Homolytic aromatic substitution reactions

Displacements such as this show all the usual characteristics of electrophilic aromatic substitution (substituent effects, etc., see below), but they are normally of much less preparative significance than the examples we have already considered. In face of all the foregoing discussion of polar intermediates it is pertinent to point out that homolytic aromatic substitution reactions, i.e. by radicals, are also known (p. 331) as too is attack by nucleophiles (p. 167). 

Another very new radical/radical domino procedure was used in the total synthesis of the alkaloid lennoxamine by Ishibashi and coworkers. Here, a 7-endo cycliza-tion/homolytic aromatic substitution reaction cascade led to the target compound in 41% yield [75]. 

This rather discouraging picture arose mainly because of an overconcentration on homolytic aromatic arylation, the results of which had a distorting influence on the development of homolytic aromatic substitution reactions generally. It was recently realized that polar factors play a more important role in some homolytic aromatic substitutions than foreseeable on the basis of a transition state similar to the cr-complex... 

S02-extrusion affords the electrophilic radical 49 (Scheme 10). Intramolecular homolytic substitution eventually gives tetrahydronaphthalene 50 (92%). Beckwith showed that the A-(o-bromophenyl)amide 51 can be transformed into the corresponding oxindole 54 (70%) at high temperatures using BusSnH via tandem radical translocation of the initially formed aryl radical 52 to form 53 with subsequent intramolecular homolytic substitution [77]. The nucleophilic a-aminomethyl radical 55 reacted in a tandem addition/homolytic aromatic substitution reaction via radical 56 to tetrahydroquinoline 57 [78]. Radical 55 can either be prepared by oxida-... 

Scheme 13.13 General scheme for intermolecular homolytic aromatic substitution reactions.

Heteroaromatic diazonium salts can also be used for Gomberg-Bachmann aryla-tions. Fukata et al. (1973) refluxed 3,5-dimethyl-4-diazopyrazole (10.27) in benzene and obtained 3,5-dimethyl-4-phenylpyrazole (10.28, 36%), biphenyl (10.29, 17%), 3,5-dimethylpyrazole (10.30, 12%), and pyrazolo[4,3-c]pyrazole (10.31, 15%). In nitrobenzene the three isomeric 3,5-dimethyl-4-(nitrophenyl)-pyrazoles were formed in the ratio o m p = 10 3 3. In the opinion of Fukata et al. this ratio and the course of the reaction indicate a homolytic process. The present author thinks that the data do not exclude a competitive heterolytic reaction with the pyrazolyl cation, because equal amounts of substitution of nitrobenzene in the 3- and 4-positions are not typical for a homolytic aromatic substitution. 

The homolytic aromatic substitution part of the Gomberg-Bachmann reaction is, in the opinion of the present author, not sufficiently well understood on the basis of positive experimental data. ... 

The n.m.r. sjjectra of typical reaction mixtui es from homolytic aromatic substitution are very complex. To simplify the problem of spectral interpretation, perdeuteriobenzoyl peroxide has been used together with a symmetrically trisubstituted aromatic substrate, such as... 

Homolytic aromatic substitution often requires high temperatures, high concentrations of initiator, long reaction times and typically occurs in moderate yields.Such reactions are often conducted under reducing conditions with (TMSlsSiH, even though the reactions are not reductions and often finish with oxidative rearomatization. Reaction (68) shows an example where a solution containing silane (2 equiv) and AIBN (2 equiv) is slowly added (8h) in heated pyridine containing 2-bromopyridine (1 equiv) The synthesis of 2,3 -bipyridine 75 presumably occurs via the formation of cyclohexadienyl radicals 74 and its rearomatization by disproportionation with the alkyl radical from AIBN. ... 

The aryl-thallium bond is thus apparently capable of displacement either by electrophilic or by suitable nucleophilic reagents. Coupled with its propensity for homolytic cleavage (spontaneous in the case of ArTlIj compounds, and otherwise photochemically induced), ArTlXj compounds should be capable of reacting with a wide variety of reagents under a wide variety of conditions. Since the position of initial aromatic thallation can be controlled to a remarkable degree, the above reactions may be only representative of a remarkably versatile route to aromatic substitution reactions in which organothallium compounds play a unique and indispensable role. 

The same group recently disclosed a related free radical process, namely an efficient one-pot sequence comprising a homolytic aromatic substitution followed by an ionic Homer-Wadsworth-Emmons olefination, for the production of a small library of a,/3-unsaturated oxindoles (Scheme 6.164) [311]. Suitable TEMPO-derived alkoxy-amine precursors were exposed to microwave irradiation in N,N-dimethylformam-ide for 2 min to generate an oxindole intermediate via a radical reaction pathway (intramolecular homolytic aromatic substitution). After the addition of potassium tert-butoxide base (1.2 equivalents) and a suitable aromatic aldehyde (10-20 equivalents), the mixture was further exposed to microwave irradiation at 180 °C for 6 min to provide the a,jS-unsaturated oxindoles in moderate to high overall yields. A number of related oxindoles were also prepared via the same one-pot radical/ionic pathway (Scheme 6.164). 

The addition of silyl radicals to double bonds in benzene or substituted benzenes (Reaction 5.2) is the key step in the mechanism of homolytic aromatic substitution with silanes [8,9]. The intermediate cyclohexadienyl radical 2 has been detected by both EPR and optical techniques [21,22]. Similar cyclohex-adienyl-type intermediates have also been detected with heteroaromatics like furan and thiophene [23]. 

