Benzylic position reactions

As is broadly true for aromatic compounds, the a- or benzylic position of alkyl substituents exhibits special reactivity. This includes susceptibility to radical reactions, because of the. stabilization provided the radical intermediates. In indole derivatives, the reactivity of a-substituents towards nucleophilic substitution is greatly enhanced by participation of the indole nitrogen. This effect is strongest at C3, but is also present at C2 and to some extent in the carbocyclic ring. The effect is enhanced by N-deprotonation. 

The reaction of 2.4-dimethylthiazole with butyllithium shows that, in contrast to 2-methylthiazole, the benzyl position (the 2-position) is the most reactive. The effect of the substituent in the 4-position may well be steric 4-r-butyl-2-methylthiazole in the same reaction gives no 5-substituted product (223). 

Side-chain bromination at the benzylic position occurs when an alkylbenzene is treated with /V-bromosuccinimide (NBS). For example, propylbenzene gives (l-bromopropyl)benzene in 97% yield on reaction tvith NBS in the presence of benzoyl peroxide, (PhC02)2f as a radical initiator. Bromination occurs exclusively in the benzylic position and does not give a mixture of products. 

Reaction occurs exclusively at the benzylic position because the benzylic radical intermediate is stabilized by resonance. Figure 16.20 shows how the benzyl radical is stabilized by overlap of its p orbital with the ring 77 electron system. 

The benzylic position of an alkylbcnzene can be brominated by reaction with jV-bromosuccinimide, and the entire side chain can be degraded to a carboxyl group by oxidation with aqueous KMnCfy Although aromatic rings are less reactive than isolated alkene double bonds, they can be reduced to cyclohexanes by hydrogenation over a platinum or rhodium catalyst. In addition, aryl alkyl ketones are reduced to alkylbenzenes by hydrogenation over a platinum catalyst. 

When the nucleophile is a stabilized carbanion such as the enolate of acetylacetone, 1-benzoylacetophenone, diethylmalonate, or ethyl acetatoacetone, the reaction proceeds similarly. The monosubstituted complex is isolated as long as it contains an acidic hydrogen in the benzylic position. In addition, for the case of diketones CH2(COR)2 (R = Me, Ph, OEt), a deacetylation is observed in an acidic medium [92,93]. These features are the same as described above in the case of the substitution of Cl by stabilized carbanions in monochloroaromatics (the second chlorine being an inert arene substituent [99] Scheme XVII, Eq. (31) and Tables 10 and 11. 

Sections D through H of Scheme 3.2 involve oxygen nucleophiles. The hydrolysis reactions in Entries 12 and 13 both involve benzylic positions. The reaction site in Entry 13 is further activated by the ERG substituents on the ring. Entries 14 to 17 are examples of base-catalyzed ether formation. The selectivity of the reaction in Entry 17 for the meta-hydroxy group is an example of a fairly common observation in aromatic systems. The ortho-hydroxy group is more acidic and probably also stabilized by chelation, making it less reactive. 

Several procedures have been developed for obtaining quinodimethane intermediates from w-substi Luted benzylstannanes. The reactions occur by generating an electrophilic center at the adjacent benzylic position, which triggers a 1,4-elimination. 

Reaction selectivity of the parent ortho-QM has also been explored with a variety of amino acid and related species.30 In these examples, the rates of alkylation and adduct yields were quantified over a range of temperatures and pH values. The initial QM3 was generated by exposing a quaternary benzyl amine (QMP3) to heat or ultraviolet radiation (Scheme 9.10). Reversible generation of QM3 was implied by subsequent exchange of nucleophiles at the benzylic position under alternative photochemical or thermal activation.30 Report of this work also included the first suggestion that the reversible nature of QM alkylation could be used for controlled delivery of a potent electrophile. 

In the absence of reversible reaction, for example when water acts as the lone nucleophile, QMP11 is consumed with a half-life of approximately 0.5 h as measured by its diminished ability to cross-link DNA (Scheme 9.18).69 Elimination of acetate to form the first of two possible QM intermediates (QM12) is likely rate-determining in this process since subsequent addition by water is estimated to occur with a half-life in the millisecond range.56 The resulting hydroxy substituent at the benzylic position does not eliminate and regenerate QM12 under ambient conditions. Thus, water... 

The reaction mechanisms have been clarified in some detail7In method (a) a complex sequence starts with the acetoxy cyclopropenium ion 126 and the cyclo-propenyl acetate 127 and finally leads to adducts 128 containing two moles of arylmalononitrile, which were isolated and shown to be the preferential precursors of quinocyclopropenes. In method (b) the ambivalent arylmalononitrile anion102) is reversibly attacked at the benzylic position at low temperatures, whilst at higher temperature (after dissociation of 114) attack at the o- and p-positions of the... 

Treatment of ethenes 158 with trithiazyl trichloride afforded 1,2,5-thiadiazoles 159 in moderate to good yields (Equation 32 Table 10). The reaction, however, suffers from the possibility of chlorination at allylic or benzylic positions, in particular if excess trimer is used. 

The C-H insertion a to nitrogen can be extended to acyclic systems. The reaction with jY-benzyl-iV-methylamine is an excellent example of the interplay between steric and electronic effects. The benzylic position would be electronically the most activated, but due to the steric crowding, the C-H insertion occurred exclusively at the iV-methyl site (Equation (27)).86 This is a general method for generating a-aryl-/5-amino acid derivatives. The N,N-dimethylamino group undergoes a very favorable C-H insertion by the donor/acceptor-substituted carbenoids. Indeed, the reaction is so favorable that double C-H insertion was readily achieved to form the elaborated -symmetric amine 10 (Equation (28)).87... 

The reaction presumably involves a cis, syn elimination. As Eq. 34 illustrates, regioselectivity can be controlled by choice of base 49). The higher kinetic acidity of the benzylic position of 20 determines the regioselectivity with a- non-hindered base whereas, steric hindrance directs the base to the methyl group. 

The different synthetic applications of acceptor-substituted carbene complexes will be discussed in the following sections. The reactions have been ordered according to their mechanism. Because electrophilic carbene complexes can undergo several different types of reaction, elaborate substrates might be transformed with little chemoselectivity. For instance, the phenylalanine-derived diazoamide shown in Figure 4.5 undergoes simultaneous intramolecular C-H insertion into both benzylic positions, intramolecular cyclopropanation of one phenyl group, and hydride abstraction when treated with rhodium(II) acetate. 

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