Ketyls dimerization

Uranium. Ephritikhine ha.s established that treatment of either cyclohexanone or benzophenone with UCI4 and Na/Hg affords the pinacol adduct in good yield (Eq. 3.26) [42]. The uranium benzopinacolate intermediate from the homocou-pling of benzophenone was characterized by X-ray crystallography. Mechanistic studies indicate that carbon-carbon bond formation proceeds via ketyl dimerization [43]. 

Interpretation of temperature dependence by rapid equilibrium among different ion pairs. Ketyl dimers, triplet state. 

Two classes of charged radicals derived from ketones have been well studied. Ketyls are radical anions formed by one-electron reduction of carbonyl compounds. The formation of the benzophenone radical anion by reduction with sodium metal is an example. This radical anion is deep blue in color and is veiy reactive toward both oxygen and protons. Many detailed studies on the structure and spectral properties of this and related radical anions have been carried out. A common chemical reaction of the ketyl radicals is coupling to form a diamagnetic dianion. This occurs reversibly for simple aromatic ketyls. The dimerization is promoted by protonation of one or both of the ketyls because the electrostatic repulsion is then removed. The coupling process leads to reductive dimerization of carbonyl compounds, a reaction that will be discussed in detail in Section 5.5.3 of Part B. 

The initial step of the coupling reaction is the binding of the carbonyl substrate to the titanium surface, and the transfer of an electron to the carbonyl group. The carbonyl group is reduced to a radical species 3, and the titanium is oxidized. Two such ketyl radicals can dimerize to form a pinacolate-like intermediate 4, that is coordinated to titanium. Cleavage of the C—O bonds leads to formation of an alkene 2 and a titanium oxide 5 ... 

Diols (pinacols) can be synthesized by reduction of aldehydes and ketones with active metals such as sodium, magnesium, or aluminum. Aromatic ketones give better yields than aliphatic ones. The use of a Mg—Mgl2 mixture has been called the Gomberg-Bachmann pinacol synthesis. As with a number of other reactions involving sodium, there is a direct electron transfer here, converting the ketone or aldehyde to a ketyl, which dimerizes. 

Another mechanism, involving addition of the ketyl to another molecule of ester (rather than a dimerization of two ketyl radicals), in which a diketone is not an intermediate, has been proposed Bloomfield, J.J. Owsley, D.C. Ainsworth, C. Robertson, R.E. J. Org. Chem., 1975, 40, 393. 

Reduction of Ketones and Enones. Although the method has been supplanted for synthetic purposes by hydride donors, the reduction of ketones to alcohols in ammonia or alcohols provides mechanistic insight into dissolving-metal reductions. The outcome of the reaction of ketones with metal reductants is determined by the fate of the initial ketyl radical formed by a single-electron transfer. The radical intermediate, depending on its structure and the reaction medium, may be protonated, disproportionate, or dimerize.209 In hydroxylic solvents such as liquid ammonia or in the presence of an alcohol, the protonation process dominates over dimerization. Net reduction can also occur by a disproportionation process. As is discussed in Section 5.6.3, dimerization can become the dominant process under conditions in which protonation does not occur rapidly. 

Dimerization of cyclopropenones has also been found to occur under reductive conditions. Tetraphenyl resorcinol is formed in addition to a small amount of tetra-phenyl p-benzoquinone on treatment of diphenyl cyclopropenone with aluminum amalgam200 its formation can be rationalized via dimerization of the cyclopropenone ketyl 266 and subsequent aromatization, possibly according to a prismane mechanism. 

The product distribution observed in the dimerization of polyene-substituted ketyl radicals is also remarkable in that only products involving dimerization at the carbonyl carbon atom are observed (equation 23)82,83. This finding is quite independent of the reducing agent, since ketyl radicals formed by reduction with low-valent transition metal complexes behave analogously84-86. 

More generally, double bonds between two carbons or one carbon and a heteroatom, possibly conjugated with other unsaturated moieties in the molecule, are eligible for two-electron/two-proton reactions according to Scheme 2.20. Carbonyl compounds are typical examples of such two-electron/two-proton hydrogenation reactions. In the case of quinones, the reaction that converts the quinone into the corresponding hydroquinone is reversible. With other carbonyl compounds, the protonation of the initial ketyl anion radical compete with its dimerization, as discussed later. 

This mechanism, which has been mostly studied with diaryl ketones, is more likely for aromatic and other conjugated aldehydes and ketones than it is for strictly aliphatic ones. Among the evidence429 for the SET mechanism are esr spectra430 and the obtention of Ar2C—CAr2 side products (from dimerization of the ketyl).431 In the case of addition of... 

Smith (29) showed that the polymerization of styrene by sodium ketyls with excess sodium produced low yields of isotactic polystyrene. Smith also believed that sodium ketyls initiated the styrene polymerization in the same way as the anionic alfin catalyst. Das, Feld and Szwarc (30) proposed that the lithium naphthalene polymerization of styrene occured through an anionic propagating species arising from the dissociation of the alkyllithium into ion pairs. These could arise from the dimeric styryllithium as a dialkyllithium anion and a lithium cation... 

Attention has turned recently to the mechanistic details underlying these processes. Probably the most significant development in this area in recent years is the discovery that the ketyl radical produced by electrochemical reduction of benzaldehyde in buffered neutral ethanol is harder to reduce than benzaldehyde itself46. All previous discussions had assumed that the ketyl radical would be reduced as quickly as it is formed, but fast scan cyclic voltammetry demonstrated the existence of a short-lived intermediate, apparently the ketyl radical. Computer simulation of the voltammograms showed that the radical dimerizes at a rate ca 106 1VD1 s 1. 

Another fundamental reaction of >C=0 involves its reactivity as a base. In the Brpnsted sense, >C=0 - may react with a proton donor to produce a neutral ketyl radical (>C(.)OH, Figure 2, reaction 2). This is an important process when the reduction of a carbonyl compound is carried out under acidic conditions or in a protic media (e.g. elec-trochemically, with less reactive reducing reagents such as Mg or Zn, or when >C=0"-is produced via PIET and R3N"+ has available a-protons). The follow-up chemistry of >C(.)OH is that of a neutral free radical (dimerization to form pinacols, addition to unsaturated compounds, fragmentations/ring-openings, etc.), and thus beyond the scope of this chapter. 

The reduction of carbonyl compounds to form pinacol dimers can be accomplished photochemically, electrochemically or with chemical reducing agents. When conducted under acidic conditions or in protic solvents, pinacols are likely produced by coupling of two neutral ketyl radicals (vs radical anions). The electrochemical reduction is especially complicated in terms of the role of the electrode surface, counterion and solvent, and an excellent review has appeared on the subject32. 

Flatta FI, Zhou L, Mori M,Teshima S, Nishimoto S (2001) N(1)-C(5 )-linked dimer hydrates of 5-substi-tuted uracils produced by anodic oxidation in aqueous solution. J Org Chem 66 2232-2239 Flayon E (1969) Optical-absorption spectra of ketyl radicals and radical anions of some pyrimidines. J Chem Phys 51 4881-4892... 

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