Diazonium salts reaction with arenes

The major limitation of the all GBH reactions is that the arene has to be in the liquid form to serve as the solvent. All attempts to arylate solid arenes under the GBH reaction conditions were unsuccessful. Furthermore, the presence of radical-sensitive substituents in either diazonium salts or in arene results in lower yields, or the reaction fails completely. Generally, some alkyl, alkoxycarbonyl, formyl, or iodo-substituted arenes or diazonium salts are susceptible for hydrogen- or iodo-abstraction by free-radicals and are not common GBH reactants. For example, 2-tolyldiazonium tetrafluoroborate in the ptGBH reaction with benzene gives indazole in 74% yield, and only 2% of biaryl product [61]. 

Sabino, A.A., Machado, A.H.L., Correia, C.R.D., Eberlin, M.N. (2004) Probing the Mechanism of the Heck Reaction with Arene Diazonium Salts by Electrospray Mass and Tandem Mass Spectrometry. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 43 2514-2518. 

Scheme 3.12 The catalytic cycle proposed by Matsuda and coworkers for the Heck reaction with arene diazonium salts.

Azo coupling (Section 22 18) Formation of a compound of the type ArN=NAr by reaction of an aryl diazonium salt with an arene The arene must be strongly activated toward... 

Arylamines are converted by diazotization with nitrous acid into arenediazonium salts, ArN2+ X-. The diazonio group can then be replaced by many other substituents in the Sandmeyer reaction to give a wide variety of substituted aromatic compounds. Aryl chlorides, bromides, iodides, and nitriles can be prepared from arenediazonium salts, as can arenes and phenols. In addition to their reactivity toward substitution reactions, diazonium salts undergo coupling with phenols and arylamines to give brightly colored azo dyes. 

An analogous regioselective effect of silver ions on an addition reaction of arene-diazonium ions was found by Ignasiak et al. (1975) with cyanide salts. Potassium cyanide yields diazocyanides (Ar— N2 — C = N see Sec. 6.6), i.e., C-coupling products, but with silver cyanide - albeit in low yield (7-9%) - diazoisocyanides (Ar—N2 — N = C) are formed (a better synthesis of diazoisocyanides is described in Sec. 6.4). 

The Gomberg coupling reaction of aryl diazonium salts with arenes is catalysed by quaternary ammonium salts [49], Although yields are variable, they are generally >50% [49, 50]. When aromatic solvents other than benzene are used, the appropriate biaryls are produced, e.g. 4-chlorobenzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate reacts with chlorobenzene to produce the 2,4 -, 3,4 - and 4,4 -dichlorobiphenyls in a ca. 67 18 15 ratio. 

The mechanism by which a nucleophile displaces the diazonium group depends on the nucleophile. While some displacements involve phenyl cations, others involve radicals. Nucleophiles, e.g. CN , Cl and Br , replace the diazonium group if the appropriate cuprous salt is added to the solution containing the arene diazonium salt. The reaction of an arene diazonium salt with cuprous salt is known as a Sandmeyer reaction. 

Support-bound triazenes, which can be prepared from resin-bound secondary aliphatic amines and aromatic diazonium salts [455], undergo cleavage upon treatment with acids, leading to regeneration of the aromatic diazonium salts. In cross-linked polystyrene, these decompose to yield nitrogen and, preferentially, radical-derived products. If the acidolysis of polystyrene-bound triazenes is conducted in the presence of hydrogen-atom donors (e.g. THF), unsubstituted arenes can be obtained (Entries 8 and 9, Table 3.47). In the presence of alkenes or alkynes and Pd(OAc)2, the initially formed diazonium salts undergo Heck reaction to yield vinylated or alkynylated arenes (Entry 10, Table 3.47). Similarly, unsubstituted arenes can be obtained by oxida-... 

More recently, cationic intermediates have been observed in the Heck reactions of arene diazonium salts catalyzed by triolefinic macrocycle Pd(0) complexes [17,59], o-iodophenols and enoates to form new lactones [60], and o-iodophenols with olefins (the oxa-Heck reaction) [61 ]. In the first case ions were formed by oxidation of the analyte at the capillary, or by association of [NH4] or Na". In the two other cases ionization occurred through the more typical loss of a halide ligand. The oxa-Heck reaction provides a good example of how these experiments are typically performed and the type of information that can be obtained. The oxyarylations of olefins were performed in acetone, catalyzed by palladium, and required the presence of sodium carbonate as base. Samples from the reaction mixtures were diluted with acetonitrile and analyzed by ESI(+)-MS. Loss of iodide after oxidative addition of o-iodophenol to palladium afforded positively-charged intermediates. Species consistent with oxidative addition, such as [Pd(PPh3)2(C6H50)], and the formation of palladacycles of the type seen in Scheme 8 were observed. Based on this, a mechanism for the reaction was proposed (Scheme 8). 

Scheme 9. Proposed mechanism for the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction of arene diazonium salts with potassium organotrifluoroborates based on ESl-MS investigation, m/z vaiues are given for cationic intermediates observed by ESl(+)-MS.

Primary arylamines rea t with nitrous acid, HNOg, to yield stable arene-diazonium salts, Ar-NsNX". This diazotization reaction is compatible with the presence of a wide variety of substituents on the aromatic ring. 

One of the earliest means of introducing fluorine selectively into specific positions of aromatic compounds is the Balz-Schiemann reaction [77] which dates back to the 1920s. An isolated arene diazonium tetrafluoroborate is thermolyzed at up to 120 °C to yield the corresponding fluoroaromatic compound. Because of the infamously hazardous nature of isolated diazonium salts the scope of the classical variant of the Balz-Schiemann reaction was limited to the small scale. The high exothermicity of the reaction is most conveniently controlled by diluting the diazonium salt with a solid inert medium such as sea sand. In addition to the danger to the experimenter, the reproducibility of the reaction yield is quite poor. 

Azo-coupling reactions of aromatic compounds with arene diazonium salts, which are usually very fast, have been successfully carried out in... 

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