Methylene groups benzylic

Arylyl Amines. These amines have cycloaliphatic or aromatic backbones, but the amine fimctional groups are separated from the backbone by methylene groups (benzylic amines). Consequently, arylyl amines are much more reactive toward epoxies than aromatic amines while having improved thermal and chemical resistance over aliphatic amines. Fast cures at ambient and sub-ambient are possible with arylyl amines. These amines are more widely used in Japan and Europe than in North America. Meta-Xylylene diamine (MXDA) and its hydrogenated product, l,3-bis(aminomethyl cyclohexane) (1,3-BAC) are popular arylyl amines. 

The large sulfur atom is a preferred reaction site in synthetic intermediates to introduce chirality into a carbon compound. Thermal equilibrations of chiral sulfoxides are slow, and parbanions with lithium or sodium as counterions on a chiral carbon atom adjacent to a sulfoxide group maintain their chirality. The benzylic proton of chiral sulfoxides is removed stereoselectively by strong bases. The largest groups prefer the anti conformation, e.g. phenyl and oxygen in the first example, phenyl and rert-butyl in the second. Deprotonation occurs at the methylene group on the least hindered site adjacent to the unshared electron pair of the sulfur atom (R.R. Fraser, 1972 F. Montanari, 1975). 

When the reaction is carried out in D2O, the benzyl alcohol contains no deuterium in the methylene group. 

In view of the restrictions on the mode of approach of the radical to the double bond, significant strain develops at the transition state, and this requires rotation of the benzylic methylene group out of its preferred coplanar alignment. 

The sulfonyl group has been known since the turn of the century to activate the a-methylene group. For instance, Fromm and Wittmann254 found that 4-nitrophenyl benzyl sulfone reacted with methyl iodide in the presence of alcoholic sodium hydroxide to afford... 

DMSO or other sulfoxides react with trimethylchlorosilanes (TCS) 14 or trimefhylsilyl bromide 16, via 789, to give the Sila-Pummerer product 1275. Rearrangement of 789 and further reaction with TCS 14 affords, with elimination of HMDSO 7 and via 1276 and 1277, methanesulfenyl chloride 1278, which is also accessible by chlorination of dimethyldisulfide, by treatment of DMSO with Me2SiCl2 48, with formation of silicon oil 56, or by reaction of DMSO with oxalyl chloride, whereupon CO and CO2 is evolved (cf also Section 8.2.2). On heating equimolar amounts of primary or secondary alcohols with DMSO and TCS 14 in benzene, formaldehyde acetals are formed in 76-96% yield [67]. Thus reaction of -butanol with DMSO and TCS 14 gives, via intermediate 1275 and the mixed acetal 1279, formaldehyde di-n-butyl acetal 1280 in 81% yield and methyl mercaptan (Scheme 8.26). Most importantly, use of DMSO-Dg furnishes acetals in which the 0,0 -methylene group is deuter-ated. Benzyl alcohol, however, affords, under these reaction conditions, 93% diben-zyl ether 1817 and no acetal [67]. 

The HMQC spectrum of podophyllotoxin shows heteronuclear crosspeaks for all 13 protonated carbons. Each cross-peak represents a one-bond correlation between the C nucleus and the attached proton. It also allows us to identify the pairs of geminally coupled protons, since both protons display cross-peaks with the same carbon. For instance, peaks A and B represent the one-bond correlations between protons at 8 4.10 and 4.50 with the carbon at 8 71.0 and thus represent a methylene group (C-15). Cross-peak D is due to the heteronuclear correlation between the C-4 proton at 8 4.70 and the carbon at 8 72.0, assignable to the oxygen-bearing benzylic C-4. Heteronuclear shift correlations between the aromatic protons and carbons are easily distinguishable as cross-peaks J-L, while I represents C/H interactions between the methylenedioxy protons (8 5.90) and the carbon at 8 101.5. The C-NMR and H-NMR chemical shift assignments based on the HMQC cross-peaks are summarized on the structure. 

Aliphatic and benzylic ethers are degraded by hydroxylation of the a-methylene group followed by scission of the ether bond with the formation of an aldehyde and an alkanol (White et al. 1996 Kim and Engesser 2004). In contrast, the degradation of 2-chloroethylvinyl ether by Ancylobacter... 