In the last ten years arylation has been tbe most studied homolytic aromatic substitution, also in the heteroaromatic series. Numerous data concerning a large variety of heterocycles have permitted the definition of many details for the individual substrates, without adding, however, anything particularly new as regards the general characteristics of the reaction, already outlined in the previous review of Norman and Radda. These characteristics are substantially the same as those observed in the homocyclic aromatic series, for which comprehensive reviews are available. There is therefore a sharp difference in behavior between arylation and other homolytic substitutions described in the previous sections. These latter have quite different characteristics, and sometimes they are not known, in the homocyclic series. 

This awareness in a short time led to new homolytic aromatic substitutions, characterized by high selectivity and versatility. Further developments along these lines can be expected, especially as regards reactions of nucleophilic radicals with protonated heteroaromatic bases, owing to the intrinsic interest of these reactions and to the fact that classical direct ionic substitution (electrophilic and nucleophilic) has several limitations in this class of compound and does not always offer alternative synthetic solutions. Homolytic substitution in heterocyclic compounds can no longer be considered the Cinderella of substitution reactions. 

Homolytic cleavage of the Si—Si bond, followed by homolytic aromatic substitution, was also invoked to explain the photochemical reactions of 1,l-di( 1 -naphthyl)- 117, and l,2-di(l-naphthyl)-tetramethyldisilane 11858 which yielded 119 and 120, respectively, as the main reaction products (Scheme 17). A minor reaction pathway of the latter disilane involved dimethylsilylene expulsion. 

Homolytic aromatic substitution is a valuable method for the substitution of arenes and heteroarenes, and has been reviewed recently by Studer and Bossart [ 16]. Both intramolecular [16] and intermolecular reactions [17] with arenes have become increasingly useful in synthesis. The intramolecular variant has received more attention with many elegant applications reported [18]. 

An alternative method for the substitution of a hydrogen atom in -electron deficient heterocycles is using the nucleophilic character of radicals in homolytic aromatic displacement reactions <74AHC(16)123>. Acylation with acyl radicals derived from aldehydes is an especially important approach since Friedel-Crafts-type reactions are not applicable to pteridines. 

Homolytic aromatic substitution of pyrazines is a rare reaction. Early workers in the field have updated their work on radical addition of oxidized formamide to pyrazine (250). The new procedure affords pyrazine-2-car-boxamide (251) in 96% yield (85T4157). 

Radical cyclizations of nucleophilic N-alkyl radicals 96 onto the benzimidazole 2-position, mediated by tributyltin hydride and activated by quater-nizing the pyridine-like N-3 of imidazole with camphorsulfonic acid, have recently been reported (Scheme 20) [67]. These new five-, six- and seven-membered homolytic aromatic substitutions of nucleophilic N-alkyl radicals onto the benzimidazole-2-position occurred upon the use of large excesses of the azo-initiator, l,T-azobis(cyclohexanecarbonitrile), to supplement the non-chain reaction. The intermediate 97 aromatizes in high yields to the cy-clized benzimidazoles 98. 

Among the free radical reactions, homolytic aromatic substitution has an undoubted theoretical interest for the understanding of the reactivity of the aromatic compounds and of the free radicals. However it was considered till recent years a secondary aspect of the general problem of the aromatic substitution. It is difficult to find a modern text book of general organic chemistry in which this subject is only mentioned. 

Radical arylations can either be performed by SrnI reactions or by homolytic aromatic substitutions. The Srn 1 type reactions have recently been reviewed [1] and will not be included in the present article. Because of space limitations this review will focus on examples mostly from the recent literature. Especially for the older literature, we refer to several good review articles on homolytic aromatic substitutions which appeared in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s [2]. 

The reaction of a nucleophilic alkyl radical R with benzene affords the a-complex 1, a fairly stable cyclohexadienyl radical, which under oxidizing conditions leads to cation 2 (Scheme 1). Depending on the stability of the attacking radical, the formation of 1 is a reversible process. Deprotonation eventually affords the homolytic aromatic substitution product 3. If the reaction is performed under non-oxidizing conditions, cyclohexadienyl radical 1 can dimerize (—> 4), disproportionate to form cyclohexadiene 5 and the arene 3, or further react by other pathways [3]. 

These reactivity trends clearly show that polar effects are involved in these radical substitution reactions. The transition state is thought to include a charge transfer 9) from the radical (electron donor) to the pyridinium ion (electron acceptor) [13], Frontier Molecular Orbital Theory (FMO) [14] has been applied to explain the reactivity differences which have been observed upon varying the substituents at the pyridinium ion and upon altering the nucleophilicity of the attacking radical. Moreover, FMO can be used to explain the regioselectivities obtained in these homolytic aromatic substitutions. The LUMO of the substituted pyridinium cation... 

The first example of an intramolecular homolytic aromatic substitution was published by Pschorr more than a century ago [34], Biaryls were prepared by intramolecular homolytic substitution of arenes by aryl radicals which were generated by treatment of arenediazonium salts with copper(I) ions (Pschorr reaction). Later it has been shown that similar reactions can be conducted under basic conditions or by photochemical or thermal decomposition of the diazonium salts [35]. Electrochemical reduction [36], titanium (III) ions [37], Fe(II)-salts [38], tetrathiafulvalene... 

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