlations of association constants and of the energy of the charge transfer absorption of 2-substituted-l,4-benzoquinones complexed with hexamethylbenzene with the Hammett equation. Charton (84) has studied the correlation with eq. (2) of association constants of 1-substituted propenes with Ag. ... 

Photoaddhion of electron donor olefins such as vinyl ethers and stilbene to variously methyl and halogeno-substituted 1,4-benzoquinones resulted in the formation of dihydrobenzofurans via a dienone-phenol rearrangement of the primary product spirooxetanes <96H(43)619>. High-temperature water seems to be an alternative to use of acid catalysts or organic solvents by the cyclization of allyl phenyl ethers to dihydrobenzofurans <96JOC7355>. 

Quinones represent a very large and heterogeneous class of biomolecules. Three major biosynthetic pathways contribute to the formations of various quinones. The aromatic skeletons of quinones can be synthesized by the polyketide pathway and by the shikimate pathway. The isoprenoid pathways are involved in the biosynthesis of the prenyl chain and in the formation of some benzoquinones and naphthoquinones. ... 

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