Hydro-de-diazoniation

Hydro-de-diazoniation seems to be an unnecessary reaction from the synthetic standpoint, as arenediazonium salts are obtained from the respective amines, reagents that are normally synthesized from the hydrocarbon. Some aromatic compounds, however, cannot be synthesized by straightforward electrophilic aromatic substitution examples of these are the 1,3,5-trichloro- and -tribromobenzenes (see below). These simple benzene derivatives are synthesized from aniline via halogenation, diazotization and hydro-de-diazoniation. Furthermore hydro-de-diazoniation is useful for the introduction of a hydrogen isotope in specific positions. 

In general, however, reduction by ethanol is recommended only in cases where one has a reliable analytical method for distinguishing between products resulting from hydrogen- or ethoxy-substitution. For all other cases we recommend Kornblum s dediazoniation in an aqueous solution of hypophosphorous acid, in some cases in the presence of a catalyst, e.g., 0.05-0.10 mol% CuS04. The procedure is notable for its simplicity of operation. In Organic Syntheses the diazotization and hydro-de-diazoniation of 3,3 -dimethyl- and 3,3 -dimethoxybenzidine are described by Kornblum (1955) and the formation of 2,4,6-tribromobenzoic acid by Robison and Robison (1963). 

10 Applications of Heterolytic and Homolytic Dediazoniations in Organic Syntheses 

Another hydro-de-diazoniation method in which the solvent is the reagent is that of dediazoniation in hexamethylphosphoric acid triamide (HMPT) it was discovered by Newman and Hung (1974). The mechanism is discussed in some detail in Section 8.9. We do not recommend it for synthetic purposes, however, as (solid) arenediazonium mercuric bromide complexes are used in all but one case. The authors mention only briefly that 4-toluenediazonium tetrafluorophosphate can also be used. 

Shono et al. (1979) describe a method for hydro-de-diazoniations which is simple, gives excellent yields, and is claimed to show no unfavorable substituent effects (14 examples). It consists of the addition of thiophenol (7 equiv.) to a suspension of an arenediazonium tetrafluoroborate in a mixture of water and pentane (10 1) at room temperature. After the completion of N2 evolution, excess thiophenol is removed by addition of Na2C03. The usual work-up gave the corresponding hydrocarbon in 84-100% yield and diphenylsulfide. The deuterated compounds are obtained if one uses C6H5SD and D20. 

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Semiquantitatively, the reaction of an aromatic diazonium ion with the methoxide ion occurs in three phases. The first is the extremely rapid formation of the (Z)-diazo methyl ether. This is followed by a second, partitioning, phase which in the case of the 4-nitrobenzenediazonium ion at 30 °C is completed in 60 s (Boyle et al., 1971). During this phase, some of the (Z)-diazo ether decomposes to form dediazoniation products (mainly nitrobenzene via the hydro-de-diazoniation reaction) and the rest is converted into the (Zi)-diazo ether. 

As thoroughly investigated by Bunnett and coworkers (Broxton et al., 1970, 1977 Bunnett and Yijima, 1977), many arenediazonium ions decompose in methanol. In a nitrogen atmosphere the corresponding hydrocarbon is formed, i. e., a hydro-de-diazoniation occurs, whereas in the presence of oxygen methoxy-de-diazonia-tion takes place (Scheme 8-1). 

Packer and Richardson (1975) and Packer et al. (1980) made use of the fact that electrons can be generated in water by y-radiation from a 60Co source (Scheme 8-29) to induce a free radical chain reaction between diazonium ions and alcohols, aldehydes, or formate ion. It has to be emphasized that the radiolytically formed solvated electron in Scheme 8-29 is only a part of the initiation steps (Scheme 8-30) by which an aryl radical is formed. The aryl radical initiates the propagation steps shown in Scheme 8-31. Here the alcohol, aldehyde, or formate ion (RH2) is the reducing agent (i.e., the electron donor) for the main reaction. The process is a hydro-de-diazoniation. 

Xu and Li (1989) investigated H — CIDNP spectra of fifteen substituted benzene-diazonium ions during reduction with NaBH4. The spectra are consistent with a mechanism in which the first step is the addition of a hydride ion to the diazonium ion. The diazene formed (Ar - N2 - H) is assumed to dimerize and disproportionate into a radical pair [Ar-N-NH2 N = N — Ar] which loses one equivalent of N2 yielding [Ar—N —NH2 Ar] and recombines to give the diarylhydrazine. A proportion of the aryl radicals escape and form the hydro-de-diazoniation product. 

