Decarboxylation of acyloxy radicals

Earlier sections have already provided several examples of radical fragmentation reactions, although this terminology was not explicitly used. The facile decarboxylation of acyloxy radicals is an example. 

A classic reaction involving electron transfer and decarboxylation of acyloxy radicals is the Kolbe electrolysis, in which an electron is abstracted from a carboxylate ion at the anode of an electrolysis system. This reaction gives products derived from coupling of the decarboxylated radicals. 

Grollmann U, Schnabel W (1980) On the kinetics of polymer degradation in solution, 9. Pulse radiolysis of polyethylene oxide). Makromol Chem 181 1215-1226 Hamer DH (1986) Metallothionein. In Richardson CC, Boyer PD, Dawid IB, Meister A (eds) Annual review of biochemistry. Annual Reviews, Palo Alto, pp 913-951 Held KD, Harrop HA, Michael BD (1985) Pulse radiolysis studies of the interactions of the sulfhydryl compound dithiothreitol and sugars. Radiat Res 103 171-185 Hilborn JW, PincockJA (1991) Rates of decarboxylation of acyloxy radicals formed in the photocleavage of substituted 1-naphthylmethyl alkanoates. J Am Chem Soc 113 2683-2686 Hiller K-O, Asmus K-D (1983) Formation and reduction reactions of a-amino radicals derived from methionine and its derivatives in aqueous solutions. J Phys Chem 87 3682-3688 Hiller K-O, Masloch B, Gobi M, Asmus K-D (1981) Mechanism of the OH radical induced oxidation of methionine in aqueous solution. J Am Chem Soc 103 2734-2743 Hoffman MZ, Hayon E (1972) One-electron reduction of the disulfide linkage in aqueous solution. Formation, protonation and decay kinetics of the RSSR radical. J Am Chem Soc 94 7950-7957... 

Bockman, T. M., Hubig, S. M., and Kochi, J. K., Direct observation of ultrafast decarboxylation of acyloxy radicals via photoinduced electron transfer in carboxylate ion pairs, J. Org. Chem., 62, 2210, 1997. 

Aliphatic acyloxy radicals undergo facile fragmentation with loss of carbon dioxide (Scheme 3,69) and, with few exceptions,428 do not have sufficient lifetime to enable direct reaction with monomers or other substrates. The rate constants for decarboxylation of aliphatic acyloxy radicals are in the range l 10xl09 M 1 s at 20 °C.429 lister end groups in polymers produced with aliphatic diacyl peroxides as initiators most likely arise by transfer to initiator (see 3.3.2.1,4). The chemistry of the carbon-centered radicals formed by (3-scission of acyloxy radicals is discussed above (see 3.4.1). 

Thne-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometric analysis of the pyrolysis fragments of di-t-butyl peroxide suggests t-BuCO as the primary product, followed by decomposition of this radical into CHj.253 Elsewhere, the kinetics of the pyrolysis of dimethyl, diethyl, and di-t-butyl peroxides in a modified adiabatic bomb calorimeter have been investigated.254 The lifetime of acyloxy radicals, generated by the photolysis or thermolysis of acetyl propionyl peroxide, have been studied. Chemical nuclear polarization has been used to determine the rate constant for the decarboxylation of these radical intermediates.255... 

Estimated Rate Constants for the Decarboxylation of Acyloxy and Alkoxycarbonyl Radicals at 20°C... 

N-acetylated derivatives leads to the formation of Fe(II) porphyrins together with the acyloxy radical which undergoes decarboxylation to give ammonio-alkyl or amidoalkyl radicals. Large differences in the observed rates of Fe(II) porphyrin formation can be accounted for in terms of two factors, the binding affinity of the carboxyl to form a photoactive complex, and competitive reactions of acyloxy radicals following photolysis. 