In the presence of a very strong base, such as an alkyllithium, sodium or potassium hydride, sodium or potassium amide, or LDA, 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds can be converted to their dianions by two sequential deprotonations.79 For example, reaction of benzoylacetone with sodium amide leads first to the enolate generated by deprotonation at the more acidic methylene group between the two carbonyl groups. A second equivalent of base deprotonates the benzyl methylene group to give a dienediolate. 

The prototype o-quinone methide (o-QM) and / -quinone methide (p-QM) are reactive intermediates. In fact, they have only been detected spectroscopically at low temperatures (10 K) in an argon matrix,1 or as a transient species by laser flash photolysis.2 Such a reactivity is mainly due to their electrophilic nature, which is remarkable in comparison to that of other neutral electrophiles. In fact, QMs are excellent Michael acceptors, and nucleophiles add very fast under mild conditions at the QM exocyclic methylene group to form benzylic adducts, according to Scheme 2.1.2a 3... 

Experimental observations,23 supported by high-level ab initio calculations, 24 indicate that two extreme resonance forms contribute to the general energy of the benzyl cation the aromatic form A, in which the positive charge is concentrated at the methylene group, and the nonaromatic, methylene arenium form B with a sp2 ipso-carbon atom and ring-localized charge (Scheme 3.13). Unlike benzyl cations of the form A, which were isolated and studied, especially by Olah and coworkers,23 compounds represented by the form B remained elusive. Thus, metal complexation... 

Stabilization of the zwitterionic intermediate in o-QM formation can also occur intramolecularly. In this case, the stabilizing moieties must be able to dissipate the positive charge at the benzylic group by a resonance effect and prevent rotation of the exocyclic methylene group by a steric blocking. One example for such a temporary stabilization is the nitration of a-tocopheryl acetate (25) by concentrated HNO3, which produced 6-0-acetyl-5-nitro-a-tocopherol (27) in quite good yields,48 the... 

Oxidation of the benzylic methylene group in cyclazocine to a ketone is also consistent with analgesic activity. Acetylation of benzomorphan 62 affords the diacetate 63. Selective hydrolysis of the phenolic acetate (64) followed by methylation of the thus uncovered phenol affords intermediate 65. 

Boyd, D.R., Sharma, N.D., Bowers, N.I. et al. (1996) Stereoselective dioxygenase-catalyzed benzylic hydroxyl-ation at prochiral methylene groups in the chemoenzymatic synthesis of enantiopure vicinal aminoindanols. Tetrahedron Asymmetry, , 1559-1562. 

The reaction of lactones of benzyl alcohols with Et3SiH/TFA results in complete reduction of the alcohol part of the lactone to the methylene group while preserving the carboxylate function (Eq. 148).305... 

Decyl-5-methoxy-l-naphthol [Reduction of a Secondary Benzylic Alcohol to a Methylene Group with Concomitant Loss of a MOM Protecting Group].167... 

Okawara et al. reported the photodissociation of several carbamate derivatives on the basis of the product analysis [166]. They demonstrated that the cleavage bonds were different corresponding to the number of the methylene groups in Eq. (43). When n was unity, the reactive benzyl radical and less-reactive thiyl radical were produced. 

Allylic and benzylic oxidation. PCC in refluxing CH2C12 can oxidize allylic2 and benzylic23 methylene groups to keto groups in satisfactory yield. 

Dibromoethane normally reacts with activated methylene groups to produce cyclopropyl derivatives [e.g. 25, 27], but not with 1,3-diphenylpropanone. Unlike the corresponding reaction of 1,3-dibromopropane with the ketone to form 2,6-diphenylcyclohexanone, 1,2-dibromoethane produces 2-benzylidene-3-phenyl-tetrahydrofuran and the isomeric 2-benzyl-3-phenyl-4,5-dihydrofuran via initial C-alkylation followed by ring closure onto the carbonyl oxygen atom (Scheme 6.2) [28],... 

Chromium-mediated oxidation of benzylic methylene groups to the corresponding oxo derivatives has also been reported [4], Tri-n-butylstannyl chromate appears to be the best co-oxidant and a trace of 4-toluenesulphonic acid also aids the oxidation. 

Chromate-mediated percarbonate oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols and of benzylic methylene groups... 

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