Cyclic Biradicals

Parameter ( BuBFPr2)2 (DurBPPr2)2 ( BuBPPh2)2 (DurBPEt2)2 (PhBPPh2)2 

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By similar arguments to those used earlier he concludes that the isomerization does not involve the cyclic biradical. However, the objections of Steel et al. (1964) mentioned earlier in the case of the unsubstituted bicyclopentane isomerization are just as relevant in this case. It appears therefore that there is as yet no conclusive evidence against a biradical intermediate (though this in itself does not imply that such an intermediate must be involved), and the situation in respect of the probable transition state is remarkably similar to that of the simple cyclopropane isomerizations. 

These findings have been rationalized by the rule offive (Srinivasan and Carlough, 1967), according to which five-membered cyclic biradicals are preferentially formed, as shown in Scheme 15. (Cf. also the Baldwin rules for radical cyclizations, Baldwin, 1976.)... 

Wliile the earliest TR-CIDNP work focused on radical pairs, biradicals soon became a focus of study. Biradicals are of interest because the exchange interaction between the unpaired electrons is present tliroiighoiit the biradical lifetime and, consequently, the spin physics and chemical reactivity of biradicals are markedly different from radical pairs. Work by Morozova et al [28] on polymethylene biradicals is a fiirther example of how this method can be used to separate net and multiplet effects based on time scale [28]. Figure Bl.16.11 shows how the cyclic precursor, 2,12-dihydroxy-2,12-dimethylcyclododecanone, cleaves upon 308 mn irradiation to fonn an acyl-ketyl biradical, which will be referred to as the primary biradical since it is fonned directly from the cyclic precursor. The acyl-ketyl primary biradical decarbonylates rapidly k Q > 5 x... 

Thermal decomposition of cis- and frans-3,6-dimethyl-3,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridazines affords propene, cis- and frans-l,2-dimethylcyclobutanes and 1-hexene. The stereochemistry of the products is consistent with the intermediacy of the 1,4-biradical 2,5-hexadienyl. The results indicate that thermal reactions of cyclic azo compounds and cyclobutanes of similar substitution proceed with similar stereospecificity when compared at similar temperatures 79JA2069). 

A few studies have been carried out on the parent four- and five-membered cyclic sulfones—for thietane 1,1-dioxide (30) by Scala and Colon65 and for thiolane 1,1-dioxide (sulfolane) (31) by Honda and coworkers66 and, later, by Schuchmann and von Sonntag67. In the former compound, the major photochemical process, in the vacuum UV range, is the initial production of a trimethylene (C3H6) biradical and S02 (equation 9). In both the solid- (77 K) and gas-phase photolyses, formation of a triplet biradical appears to be favored. As well as the expected cyclopropane and propylene, ethylene is also obtained during these photolyses, presumably by a cycloreversion process (equation 10). 

Mullins71 have shown that the seven-membered cyclic sulfone (38) can be converted photochemically at 254 nm, as well as by thermolysis, into a mixture of 39 and 40. Interestingly, in this series, compound 40, the result of hydrogen transfer (disproportionation) in the presumed intermediate biradical, remained the major product when different solvents and different wavelengths were employed for the irradiation. 

Norrish Type I cleavage of cyclic ketones necessarily yields biradicals, and in certain cases (e.g., cycloheptanone, camphor) strong emissions due to T i S mixing have been reported (Gloss and Doubleday, 1972). 

Two examples from ketone photochemistry that has been recently analyzed within the context of solid-to-solid transformations are the Norrish type and Nor-rish-Yang type Ip44,i45 tactions. In general terms, the type I reaction consists of a homolytic cleavage of bond a-to the carbonyl to generate an acyl-alkyl radical pair (RP-A) or an acyl-alkyl biradical (BR-A) when the ketone is cyclic (Scheme 7.15). 

The final type of reaction that will be discussed is the highly interesting cross photocycloaddition of cyclic a, (3- unsaturated ketones with olefins. Examples were given in Eqs. 28—31. A general mechanism 94), to which there may be exceptions to be discussed later, would involve a triplet state of the enone and the reactions steps given in Eqs. 32, 33, and 35, complex formation, biradical formation, and product formation. An earlier idea that two different excited triplet states were reacting has been discounted. 100,141,142) The inefficiency of the reaction is attributed to an alternate decay of complex 77,78,ioo,i42)( an(j the excited state has a n-n configuration. 100,142)... 

