Benzyl radicals, substituted

The chain propagation step consists of a reaction of allylic radical 3 with a bromine molecule to give the allylic bromide 2 and a bromine radical. The intermediate allylic radical 3 is stabilized by delocalization of the unpaired electron due to resonance (see below). A similar stabilizing effect due to resonance is also possible for benzylic radicals a benzylic bromination of appropriately substituted aromatic substrates is therefore possible, and proceeds in good yields. 

The benzoin ethers (75, R-alkyl R H) and the ot-alkyl benzoin derivatives (75, R=H, alkyl R =alkyl) undergo a-scission with sufficient facility that it is not quenched by oxygen or conventional triplet quenchers.276 This means that the initiators might be used for UV-curing in air. Unfortunately, it does not mitigate the usual effects of air as an inhibitor (Section 5.3.2). The products of a-scission (Scheme 3.53) are a benzoyl radical (13) and an ( -substituted benzyl radical (76) both of which may, in principle, initiate polymerization, 76 2"... 

Depending on the nature of the substituent R, the radical 76 (Scheme 3.53) may be slow to add to double bonds and primary radical termination can be a severe complication (see 3.2.9).30 40The problems associated with formation of a relatively stable radical are mitigated with certain tx-alkoxy (77) and a-alkanesulfonyl derivatives (79).280 In both cases the substituted benzyl radicals formed by a-scission (78 and 80 respectively) can themselves undergo a facile fragmentation to form a more reactive radical which is less likely to he involved in primary radical termination (Scheme 3.55, Scheme 3.56). 

Benzyl radicals and a- and 3- substituted derivatives also undergo unsymmetrical coupling through the aromatic ring (Section 2.5). The formation of the (i-o and a—p coupling products is reversible. Consequently, these materials are often only observed as transient intermediates. 

A good correlation with ordinary Hammett a values was based on 16 well-behaved substituents, and p-SOMe conformed well to this. Various other substituents showed deviations which were attributed to enhanced + R effects. These included p-SPh and this was explained in terms of 7t(pd) bonding, which was thus taken to play no part in the effect of p-SOMe on the methyl hyperfine splitting. More recently several 4-substituted benzyl radicals of the type RSO C6H4CH2 (n — 0,1 or 2 R = Me, Ph, Tol, COMe or OMe) have been examined by ESR spectroscopy249. The ability to delocalize spin density onto the substituent decreases in general as n increases and the effect of R depends on the oxidation state of sulfur. These authors have devised a new scale of substituent effects (sigma dot... 

Partenheimer showed (ref. 15) that when toluene was subjected to dioxygen in acetic acid no reaction occurred, even at 205 °C and 27 bar. He also showed that when a solution of cobalt(II) acetate in acetic acid at 113 °C was treated with dioxygen ca. 1 % of the cobalt was converted to the trivalent state. In the presence of a substituted toluene two reactions are possible formation of a benzyl radical via one-electron oxidation of the substrate or decarboxylation of the acetate ligand (Fig. 9). Unfortunately, at the temperatures required for a reasonable rate of ArCH3 oxidation (> 130 °C) competing decarboxylation predominates. As noted earlier, two methods have been devised to circumvent this undesirable... 

Based both on the determined isotopic shifts and the comparison of the radical IR spectrum with the spectra of various substituted benzenes, the bands have been assigned to the normal modes and the force field of the benzyl radical calculated (Table 8). 

II), and its formation therefore is more probable. If the substituent X possesses unsaturation conjugated with the free radical carbon, as for example when X is phenyl, resonance stabilization may be fairly large. The addition product (I) in this case is a substituted benzyl radical. Comparison of the C—I bond strengths in methyl iodide and in benzyl iodide, and a similar comparison of the C—H bond strengths in methane and toluene, indicate that a benzyl radical of type (I) is favored by resonance stabilization in the amount of 20 to 25 kcal. 

Typically, the reaction mechanism proceeds as follows [6], By photoreaction, two chlorine radicals are formed. These radicals react with the alkyl aromatic to yield a corresponding benzyl radical. This radical, in turn, breaks off the chlorine moiety to yield a new chlorine radical and is substituted by the other chlorine, giving the final product. Too many chlorine radicals lead to recombination or undesired secondary reactions. Furthermore, metallic impurities in micro reactors can act as Lewis catalysts, promoting ring substitution. Friedel-Crafts catalyst such as FeClj may induce the formation of resin-Uke products. 