Where does the hydrogen atom in the product of hydro-de-diazoniation, 2-chloro-nitrobenzene (8.66), come from in CH3OD It was found (Bunnett and Takayama, 1968 b Broxton and Bunnett, 1979) that in the reaction of Scheme 8-47 the deuterium content of 2-chloronitrobenzene was 79%, a figure which is not close to either zero or 100%. For other substituted benzenediazonium ions a very wide range of D incorporation was observed. This range is consistent with hydro-de-diazoniation by both homolytic and a competitive anionic mechanism. The anionic pathway is favored by an increase in methoxide ion concentration. 

The level of deuteration found in the third product, 2-nitroanisole (8.67), is also consistent with these two pathways of hydro-de-diazoniation, but preceded in this case by a methoxy-de-chlorination. 

As an anionic mechanism of hydro-de-diazoniation Bunnett and Takayama (1968 b) proposed the involvement of the aryldiimide anion, which may be formed from the (Z)-diazo methyl ether as key intermediate (Scheme 8-51). The aryldiimide... 

DeTar and Kosuge (1958) investigated dediazoniation in acidic methanol. They found that the 4-bromo- and 4-methoxybenzenediazonium ions decompose under N2 to give mainly hydro-de-diazoniation products, but under oxygen to afford principally products of methoxy-de-diazoniation. 

Broxton and Bunnett (1979) determined the products of the reaction of 4-chloro-3-nitrobenzenediazonium ions with ethoxide ion in ethanol, which is exactly analogous to the reaction in methanol discussed earlier in this section. These authors found 12.8% 4-chloro-3-nitrophenetole, 83% 2-chloronitrobenzene, and 0.8% 2-nitrophenetole. When the reaction was carried out in C2H5OD, the first- and second-mentioned products contained 99% D and 69% D respectively. Dediazoniation in basic ethanol therefore results in a higher yield of hydro-de-diazoniation with this diazonium salt compared with the reaction in methanol. This is probably due to the slightly higher basicity of the ethoxide ion and to the more facile formation of the radical CH3-CHOH (Packer and Richardson, 1975). Broxton and McLeish (1983 c) measured the rates of (Z) — (E) interconversion for some substituted 2-chlorophenylazo ethyl ethers in ethanol. 

Another method for hydro-de-diazoniation uses sodium boranate, as demonstrated by Musso s group (Bloch et al., 1969), who used NaBD4 in CH3OD in their experiments. The reaction probably proceeds via an aryldiazenyl anion (Ar-N2) as the key intermediate. The yields with this method are, however, modest. Two other examples probably involving aryldiazenyl anions are discussed in Section 8.10. 

Keumi et al. (1989) describe hydro-de-diazoniations of arenediazonium tetrafluo-roborates using chlorotrimethylsilane, (CH3)3SiCl), in tetrahydrofuran or tetra-hydrofuran/A A-dimethylformamide mixtures. Excellent yields were obtained with polycyclic arene derivatives such as 2-fluorene-, 2-fluorenone-, and 1-pyrenediazo-nium tetrafluoroborate and other similar diazonium salts. In a modification of this method 2-halogenofluorenones can be synthesized (see Sec. 10.6). 

The hydro-de-diazoniation of 4-nitrobenzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate with tri-phenylphosphine in methanol (Yasui et al., 1991) is hardly interesting for synthetic purposes, as the yield of nitrobenzene passes through a narrow maximum (95 %) if 0.5 equivalent of triphenylphosphine is used. 

Trimethylsilyl halides can also be used for analogous reactions with arenediazo-nium tetrafluoroborates, as shown by Keumi et al. (1989). These authors treated 2-fluorenediazonium tetrafluoroborate in A/,Af-dimethylformamide or -acetamide with trimethylsilylchloride, -bromide, or -iodide in the presence of an excess of N-chlorosuccinimide, Af-bromosuccinimide, or methyl iodide, respectively, at 60 °C (Cl, Br) or at room temperature (I). The yields of the 2-halofluorenes were good in addition fluorene, the product of hydro-de-diazoniation, was obtained, if the reaction was run in tetrahydrofuran/Af,7V-dimethylformamide mixtures. The mechanism of these reactions, as well as that of the corresponding azido-de-diazoniation, is uncertain (see also Secs. 10.2 and 10.7). 

The investigation by Becker et al. (1977 b) also included work on the effect of pyrene added as electron donor. Pyrene has an absorption maximum at 335 nm (e = 55000 M-1cm-1, in petroleum). Much more hydro-de-diazoniation takes place in the presence of pyrene with irradiation at 365 nm, and even more on irradiation with light of wavelength <313 nm. Photoexcited pyrene has a half-life of 300 ns and is able to transfer an electron to the diazonium ion. This electron transfer is diffusion-controlled (k= (2-3) X 1010 m 1s 1, Becker et al., 1977a). The radical pairs formed (ArN2 S +) can be detected by 13C- and 15N-CIDNP experiments (Becker et al., 1983, and papers cited there). 

Replacement of the Diazonium Group by Hydrogen Dediazoniation or Hydro-de-diazoniation... 

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