Mechanisms free radical oxidation

Wet wood can also discolor by contact with iron or copper when tannins are present to form black iron tannate or reddish copper tannate. In contrast to the chemical stains caused by oxidation, which do not significantly alter the wood other than in color, the prolonged action of iron or copper may catalyze further chemical breakdown of the wood structure by free radical oxidative mechanisms. 

Thermal Oxidative Stability. ABS undergoes autoxidation and the kinetic features of the oxygen consumption reaction are consistent with an autocatalytic free-radical chain mechanism. Comparisons of the rate of oxidation of ABS with that of polybutadiene and styrene—acrylonitrile copolymer indicate that the polybutadiene component is significantly more sensitive to oxidation than the thermoplastic component (31—33). Oxidation of polybutadiene under these conditions results in embrittlement of the mbber because of cross-linking such embrittlement of the elastomer in ABS results in the loss of impact resistance. Studies have also indicated that oxidation causes detachment of the grafted styrene—acrylonitrile copolymer from the elastomer which contributes to impact deterioration (34). 

Fig. 8. Approximate mechanism for the free-radical oxidation of cyclohexane (36).

Direct Electron Transfer. We have already met some reactions in which the reduction is a direct gain of electrons or the oxidation a direct loss of them. An example is the Birch reduction (15-14), where sodium directly transfers an electron to an aromatic ring. An example from this chapter is found in the bimolecular reduction of ketones (19-55), where again it is a metal that supplies the electrons. This kind of mechanism is found largely in three types of reaction, (a) the oxidation or reduction of a free radical (oxidation to a positive or reduction to a negative ion), (b) the oxidation of a negative ion or the reduction of a positive ion to a comparatively stable free radical, and (c) electrolytic oxidations or reductions (an example is the Kolbe reaction, 14-36). An important example of (b) is oxidation of amines and phenolate ions ... 

N.A. Porter, S.E. Caldwell, K.A. Mills, Mechanisms of free radical oxidation of unsaturated lipids, Lipids, 30, 277 290 (1995). 

As mentioned earlier, extensive literature is dedicated to the study of functions of NO synthases under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Much attention has been drawn to the capacity of these enzymes to generate free radicals. The mechanism of nitric oxide production by NO synthases was widely discussed and are presented in Figure 22.3 [147]. 

There are various pathways for free radical-mediated processes in microsomes. Microsomes can stimulate free radical oxidation of various substrates through the formation of superoxide and hydroxyl radicals (the latter in the presence of iron) or by the direct interaction of chain electron carriers with these compounds. One-electron reduction of numerous electron acceptors has been extensively studied in connection with the conversion of quinone drugs and xenobiotics in microsomes into reactive semiquinones, capable of inducing damaging effects in humans. (In 1980s, the microsomal reduction of anticancer anthracycline antibiotics and related compounds were studied in detail due to possible mechanism of their cardiotoxic activity and was discussed by us earlier [37], It has been shown that semiquinones of... 

Free radical oxidation of LDL has been thoroughly studied. Traditionally well-known chain mechanism of oxidation of organic compounds (Reactions (15)—(18)) is complicated in the case of LDL by the dual role of a-tocopherol. 

The mechanism of this reaction involves free radical oxidation of butane to butane hydroperoxide, which decomposes to acetaldehyde via P scissions. It is similar to the oxidation of cyclohexane to cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone, which will be discussed in Chapter 11, Section 4. 

Mo containing Y zeolites were also tested for cyclohexene oxidation with oxygen as oxidant and t-butyl hydroperoxide as initiator [86]. In this case the selectivity for cyclohexene oxide was maximum 50%, 2-cyclohexene-l-ol and 2-cyclohexene-l-one being the main side products. The proposed reaction scheme involves a free radical chain mechanism with intermediate formation of cyclohexenyl hydroperoxide. Coordination of the hydroperoxide to Mo + in the zeolite and oxygen transfer from the resulting complex to cyclohexene is believed to be the major step for formation of cyclohexene oxide under these conditions. 

The data apparently require a free radical chain mechanism for the oxidation of benzhydrol. Potassium superoxide filtered from a completed oxidation completely removed the induction period for a fresh oxidation. Thus, potassium superoxide must either serve as an initiation of oxidation... 

The autoxidation mechanism by which 9,10-dihydroanthra-cene is converted to anthraquinone and anthracene in a basic medium was studied. Pyridine was the solvent, and benzyl-trimethylammonium hydroxide was the catalyst. The effects of temperature, base concentration, solvent system, and oxygen concentration were determined. A carbanion-initi-ated free-radical chain mechanism that involves a singleelectron transfer from the carbanion to oxygen is outlined. An intramolecular hydrogen abstraction step is proposed that appears to be more consistent with experimental observations than previously reported mechanisms that had postulated anthrone as an intermediate in the oxidation. Oxidations of several other compounds that are structurally related to 9,10-dihydroanthracene are also reported. 

This study indicates that the oxidation of dihydroanthracene in a basic medium involves the formation of a monocarbanion, which is then converted to a free radical by a one-electron transfer step. It is postulated that the free radical reacts with oxygen to form a peroxy free radical, which then attacks a hydrogen atom at the 10-position by an intramolecular reaction. The reaction then proceeds by a free-radical chain mechanism. This mechanism has been used as a basis for optimizing the yield of anthraquinone and minimizing the formation of anthracene. 

The catalysis of the selective oxidation of alkanes is a commercially important process that utilizes cobalt carboxylate catalysts at elevated (165°C, 10 atm air) temperatures and pressures (98). Recently, it has been demonstrated that [Co(NCCH3)4][(PF6)2], prepared in situ from CoCl2 and AgPF6 in acetonitrile, was active in the selective oxidation of alkanes (adamantane and cyclohexane) under somewhat milder conditions (75°C, 3 atm air) (99). Further, under these milder conditions, the commercial catalyst system exhibited no measurable activity. Experiments were reported that indicated that the mechanism of the reaction involves a free radical chain mechanism in which the cobalt complex acts both as a chain initiator and as a hydroperoxide decomposition catalyst. 

The dissociation process is described by a free radical chain mechanism. The thermo-oxidative dissociation is initiated by the oxidation of the aliphatic moieties by a subsequent cleavage of the hydroperoxides formed. With increasing time of oxidation the temperature of the onset of degradation is lower as compared with that for a purely thermal degradation. 

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