Furans aromaticity, comparative

Structures and nomenclature for the most important five-membered monocycles with one or more heteroatoms are depicted in Scheme 1. The aromaticity scale in five-membered heterocycles has been long debated.97-101 The decreasing order of aromaticity based on various criteria is (DRE values in kcal/ mol) benzene (22.6) > thiophene (6.5) > selenophene > pyrrole (5.3) > tellurophene > fur an (4.3). Pyrrole and furan have comparable ring strains (Scheme 38). The aromaticity of furan is still controversial 100 the NMR shielding by ring current estimated it at about 60% of the aromaticity of benzene, and other methods reviewed earlier102 estimated it at less than 20%. 

Homo- and copolymerizations involving the monomers depicted in Scheme 1 are chain reactions which can be initiated, at least potentially, by typical free-radical, cationic or anionic promoters. TTie object of the studies reported below is to establish first of all which monomers adapt best to each type of initiation, then what peculiarities (if any) are caused by the presence of the furan ring, compared to the known behaviour of the corresponding aliphatic and/or aromatic homologues and finally to establish the structure-properties relationships of the materials obtained. 

The reactivity sequence furan > tellurophene > selenophene > thiophene is thus the same for all three reactions and is in the reverse order of the aromaticities of the ring systems assessed by a number of different criteria. The relative rate for the trifluoroacetylation of pyrrole is 5.3 x lo . It is interesting to note that AT-methylpyrrole is approximately twice as reactive to trifluoroacetylation as pyrrole itself. The enhanced reactivity of pyrrole compared with the other monocyclic systems is also demonstrated by the relative rates of bromination of the 2-methoxycarbonyl derivatives, which gave the reactivity sequence pyrrole>furan > selenophene > thiophene, and by the rate data on the reaction of the iron tricarbonyl-complexed carbocation [C6H7Fe(CO)3] (35) with a further selection of heteroaromatic substrates (Scheme 5). The comparative rates of reaction from this substitution were 2-methylindole == AT-methylindole>indole > pyrrole > furan > thiophene (73CC540). 

Acid-catalyzed hydrogen exchange is used as a measure of the comparative reactivity of different aromatic rings (see Table 5). These reactions take place on the neutral molecules or, at high acidities, on the cations. At the preferred positions the neutral isoxazole, isothiazole and pyrazole rings are all considerably more reactive than benzene. Although the 4-position of isothiazole is somewhat less reactive than the 4-position in thiophene, a similar situation does not exist with isoxazole-furan ring systems. 

A Hiickel model used for calculating aromaticity indicated that the isoxazole nucleus is considerably less aromatic than other five-membered heterocycles, including oxazole and furan. SCF calculations predicted that isoxazole is similar to oxazole. Experimental findings are somewhat difficult to correlate with calculations (79AHC(25)147). PRDDO calculations were compared with ab initio values and good agreement for the MO values was reported... 

Aromatic bromine compounds can be formed and transformed during various thermal processes, like aromatic chlorine compounds (ref. 22). Brominated dibenzodioxins and -furans and mixed brominated/chlorinated compounds have been detected in trace levels in the fly ash of a municipal waste incinerator (ref. 23).Chlorine is generally abundant compared to the bromine of typical municipal waste the chlorine vs. bromine ratio is in the range of 250 1. 

Replacement of the ethanolamine head group is also well tolerated. Substitution with a cyclopropyl (243) [37], allyl (244) or propargyl group (245) [164] all led to an increase in binding affinity compared to AEA. Replacement of the head group with aromatics is also allowed. The phenyl derivative (246) retains affinity at the CBi receptor [37], whereas the 2-substituted A-methyl pyrrole (247) has a 2-fold improved affinity compared to AEA [167]. Interestingly, the 3-substituted furan derivative (23) that has micromolar affinity for the AEA transporter (see above) does not bind to the CBi receptor, but has good affinity for the CB2 receptor [167]. These results are summarised in Table 6.20. 

