Hydrolysis of nitrogen fluorides

In addition to activation of sihcon bonds by fluoride ions as discussed in Section 2.4, silicon-silicon, silicon-carbon, silicon-hydrogen, and silicon-nitrogen bonds are activated by transition metal salts and transition metal complexes. Thus, hydrolysis of silicon-carbon bonds such as in phenyltrimethylsilane 81 can be induced by... 

Johnson and McCants (161) were the first to show that the alkaline hydrolysis of alkoxysulfonium salts, obtained by 0-alkylation of sulfoxides, proceeds with inversion of configuration at sulfur. This method was employed to interconvert (/ )- and (5)-benzyl p-tolyl sulfoxides 37 as shown in Scheme 21. In contrast to the hydroxide anion, the chloride, bromide, and iodide anions as well as the nitrogen atom of pyridine react with chiral ethoxydiarylsulfonium salts, not at sulfur but at the a-carbon atom of the ethoxy group, yielding the starting sulfoxide with retained configuration (284). On the other hand, the nucleophilic attack of the fluoride anion is directed at sulfur as in the case of the hydroxide anion (285). 

Because of the presence of nitrogen in the aromatic ring, electrons in pyridine are distributed in such a way that their density is higher in positions 3 and 5 (the P-positions). In these positions, electrophilic substitutions such as halogenation, nitration, and sulfonation take place. On the contrary, positions 2, 4, and 6 (a- and y-positions, respectively) have lower electron density and are therefore centers for nucleophilic displacements such as hydrolysis or Chichibabin reaction. In the case of 3,5-dichlorotrifluoropyridine, hydroxide anion of potassium hydroxide attacks the a- and y-positions because, in addition to the effect of the pyridine nitrogen, fluorine atoms in these position facilitate nucleophilic reaction by decreasing the electron density at the carbon atoms to which they are bonded. In a rate-determining step, hydroxyl becomes attached to the carbon atoms linked to fluorine and converts the aromatic compound into a nonaromatic Meisenheimer complex (see Surprise 67). To restore the aromaticity, fluoride ion is ejected in a fast step, and hydroxy pyridines I and J are obtained as the products [58],... 

Considerable data have been assembled concerning the physical and chemical properties of the nitrogen fluorides (6), yet a review of the literature revealed no systematic study of die reactions of these compounds with water. Although some isolated experiments relating to the hydrolysis of these gases have been reported (6), the results have not been critically analyzed. Usually these hydrolytic reactions were reported as observations noted during the investigation of other properties. 

Oxygen or, particularly, nitrogen adjacent to a carbon-fluorine bond greatly increases reactivity towards nucleophiles. Hydrolysis of a,a-difluoro ethers occurs under acid conditions [39] (Figure 5.19). Orthoesters are produced by reaction with aUcoxides such reactions may, however, occur via initial elimination of hydrogen fluoride, rather than by direct nucleophilic displacement of fluoride [40] (Figure 5.20). 

The high reactivity of di- and trinitrophenyl fluorides towards nucleophiles has been used for the arylation of various N-nucleophiles. A method was developed for the determination of N-terminal amino acids in peptides. Thus, nucleophilic attack of the amino acid nitrogen at Sanger s reagent (2,4-dinitrophenyl fluoride, 4), hydrolysis and subsequent analysis of the N-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)amino acid allows determination of the amino acid.162,163 Although this method has been replaced by more efficient procedures, it marked a milestone in the elucidation of peptide structures (Nobel Prize 1958). A variety of N-nuclcophilcs (no amino acids) which have been used in the nucleophilic substitution of 2,4-dinitrophcnyl fluoride is listed. 

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