Electron-withdrawing-group reactions

More recently, Polish chemists have reported a synthesis of both aryl and aliphatic secondary nitramines by treating amine substrates with ethyl magnesium bromide followed by reaction with n-butyl nitrate (Equation 5.8). This method, which uses nonpolar solvents like hexane or benzene, has been used to synthesize aliphatic secondary nitramines, and At-nitro-A-methylanilines which otherwise undergo facile Bamberger rearrangement in the presence of acid. The direct nitration of At-unsubstituted arylamines usually requires the presence of an electron-withdrawing group. Reactions are retarded and yields are low for sterically hindered amines. 

Improvements in the traditional aryl C-1 cyclization reaction were reported (Scheme 11). Generally, condensation reactions of phenethylamine derivatives do not perform well with electron-withdrawing groups. Reaction of sulfamoyl- 3-phenethylamines 46, even containing an aryl nitro group, with chloro(methylthio)acetate <99H(51)103> or a-... 

The electrophilic center may already be present in the compound, or it may arise as a consequence of Phase I biotransformation, as in epoxides. Conjugations with GSH may be classified broadly as replacement [substitution Eq. (27)] or addition [Eq. (28) R = electron-withdrawing group] reactions. With the latter type in particular, new asymmetric centers are created, but only... 

When Y = ortho- or para-electron-withdrawing group, reaction is favored... 

Both precursors can be used as reactants in an aldol condensation. It has to be emphasized that the chlorine atom in 4 has to be considered as a representative for any electron-withdrawing group in particular, in the case presented here, it would best be taken as an OEt group. In order to verify this proposal, a reaction substructure search is initiated in the Chcmlnform reaction database of 1997. 

Note that the Diels-Alder reaction works best when there is an electron-withdrawing group (here CC>2Et) on the olefinic component. 

Nucleophilic Substitutions of Benzene Derivatives. Benzene itself does not normally react with nucleophiles such as haUde ions, cyanide, hydroxide, or alkoxides (7). However, aromatic rings containing one or more electron-withdrawing groups, usually halogen, react with nucleophiles to give substitution products. An example of this type of reaction is the industrial conversion of chlorobenzene to phenol with sodium hydroxide at 400°C (8). 

Aromatic haUdes do not react easily with phenoxide ions to produce diaryl ethers unless the aromatic haUde is substituted with one or more electron-withdrawing groups, eg, nitro or carboxyl groups. The Ullmann reaction uses finely divided copper or copper salts to cataly2e the reaction of phenoxides with aromatic haUdes to give diaryl ethers. 

This method is suitable only for the preparation of 4-substituted and/or 3,4-disubstituted derivatives, the substituents being only alkyl, aryl or heteroaryl groups. The presence of electron-withdrawing groups in the unsaturated side chain prevents the cyclization step. This is understandable if the influence of such groups on the stability of the intermediate carbonium ion is considered. Of more limited application is the analogous cyclization of diazotized o-aminophenylpropiolic acids, the reaction being referred to as the Richter synthesis (Scheme 70). A related synthesis (also referred to as the Neber-Bossel synthesis)... 

Since an electron-withdrawing group such as ethoxycarbonyl at the a-carbon atom enhanced the electrophilicity of the )3-carbon atom, the reaction of a-ethoxycarbonyl-)3-ethoxyvinyl ketones (298) with hydroxylamine hydrochloride gave solely 5-substituted isoxazole-4-carboxylates (299) (55JOC1342, 59YZ836). 

Selective chlorination of the 3-position of thietane 1,1-dioxide may be a consequence of hydrogen atom abstraction by a chlorine atom. Such reactions of chlorine atoms are believed to be influenced by polar effects, preferential hydrogen abstraction occurring remotely from an electron withdrawing group. The free radical chain reaction may be propagated by attack of the 3-thietanyl 1,1-dioxide radical on molecular chlorine. 

When the benzenesulfinates were substituted with electron-withdrawing groups, e.g., p-nitro- and p-cyanobenzenesulfinate, the yields were slightly improved when the reaction time with cyanogen chloride was lengthened to 1 hour. 

Radical chlorination reactions show a substantial polar effect. Positions substituted by electron-withdrawing groups are relatively unreactive toward chlorination, even though the substituents may be potentially capable of stabilizing the free-radical intermediate " ... 

Similarly, carboxylic acid and ester groups tend to direct chlorination to the / and v positions, because attack at the a position is electronically disfavored. The polar effect is attributed to the fact that the chlorine atom is an electrophilic species, and the relatively electron-poor carbon atom adjacent to an electron-withdrawing group is avoided. The effect of an electron-withdrawing substituent is to decrease the electron density at the potential radical site. Because the chlorine atom is highly reactive, the reaction would be expected to have a very early transition state, and this electrostatic effect predominates over the stabilizing substituent effect on the intermediate. The substituent effect dominates the kinetic selectivity of the reaction, and the relative stability of the radical intermediate has relatively little influence. 

In contrast to the previous method (equation 70), reaction 72 made possible the preparation of iodonium triflates from functionalized acetylenes bearing an electron-withdrawing group such as tosyl, cyano, or carbonyl [138]. Of special interest is the application of this method to the synthesis of the bisiodonium acetylenic salt [139, 140] (equation 73). 

---