Individual substitutions may not necessarily be true electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions. Usually it is assumed that they are, however, and with this assumption the furan nucleus can be compared with others. For tri-fluoroacetylation by trifluoroacetic anhydride at 75 C relative rates have been established, by means of competition experiments 149 thiophene, 1 selenophene, 6.5 furan, 1.4 x 102 2-methylfuran, 1.2 x 105 pyrrole, 5.3 x 107. While nitrogen is usually a better source of electrons for an incoming electrophile (as in pyrrole versus furan) there are exceptions. For example, the enamine 63 reacts with Eschenmoser s salt at the 5-position and not at the enamine grouping.150 Also amusing is an attempted Fischer indole synthesis in which a furan ring is near the reaction site and diverted the reaction into a pyrazole synthesis.151... 

The heteroaromatic compounds like furans, pyrroles or thiophenes cannot be generally used as dienes in Diels-Alder syntheses, because at the higher temperature required for the addition of less reactive dienophiles, the equilibrium is on the side of the starting materials due to the unfavorable T AS term comparable to the benzenoid aromatic compounds as mentioned. High pressure again shows the two effects already discussed the shift of the equilibrium toward the products and the enhancement of the rate of reaction which allows the temperature of reaction to be lowered. One... 

In carbocyclic chemistry, rather firm dividing lines usually exist between aromatic, non-aromatic, and anti-aromatic compounds, while in heterocyclic chemistry enormous variations in the extent of aromatic character are displayed.52 Furthermore, there is an enormous number of potential heterocycles as compared to carbocycles, as will be detailed in section 3 of this review. The degree of aromaticity has classically been judged qualitatively in connection with the diene character of heterocycles manifested in Diels— Alder reactions or polymerizations. In this regard for instance, furan (42) is less aromatic than benzene (43), as is isoindole (44) compared to indole (45) (Scheme 18). Therefore, a quantitative aromaticity scale would be useful. 

Aromaticity indices based on a statistical evaluation of peripheral bond orders have been derived for five-ring heterocycles a value of 50 for 1,3,4-oxadiazole compares with values of 43 and 66 for furan and thiophene respectively <85T1409>. Somewhat in contrast, O—C, C—N, and N—N bond orders of 1.3124, 1.9062, and 1.3348 (MMX, EXE calculation) for 1,3,4-oxadiazole led to the conclusion that the molecule was not aromatic <91H(32)2023>. 

NMR has been widely invoked in assessing aromaticity. Comparison of the chemical shifts of furan, H-2 7.46 and H-3 6.41, with those observed for 4,5-dihydrofuran, H-2 6.31 and H-3 4.95 (66JCS(B)127), indicates there is ca. 1-1.5 ppm downfield shift attributable to the presence of an aromatic ring current in furan. The same effect is observed for thiophene, H-2 7.35 and H-3 7.13, and 4,5-dihydrothiophene, H-2 6.17 and H-3 5.63 ppm. The similar range of chemical shifts observed for all of the parent heterocycles may be compared with that for benzene, 7.27 8, and further attests to their possessing appreciable ring currents. 

The structural indices of aromaticity, I, of oxadiazoles (145-148), thiadiazoles (150-153) and selenadiazoles (155, 156) are compared with that of the parent furan (144), thiophene (149) and selenophene (154) (Scheme 11). 1,2,3-Oxadiazole (145) is the least stable among them since all attempts to synthesize this compound were unsuccessful, most likely because of its easy isomerization to the acyclic isomer. At the same time its sulfur analogue (150) possesses good stability and has been synthesized. Its 2,4-diaza- (151), 3,4-diaza- (152) and 2,5-diaza-(153) isomers demonstrate even more the extent of n-electron delocalization. There exists a well-known tendency of decreasing aromaticity depending on the type of pyrrole-like heteroatom S > Se > O. However, there is no uniformity in the change in aromaticity in the horizontal rows, i. e., dependence on heteroatom disposition. 

Concerning the question of phosphole aromaticity there are some indications of 6-rr-delocalization from NMR spectroscopy and other physical methods. The formation of metal complexes with derivatives of Mn, Fe and other metals, however, gives the best chemical proof of such 6ir- delocalization but there are still some doubts arising from the considerable differences in chemical behaviour compared with pyrroles, furans and thiophenes. This once more points to the very different properties of phosphorus, compared to nitrogen in particular. Therefore the problem is still open and much work, both practical and theoretical, remains. 

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