Whether or not a fragmentation according to reactions (15) and (16) takes place depends on the reactivity of the primary formed oxygen-centered radicals toward the monomer. In the case of BPO, there is a fragmentation with phenyl radical formation [reaction (15)] only in the absence of the monomer. In the presence of the monomer, the benzoyl oxy radicals react with monomer before decarboxylation. Aliphatic acyloxy radicals, on the other hand, undergo fragmentation already in the solvent cage whereby recombination products are produced that are not susceptible to further radical formation. As a result, the radical yield Ur for these initiators is smaller than 1 ... 

Reaction 21 is the decarbonylation of the intermediate acyl radical and is especially important at higher temperatures it is the source of much of the carbon monoxide produced in hydrocarbon oxidations. Reaction 22 is a bimolecular radical reaction analogous to reaction 13. In this case, acyloxy radicals are generated they are unstable and decarboxylate readily, providing much of the carbon dioxide produced in hydrocarbon oxidations. An in-depth article on aldehyde oxidation has been pubHshed (43). 

The extent of decarboxylation primarily depends on temperature, pressure, and the stabihty of the incipient R- radical. The more stable the R- radical, the faster and more extensive the decarboxylation. With many diacyl peroxides, decarboxylation and oxygen—oxygen bond scission occur simultaneously in the transition state. Acyloxy radicals are known to form initially only from diacetyl peroxide and from dibenzoyl peroxides (because of the relative instabihties of the corresponding methyl and phenyl radicals formed upon decarboxylation). Diacyl peroxides derived from non-a-branched carboxyhc acids, eg, dilauroyl peroxide, may also initially form acyloxy radical pairs however, these acyloxy radicals decarboxylate very rapidly and the initiating radicals are expected to be alkyl radicals. Diacyl peroxides are also susceptible to induced decompositions ... 

One-electron oxidation of carboxylate ions generates acyloxy radicals, which undergo decarboxylation. Such electron-transfer reactions can be effected by strong one-electron oxidants, such as Mn(HI), Ag(II), Ce(IV), and Pb(IV) These metal ions are also capable of oxidizing the radical intermediate, so the products are those expected from carbocations. The oxidative decarboxylation by Pb(IV) in the presence of halide salts leads to alkyl halides. For example, oxidation of pentanoic acid with lead tetraacetate in the presence of lithium chloride gives 1-chlorobutane in 71% yield ... 

The high rate of decarboxylation of aliphatic acyloxy radicals is also the prime reason behind low initiator efficiencies (see 3.3.2.1.3). Decarboxylation occurs within the solvent cage and recombination gives alkane or ester byproducts. Cage return for LPO is 18-35% at 80 °C in -octane as compared to only 4% for BPO under similar conditions.144... 

The current-potential relationship indicates that the rate determining step for the Kolbe reaction in aqueous solution is most probably an irreversible 1 e-transfer to the carboxylate with simultaneous bond breaking leading to the alkyl radical and carbon dioxide [8]. However, also other rate determining steps have been proposed [10]. When the acyloxy radical is assumed as intermediate it would be very shortlived and decompose with a half life of t 10" to carbon dioxide and an alkyl radical [89]. From the thermochemical data it has been concluded that the rate of carbon dioxide elimination effects the product distribution. Olefin formation is assumed to be due to reaction of the carboxylate radical with the alkyl radical and the higher olefin ratio for propionate and butyrate is argued to be the result of the slower decarboxylation of these carboxylates [90]. 

From the practical point of view, alkylation of heteroaromatics with Barton decarboxylation of A-acyloxy-2-thiopyridones (17), prepared from carboxylic acids and Af-hydroxy-2-thiopyridone, is very useful, since it can be used for various kinds of carboxylic acids such as sugars and nucleosides [23-26]. This reaction comprises of the initial homolytic cleavage of the N-0 bond in A-acyloxy-2-thiopyridone to form an acyloxyl radical and PyS , (3-cleavage of the acyloxyl radical to generate an alkyl radical and C02, addition to the electron-deficient position of heteroaromatics by the alkyl radical to form the adduct, and finally, abstraction of a hydrogen atom from the adduct by PyS , as shown in eq. 5.10. 

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