Carbonyl compounds radical anions

Reduction potentials for carbonyl compound - radical-anion systems in dimethyl-... 

Uv-absoiption of carbonyl compound radical-anions and values of pK, for their conjugate acids... 

Electrochemical modulated infrared (ir) spectroscopy has been used to obtain in situ spectra of the radical anion of benzophenone [5], There is a red shift of the vibrational modes of the benzene rings and considerable loosening of the carbonyl bond. Carbonyl compound radical anions are protonated on the oxygen center. The conjugate acids of alkanones and alkanals have pKg values [6] in the range 11-12, while those from conjugated aromatic carbonyl compounds [7] are in the range 8-10. 

Two classes of charged radicals derived from ketones have been well studied. Ketyls are radical anions formed by one-electron reduction of carbonyl compounds. The formation of the benzophenone radical anion by reduction with sodium metal is an example. This radical anion is deep blue in color and is veiy reactive toward both oxygen and protons. Many detailed studies on the structure and spectral properties of this and related radical anions have been carried out. A common chemical reaction of the ketyl radicals is coupling to form a diamagnetic dianion. This occurs reversibly for simple aromatic ketyls. The dimerization is promoted by protonation of one or both of the ketyls because the electrostatic repulsion is then removed. The coupling process leads to reductive dimerization of carbonyl compounds, a reaction that will be discussed in detail in Section 5.5.3 of Part B. 

The stereoselective 1,4-addition of lithium diorganocuprates (R2CuLi) to unsaturated carbonyl acceptors is a valuable synthetic tool for creating a new C—C bond.181 As early as in 1972, House and Umen noted that the reactivity of diorganocuprates directly correlates with the reduction potentials of a series of a,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compounds.182 Moreover, the ESR detection of 9-fluorenone anion radical in the reaction with Me2CuLi, coupled with the observation of pinacols as byproducts in equation (40) provides the experimental evidence for an electron-transfer mechanism of the reaction between carbonyl acceptors and organocuprates.183... 

The site of reaction on an unsaturated organometallic molecule is not restricted to the most probable position of the metallic atom or cation or to a position corresponding to any one resonance structure of the anion. This has been discussed in a previous section with reference to the special case of reaction with a proton. Although the multiple reactivity is particularly noticeable in the case of derivatives of carbonyl compounds, it is not entirely lacking even in the case of the derivatives of unsaturated hydrocarbons. Triphenylmethyl sodium reacts with triphenylsilyl chloride to give not only the substance related to hexaphenylethane but also a substance related to Chichi-babin s hydrocarbon.401 It will be recalled that both the triphenyl-carbonium ion and triphenylmethyl radical did the same sort of thing. 

Indirect electrosynthesis of reactive formyl transition metal compounds involves an initial step of reduction of metal carbonyls to radicals followed by transfer of a hydrogen atom from trialkyltin hydrides190. Electroreduction of metal carbonyls yields products of dimerization and loss of CO from the radical anion. Electroreduction in the presence of R3SnH yields the formylmetalcarbonyls ... 

More generally, double bonds between two carbons or one carbon and a heteroatom, possibly conjugated with other unsaturated moieties in the molecule, are eligible for two-electron/two-proton reactions according to Scheme 2.20. Carbonyl compounds are typical examples of such two-electron/two-proton hydrogenation reactions. In the case of quinones, the reaction that converts the quinone into the corresponding hydroquinone is reversible. With other carbonyl compounds, the protonation of the initial ketyl anion radical compete with its dimerization, as discussed later. 

Anion radical species formed by electroreduction of carbonyl compounds show interesting reactivities. In some cases, the... 

In general, it may be expected that thiocar-bonyl compounds are easier to reduce ca-thodically than the corresponding carbonyl structures. There are a few examples dealing with the cathodic reduction of thiones. Let us quote the case of thiobenzophenone, which affords readily a rather stable radical anion at a potential that is -1-0.5 V more positive than that of benzophenone, when... 

