Carbon-hydrogen bond cleavage

In a competing and novel type of photoreaction, aroyl diphenyl phosphines 1d - k yield diphenylphosphinous acid (4, diphenylphos-phine oxide) as the photoproduct of a complex transfer of the oxygen from the carbonyl carbon onto the phosphorus atom followed by C-P-bond cleavage and hydrogen abstraction from solvent. The mass spectrometric product analysis of an u.v. irradiation experi-... 

Several mechanistic pathways have been proposed for nickel-catalyzed aldehyde/ alkyne reductive couplings, and an overview of the possible mechanisms has been provided elsewhere [3]. Therefore, this description will focus on what is generally believed to be the operative mechanism. The key features of this mechanism are the oxidahve cyclizahon of a zero-valent nickel aldehyde-alkyne complex to form a five-membered oxametallacycle, followed by reductive cleavage of the nickel-carbon bond, and carbon-hydrogen bond formation via reduchve elimination (Scheme 8.30). 

The hydrogenolyaia of cyclopropane rings (C—C bond cleavage) has been described on p, 105. In syntheses of complex molecules reductive cleavage of alcohols, epoxides, and enol ethers of 5-keto esters are the most important examples, and some selectivity rules will be given. Primary alcohols are converted into tosylates much faster than secondary alcohols. The tosylate group is substituted by hydrogen upon treatment with LiAlH (W. Zorbach, 1961). Epoxides are also easily opened by LiAlH. The hydride ion attacks the less hindered carbon atom of the epoxide (H.B. Henhest, 1956). The reduction of sterically hindered enol ethers of 9-keto esters with lithium in ammonia leads to the a,/S-unsaturated ester and subsequently to the saturated ester in reasonable yields (R.M. Coates, 1970). Tributyltin hydride reduces halides to hydrocarbons stereoselectively in a free-radical chain reaction (L.W. Menapace, 1964) and reacts only slowly with C 0 and C—C double bonds (W.T. Brady, 1970 H.G. Kuivila, 1968). 

Oxidation. Ketones are oxidized with powerful oxidizing agents such as chromic or nitric acid. During oxidation, carbon—carbon bond cleavage occurs to produce carboxyHc acids. Ketone oxidation with hydrogen peroxide, or prolonged exposure to air and heat, can produce peroxides. Concentrated solutions of ketone peroxides (>30%) may explode, but dilute solutions are useful in curing unsaturated polyester resin mixtures (see... 

Thermal decomposition of dihydroperoxides results in initial homolysis of an oxygen—oxygen bond foUowed by carbon—oxygen and carbon—carbon bond cleavages to yield mixtures of carbonyl compounds (ketones, aldehydes), esters, carboxyHc acids, hydrocarbons, and hydrogen peroxide. 

Free radicals are initially generated whenever polymer chains are broken and carbon radicals are formed. These effects occur during manufacture and in service life. Many elastomers are observed to oxidize at relatively low temperature (about 60°C), where carbon-hydrogen and carbon-carbon bond cleavages are highly unlikely. It has been demonstrated [52] that traces of peroxides impurities in the rubber cause low-temperature oxidation of rubber. These initiating peroxides are present in even the most carefully prepared raw rubber polymer [53]. 

The cleavage of a carbon-hydrogen bond (hydride abstraction) has been reported for 7-alkylaminocydoheptatrienes to yield tropenyliden-iminium salts (10a,10b). This unique class of compounds had been prepared... 

A second piece of evidence in support of the E2 mechanism is provided by a phenomenon known as the deuterium isotope effect. For reasons that we won t go into, a carbon-hydrogen bond is weaker by about 5 kj/mol (1.2 kcal/mol) than the corresponding carbon-rfaiiferiwm bond. Thus, a C-H bond is more easily broken than an equivalent C-D bond, and the rate of C-H bond cleavage is faster. For instance, the base-induced elimination of HBv from l-bromo-2-phenylethane proceeds 7.11 times as fast as the corresponding... 

The greater ease of reaction compared to nitrosodeprotonation may arise from the greater ease of carbon-carbon bond cleavage compared to carbon-hydrogen bond cleavage for in the latter reaction this is partly rate-determining and may so be in the decarboxylation as well. 

Finally, the change in selectivity for the methane/pentane couple for the two different substrates (18% for hexane, 56% for cyclohexane) can be explained as follows in the case of cyclohexane, the Ci to C5 products are formed through the second carbon-carbon bond cleavage via the hexyl surface intermediate D whereas in the case of hexane, the initial carbon-hydrogen bond activation step can lead to any of three alkyl surface intermediates (D, E, and F) before arriving at the key metallacychc intermediates... 

G and H. This suggests that the isomerization of the surface alkyl fragments inter-converting D, E, and F, is slow with respect to the second carbon-hydrogen bond activation step and subsequent carbon-carbon bond cleavage. 

There are also reactions in which hydride is transferred from carbon. The carbon-hydrogen bond has little intrinsic tendency to act as a hydride donor, so especially favorable circumstances are required to promote this reactivity. Frequently these reactions proceed through a cyclic TS in which a new C—H bond is formed simultaneously with the C-H cleavage. Hydride transfer is facilitated by high electron density at the carbon atom. Aluminum alkoxides catalyze transfer of hydride from an alcohol to a ketone. This is generally an equilibrium process and the reaction can be driven to completion if the ketone is removed from the system, by, e.g., distillation, in a process known as the Meerwein-Pondorff-Verley reduction,189 The reverse reaction in which the ketone is used in excess is called the Oppenauer oxidation. 

Several studies have been performed on the photodecomposition of diaryl sulfones and polysulfones Khodair, et. al., (21) demonstrated that the photodecomposition of diaryl sulfones proceeds by a free-radical mechanism with initial carbon-sulfur bond cleavage. This gives an aryl radical and an aromatic sulfonyl radical. The latter radical can react with oxygen and a hydrogen donor to eventually form the hydroxyl radical. The hydroxy radical may attack the aromatic nucleus in PET and forms the hydroxyterephthaloyl radical. 

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