The cyclic enediynyl sulfide 93 is also prone to undergo prototropic rearrangement (Scheme 20.21) [57]. When the l,8-diazabicydo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU)-induced isomerization was conducted in carbon tetrachloride, three cycloaromatized products, 96 to 98, were isolated, indicating the formation of the biradical 95a as a transient intermediate. In a polar solvent, such as methanol or ethanol, the formation of 99 can best be accounted for by regarding the biradical 95a as the zwitterion ion 95b. A related process involving the oxidation of 93 with selenium dioxide has also been reported [58],... 

The propargylic alcohol 102, prepared by condensation between 100 and the lithium acetylide 101, was efficiently reduced to the hydrocarbon 103, which on treatment with potassium tert-butoxide was isomerized to the benzannulated enyne-allene 104 (Scheme 20.22) [62], At room temperature, the formation of 104 was detected. In refluxing toluene, the Schmittel cyclization occurs readily to generate the biradical 105, which then undergoes intramolecular radical-radical coupling to give 106 and, after a prototropic rearrangement, the llJ-f-benzo[fo]fluorene 107. Several other HJ-f-benzo[fo]fluorenes were likewise synthesized from cyclic aromatic ketones. 

Five- or six-membered saturated cyclic ketones can also react by another pathway that does not involve decarbonylation. In these reactions, the biradical initially formed by a-cleavage undergoes internal disproportionation without loss of carbon monoxide, resulting in the formation of either an unsaturated aldehyde or a ketene. Methanol is usually added to convert the reactive ketene to a stable carboxylic-acid derivative (Scheme 9.2). 

The 1,4 biradical can undergo cyclisation (Yang cyclisation) to give a four-membered cyclic alcohol ... 

Although cyclic azoalkanes are well known as biradical precursors [159] they have been used as 1,2- and 1,3-radical cation precursors only recently [160-164]. Apart from the rearrangement products bicyclopentane 161 and cyclopentene 163, the PET-oxidation of bicyclic azoalkane 158 yields mostly unsaturated spirocyclic products [165]. Common sensitizers are triphenyl-pyrylium tetrafluoroborate and 9,10-dicyanoanthracene with biphenyl as a cosensitizer. The ethers 164 and 165 represent trapping products of the proposed 1,2-radical cation 162. Comparison of the PET chemistry of the azoalkane 158 and the corresponding bicyclopentane 161 additionally supports the notion that the non-rearranged diazenyl radical cation 159 is involved (Scheme 31). 

All aerosol products identified in the sm( chamber can be reasonably explained in terms of the O Neal and Blumstein and Criegee mechanisms, as is illustrated in Figure 3-11 for Qrclohexene. The major difference between alkenes and cyclic olefins lies in the fact that, after opening of the ( clic olefin double bond, the original number of carbon atoms is conserved and the chain carries both the carbonyl group and the biradical intermediate, whose further reactions lead to the observed difunctional compounds. 

Another class of isomerization involves cyclization-decyclization reactions. For example, cyclic hydrocarbons may decompose with the formation of unsaturated products. Again these reactions may be viewed to go through biradical transition states, as seen, for example, in... 

Experimental evidence of the involvement of a biradical intermediate in the decomposition of 3,3-dimethyl-l,2-dioxetane (10) has been obtained by radical trapping with 1,4-cyclohexadiene (CHD). Decomposition of 10 in neat CHD was shown to result in the formation of the expected 1,4-dioxy biradical trapping product, 2-methyl-1,2-propanediol (11) ° . However, more recently, it has been shown that the previously observed trapping product 11 was formed by induced decomposition of the dioxetane, initiated by the attack of the C—C double bond of the diene on the strained 0—0 bond of the cyclic peroxide (Scheme 9)"°. 

The authors show that hydrocarbon precursors 38-40 of biradical 37 react with O2 at elevated temperature to give the cyclic peroxides 41 (Scheme 5.8). 

Cycloaromatization of the cyclic eneyneallene (68) produces the 1,5-didehydroin-dene biradical 69, that abstracts hydrogen atoms from the DNA strand in analogy to the calicheamicins (cf. Section 3.3). 

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