Radical anions resulting from cathodic reductions of molecules react with electrophilic centers. As an example (Scheme 8), the reduction of compounds in which a double bond is not conjugated with a carbonyl group, involves an intramolecular coupling reaction of radical anion with alkene [12]. 

Radical anion EGBs derived from aromatic carbonyl compounds are expected to be relatively weak bases but since the radical anions undergo dimerization, the more basic dimer dianions may be active as EGBs for substrates with pK values in the range 20 to 23. Aromatic carbonyl compounds have primarily been used as PBs in catalytic reactions in which the PB also functions as an electrophile (cf. Sect. 14.9.2). 

A somewhat more complex mechanism takes place with other H-atom donors, such as primary and secondary alcohols, either added to the liquid ammonia solution or used as the solvent (Andrieux et al., 1987). Instead of being totally reduced, the hydroxyalkyl radical, resulting from the H-atom abstraction from the alcohol, partly deprotonates, generating the anion radical of the parent carbonyl compound. The latter is then generated by... 

Probably the most familiar radical reactions leading to 1,2-D systems are the so called acyloin condensation and the different variants of the "pinacol condensation". Both types of condensation involve an electron-transfer from a metal atom to a carbonyl compound (whether an ester or an aldehyde or a ketone) to give a radical anion which either dimerises directly, if the concentration of the species is very high, or more generally it reacts with the starting neutral carbonyl compound and then a second electron is transferred from the metal to the radical dimer species (for an alternative mechanism of the acyloin condensation, see Bloomfield, 1975 [29]). 

The carbon dioxide anion-radical was used for one-electron reductions of nitrobenzene diazo-nium cations, nitrobenzene itself, quinones, aliphatic nitro compounds, acetaldehyde, acetone and other carbonyl compounds, maleimide, riboflavin, and certain dyes (Morkovnik and Okhlobystin 1979). The double bonds in maleate and fumarate are reduced by CO2. The reduced products, on being protonated, give rise to succinate (Schutz and Meyerstein 2006). The carbon dioxide anion-radical reduces organic complexes of Co and Ru into appropriate complexes of the metals(II) (Morkovnik and Okhlobystin 1979). In particular, after the electron transfer from this anion radical to the pentammino-p-nitrobenzoato-cobalt(III) complex, the Co(III) complex with thep-nitrophenyl anion-radical fragment is initially formed. The intermediate complex transforms into the final Co(II) complex with the p-nitrobenzoate ligand. 

Radical-anions can be characterised by esr-spectroscopy. Those derived from simple carbonyl compounds such as acetone or 3-methylbutan-2-one are highly reactive and can only be detected in a glassy matrix prepared by the alternate d o-sition of layers of sodium and the ketone at 77 K [4], lire radical-anion from the... 

Radical-anions of carbonyl compounds are basic and undergo protonation at the oxygen centre generating highly reactive radical species. 

Values of 1554 cm for the carbonyl stretching frequency in tlie radical-anion of benzophenone [16] and of 1558 cm for the radical-anion of di-ter/.-butyl ketone [17] suggest that in general Vco will be found at lower frequencies for the radical-anion than for the parent carbonyl compound. 

At low pH values, dimerization must involve the combination of two neutral carbon radicals since the same ( ) / meso ratio is obtained as from the photochemical reaction of the carbonyl compound in methanol [26], a process which also involves neutral radicals. The switch in isomer ratio to that characteristic of alkaline media occurs in the region of pH close to the value of pKj for the neutral radical. Dimerization then occurs in a fast reaction between the radical-anion and the neutral radical. In strongly alkaline solutions where the pH pK the major reactive species formed at the potential of the first reduction wave is the radical-anion. Reaction between two radical-anions is relatively slow due to coulorobic repulsion so that dimerization in strongly alkaline solution still occurs by reaction... 

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