Bromination regioselectivity

The stereospedfic and regioselective hydrobromination of alkynes with chlorobis(T -cyclopentadienyl)hydrozirconium and NBS produces ( )-vinylic bromides in good yields. The bromine atom usually adds regioselectively to the carbon atom that bears the smaller substituent and stereoselectively trans to the larger substituent (D.W. Hart, 1975 M. Nakatsuka,... 

A secondary alkyl radical is more stable than a primary radical Bromine therefore adds to C 1 of 1 butene faster than it adds to C 2 Once the bromine atom has added to the double bond the regioselectivity of addition is set The alkyl radical then abstracts a hydrogen atom from hydrogen bromide to give the alkyl bromide product as shown m... 

The regioselectivity of addition of HBr to alkenes under normal (electrophilic addi tion) conditions is controlled by the tendency of a proton to add to the double bond so as to produce the more stable carbocatwn Under free radical conditions the regioselec tivity IS governed by addition of a bromine atom to give the more stable alkyl radical Free radical addition of hydrogen bromide to the double bond can also be initiated photochemically either with or without added peroxides... 

Regioselective bromination of ketones at the mote highly substituted a-position is effected by photocatalytic bromination in the presence of 1,2-epoxycyclohexane (37). 

Because the bromine adds to the less substituted carbon atom of the double bond, generating the more stable radical intermediate, the regioselectivity of radical-chain hydrobromination is opposite to that of ionic addition. The early work on the radical mechanism of addition of hydrogen bromide was undertaken to understand why Maikow-nikofF s rule was violated under certain circumstances. The cause was found to be conditions that initiated the radical-chain process, such as peroxide impurities or light. 

Preparation of the substituted piperazine required for sul-falene (114) starts with bromination of 2-aminopiperazine to give the dihalide (150). Displacement of halogen by sodium methoxide proceeds regioselectively at the more reactive 3 position to give 151. Hydrogenolysis over palladium on charcoal gives the desired intermediate (152). 

Regioselective addition of bromine azide to dienes 38 at 25 °C gave the 1,4-adducts 39 or the 1,2-adducts 40 as thermodynamically favored products, their ratios depending on the substituent R on the terminal carbon (Scheme 2.12). These adducts were easily converted into vinylaziridines 41 on treatment with trimethyl-phosphite, although the stereochemistries of 39, 40, and 41 are unclear [23]. 

The temperature is controlled throughout the reaction by intermittently adding additional pieces of dry ice to the dry ice-acetone bath. Strict temperature control throughout the bromination reaction is important to obtain high regioselectivity and purity of the product as the side products cannot be removed with ease. 

Regioselective bromination of phenols gave 2-bromo-, 4-bromo-, 2,6-dibromo-, 2,4-dibromo, 2-bromo-6-substituted, 4-bromo-2-substituted and 2,4-dibromo-6-substitutgd phenols, respectively. Especially, 2-bromo-, 2,6-dibromo- and 2-bromo-6-substituted phenols which were prepared via long steps, were obtained in NBS-amine (primary and secondary) system in high yields under ordinary conditions. The scope and their mechanisms were discussed. 

The distribution of the products was only slightly influenced by the added amount of the amine in the bromination. Even a 0.1 molar amount of diisopropylamine was sufficiently effective. From these results, it was concluded that the amine worked catalytically in the selective orf/io-bromination of phenol. Regioselective bromination of phenol was summarized in Scheme 2. 

Alkoxybenzenes were highly regioselectively halogenated by use of copper(II) halides supported on alumina to give 4-halo-alkoxybenzenes in high yield. Bromination of alkoxybenzenes with alumina-supported copper(II) bromide occurred at lower temperature than chlorination with alumina-supported copper(II) chloride (ref. 14). 

Systematic studies of the selectivity of electrophilic bromine addition to ethylenic bonds are almost inexistent whereas the selectivity of electrophilic bromination of aromatic compounds has been extensively investigated (ref. 1). This surprising difference arises probably from particular features of their reaction mechanisms. Aromatic substitution exhibits only regioselectivity, which is determined by the bromine attack itself, i.e. the selectivity- and rate-determining steps are identical. 

The bromination products, dibromide in methylene chloride and methoxybromide in methanol, are a mixture of erythro- and threo-diastereoisomers, obtained in a ratio, Erythro/Threo = 70 / 30, which does not depend on the substituents or on the solvent. As expected, the reaction in the protic solvent is fiilly regioselective, i.e. methanol only traps the intermediate... 

Analogous results were obtained for enol ether bromination. The reaction of ring-substituted a-methoxy-styrenes (ref. 12) and ethoxyvinylethers (ref. 10), for example, leads to solvent-incorporated products in which only methanol attacks the carbon atom bearing the ether substituent. A nice application of these high regio-and chemoselectivities is found in the synthesis of optically active 2-alkylalkanoic acids (ref. 13). The key step of this asymmetric synthesis is the regioselective and chemoselective bromination of the enol ether 4 in which the chiral inductor is tartaric acid, one of the alcohol functions of which acts as an internal nucleophile (eqn. 2). 

As regards the regioselectivity of monosubstituted, cis and trans disubstituted alkenes, bromination most frequently exhibits anti-Markovnikov behaviour. Only in the case of propene and 1-butene, i.e. when the double bond bears only one linear substituent, bromination in methanol is predominantly but not completely Markovnikov. Steric effects obviously play an important role in determining the... 

The Markovnikov regioselectivity of the gem-alkenes is associated with a chemoselectivity. in favour of methanol attack, significantly greater than that observed for the other alkenes. If no sodium bromide is added to the reaction medium, no dibromide is observed for this series. Therefore, these alkenes behave as highly conjugated olefins, as regards their regio- and chemo-selectivity. In other words, the bromination intermediates of gem-alkenes resemble P-bromocarbocations, rather than bromonium ions. Theoretical calculations (ref. 8) but not kinetic data (ref. 14) support this conclusion. 

STEREOSPECIFIC AND 100 % REGIOSELECTIVE BROMINATION OF A MODERATELY CONJUGATED OLEFIN... 

The bromine atom is much more selective than the chlorine atom. As indicated on page 906, it is often possible to brominate tertiary and benzylic positions selectively. High regioselectivity can also be obtained where the neighboring-group mechanism (p. 899) can operate. 

N2, and bromine trifluoride at 25-35°C " are also highly regioselective for tertiary positions. These reactions probably have electrophilic, not free-radical mechanisms. In fact, the success of the F2 reactions depends on the suppression of free-radical pathways, by dilution with an inert gas, by working at low temperatures, and/or by the use of radical scavengers. 

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