Halides indirect reduction

In contrast to the direct reduction as described above, the indirect electrochemical reduction of perfluoroalkyl halides is a versatile and novel method for generating perfluoroalkyl radicals selectively. Saveant et al. have demonstrated many successful examples. Using terephthalonitrile as a mediator, the indirect reduction of CF3Br in the presence of styrene leads to the dimer of the radical adduct obtained by the attack of CF on styrene. On the other hand, in the presence of butyl vinyl ether, the mediator reacts with the radical adduct obtained by the attack of CF3. on the olefin (Scheme 3.4) [14]. 

Several research groups ha ve been involved in the study of ET reactions from an electrochemically generated aromatic radical anion to alkyl halides in order to describe the dichotomy between ET and polar substitution (SN2). The mechanism for indirect reduction of alkyl halides by aromatic mediators has been described in several papers. For all aliphatic alkyl halides and most benzylic halides the cleavage of the carbon-halogen bond takes place concertedly with the... 

Using spin markers it could be shown that redox catalysis occurs in which the solvent itself plays the role of an electron carrier. Thus indirect reduction of aromatic halides having more negative potentials than benzonitrile has been achieved at the reduction potential of benzonitrile when it was used as a solvent211. 

INDIRECT REDUCTION OF HALIDES AND ISOTOPIC LABELLING VIA ORGANOMAGNESIUM COMPOUNDS... 

The indirect reduction of many organic substrates, in particular alkyl and aryl halides, by means of radical anions of aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds has been the subject of numerous papers over the last 25 years [98-121]. Many issues have been addressed, ranging from the exploration of synthetic aspects to quantitative descriptions of the kinetics involved. Saveant et al. coined the expression redox catalysis for an indirect reduction, in which the homogeneous reaction is a pure electron-transfer reaction with no chemical modification of the mediator (i.e., no ligand transfer, hydrogen abstraction, or hydride shift reactions). In the following we will consider such reactions and derive the relevant kinetic equations to show the kind of kinetic information that can be extracted. 

Triphenylthiopyrylium salts and some other trisubstituted thiopyrylium compounds show two reversible redox systems [185] the anion from the second reduction has been used as electron transfer agent in indirect reduction of and coupling with alkyl halides [199]. 

The term redox catalysis is used when the redox couple P/Q (implying an electron carrier as mediator) merely plays the role of an electron carrier to substrate (X) mainly in homogeneous phase (without any formation of an adduct between the organic species and the catalyst). The electron exchange between the two soluble entities Q and X occurs only by means of a so-called outer sphere process (see Chapter 2). It is for example, the case for indirect reduction of aromatic halides by radical anions electrogenerated from a properly chosen mediator (for instance, an aromatic hydrocarbon or a ketone). 

All the evidence gathered so far points to the conclusion that the RX radicals are intermediates in the reductive cleavage of aryl halides by outer sphere electron donors in polar solvents. This was an already established conclusion for the reduction of several aryl halides in the gas phase (Steelhammer and Wentworth, 1969 Wentworth et al., 1967), and for iodobenzene in apolar or weakly polar matrixes from y-irradiation studies with esr detection at low temperatures (Symons, 1981). It might, however, not have been true in the polar media used in direct and indirect electro-... 

The experimental kinetic data obtained with the butyl halides in DMF are shown in Fig. 13 in the form of a plot of the activation free energy, AG, against the standard potential of the aromatic anion radicals, Ep/Q. The electrochemical data are displayed in the same diagrams in the form of values of the free energies of activation at the cyclic voltammetry peak potential, E, for a 0.1 V s scan rate. Additional data have been recently obtained by pulse radiolysis for n-butyl iodide in the same solvent (Grim-shaw et al., 1988) that complete nicely the data obtained by indirect electrochemistry. In the latter case, indeed, the upper limit of obtainable rate constants was 10 m s", beyond which the overlap between the mediator wave and the direct reduction wave of n-BuI is too strong for a meaningful measurement to be carried out. This is about the lower limit of measurable... 

At this point, it can be concluded that the direct and indirect electrochemical approach of the reaction in the case of aryl halides has provided a quantitative kinetic demonstration of the mechanism and the establishment of the nature of the side-reactions (termination steps in the chain process). In poor H-atom donor solvents, the latter involve electron-transfer reduction of the aryl radical. 

The indirect electrochemical reduction of alkyl halides is also possible by use of nickel(I) complexes which may be obtained by cathodic reduction of square planar Ni(n)-complexes of macrocyclic tetradentate ligands (Table 7, No. 10, 11) 2 4-248) Comparable to the Co(I)- and Ni(O)-complexes, the Ni(I)-species reacts with the alkyl halide unter oxidative addition to form an organo nickel(III) compound. The stability of the new nickel-carbon bond dominates the overall behavior of the system. If the stability is low, the alkyl group is lost in form of the radical and the original Ni(II)-complex is regenerated. A large number of regenerative cycles is the result. 

In several examples the reductive halide-hydrogen exchange has been studied on a preparative scale. For example, the indirect electroreduction of 2-chloropyridine in DMF using anthracene as mediator gives pyridine in 83-86 % yield 2 . For the dehalogenation of 1-chlorohexane (80% yield), naphthalene is applied as redox catalyst. Similarly, 6-chloro-hexene yields 1-hexene (60%) and methylcyclopentane (25%), which is the product of the radical cyclization . The indirect electrochemical reduction of p- and y-bromocarboxylic esters forms coupling and elimination products besides the dehalogenated products... 

Dehalogenation. Barton et at. (1, 148) effected dehalogenation of steroidal /i-hydroxy halides with chromium(II) acetate and butancthiol as the proton donor in DMSO. The method is only useful with tertiary halides. A recent improvement that permits reduction of halides of all types uses the ethylenediamine complex of CrtCIOzh and the tetrahydropyranyl ethers of the /J-hydroxy halide. Catalytic amounts of the reducing agent can be used in "indirect electrolysis." The reaction is convenient for preparation of deoxynucleosides.1... 

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