A corresponding correlation is obtained for the rate constants of a,a -phenyl substituted alkanes 26 (R1 = C6H5, R2 = H, R3 = alkyl) (see Fig. 1 )41). It has, however, a different slope and a different axis intercept. When both correlations are extrapolated to ESp = 0, a difference of about 16 kcal/mol in AG is found. This value is not unexpected because in the decomposition of a,a -phenyl substituted ethanes (Table 5, no. 22—27) resonance stabilized secondary benzyl radicals are formed. From Fig. 1 therefore a resonance energy of about 8 kcal/mol for a secondary benzyl radical is deduced. This is of the expected order of magnitude54. ... 

Radical attack on methylbenzene (toluene, 60) results in preferential hydrogen abstraction by Cl leading to overall substitution in the CH3 group, rather than addition to the nucleus. This reflects the greater stability of the first formed (delocalised) benzyl radical, PhCH2 (61), rather than the hexadienyl radical (62), in which the aromatic stabilisation of the starting material has been lost ... 

Various saccharin derivatives 260 have been prepared by chromium (VI) oxide catalyzed H5IO6 oxidation of substituted ort/ro-toluenesulfonamides 259 <06T7902>. The reaction presumably proceeds through a benzylic radical intermediate 261 generated from the... 

For unsubstituted PAH, such as benzo[a]pyrene (BP), pyridinium or acetoxy derivatives are formed by direct attack of pyridine or acetate ion, respectively, on the radical cation at C-6, the position of maximum charge density (Scheme 1). This is followed by a second one-electron oxidation of the resulting radical and loss of a proton to yield the 6-substituted derivative. For methyl-substituted PAH in which the maximum charge density of the radical cation adjacent to the methyl group is appreciable, as in 6-methylbenzo[a]-pyrene (6-methylBP) (Scheme 2), loss of a methyl proton yields a benzylic radical. This reactive species is rapidly oxidized by iodine or MnJ to a benzylic carbonium ion with subsequent trapping by pyridine or acetate ion, respectively. 

TABLE 10. The primary hydrogen-deuterium kinetic isotope effects for the reactions of a series of para-substituted benzyl radicals with tributyltin hydride3... 

When the epoxide is 1,2-disubstituted, steric and electronic effects are responsible for the preferential formation of one product. In this context, benzyl radicals are always produced irrespective of the substitution pattern of the epoxide. For these intermediates, the more reactive tert-butyl thiol is the hydrogen atom donor of choice. Chelation of titanium can be used to good effect for regioselective epoxide opening, as shown in Scheme 12.8 [5d]. 

A similar (but somewhat less obvious) dichotomy results in the simultaneous ring and sidechain substitution of durene. Thus in this charge-transfer nitration, the addition of N02 to the cation radical DUR+- (72) occurs in competition with its deprotonation (73), in which the pyridine has been shown to act as a base (Masnovi et al., 1989) (Scheme 15). [Note that deprotonation of DUR+- also leads to aromatic dimers via the subsequent (oxidative) substitution of the benzylic radical formed in (73) (Bewick et al., 1975 Lau and Kochi, 1984).]... 

Nuclear aromatic substitution occurs by way of an ECiyECfi-sequence as shown in Scheme 9, path (b). It occurs at the carbon atom with the highest positive charge density and in alkylbenzenes competes with side chain substitution via an ECgEC/v process by deprotonation of the radical cation to form a benzyl radical. 

Arnold s o -scaIe (Arnold, 1986 Dust and Arnold, 1983 Wayner and Arnold, 1984), which reflects the spin-density distribution in meta- and para-substituted benzylic radicals and leads to parameters similar to those derived from other sources (Jackson, 1986), provide a good example. Arnold s scheme is based on the hypothesis that hyperfine coupling constants of the a-hydrogen in substituted benzylic radicals give information regarding the effect of substituents on the distribution of spin throughout the radical and that this is connected with the stability of the benzylic radical. 

Arnold s scale is derived for the action of a single substituent on the benzylic 7c-system. It cannot be used to estimate the influence of several substituents on the system under consideration. In this way it is, therefore, not possible to gain insight into the problem of captodative stabilization of a radical centre. The investigation of the spin-density distribution in benzylic radicals has been extended (Korth et al., 1987) to include multiple substitution patterns. Three types of benzylic radicals were considered a,p-disubsti-tuted a-methylbenzyl radicals [17], a-substituted p-methylbenzyl radicals [18] and a-substituted benzyl radicals [19]. In [17] and [18] the hyperfine coupling constants of the methyl hydrogens were used to determine the spin-density... 

Table 6 Delocalization parameters for a-substituted benzyl radicals CjHjCXY."...

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