Naphthoquinones production

A flow diagram of continuous naphthoquinone production with a high conversion of naphthalene and subsequent anthraquinone production is depicted in Figure 9.11. 

Benzoquinone ( quinone ) is obtained as the end product of the oxidation of aniline by acid dichromate solution. Industrially, the crude product is reduced with sulphur dioxide to hydroquinone, and the latter is oxidised either with dichromate mixture or in very dilute sulphuric acid solution with sodium chlorate in the presence of a little vanadium pentoxide as catalyst. For the preparation in the laboratory, it is best to oxidise the inexpensive hydroquinone with chromic acid or with sodium chlorate in the presence of vanadium pent-oxide. Naphthalene may be converted into 1 4-naphthoquinone by oxidation with chromic acid. 

A fairly general procedure consists in coupling a phenol or naphthol with a diazotised amine, reducing the product to an aminophenol or aminonaphthol, and oxidising the hydroxy compound with acid ferric chloride solution. This method is illustrated by the preparation of (3 (or 1 2)-naphthoquinone ... 

Donor substituents on the vinyl group further enhance reactivity towards electrophilic dienophiles. Equations 8.6 and 8.7 illustrate the use of such functionalized vinylpyrroles in indole synthesis[2,3]. In both of these examples, the use of acetyleneic dienophiles leads to fully aromatic products. Evidently this must occur as the result of oxidation by atmospheric oxygen. With vinylpyrrole 8.6A, adducts were also isolated from dienophiles such as methyl acrylate, dimethyl maleate, dimethyl fumarate, acrolein, acrylonitrile, maleic anhydride, W-methylmaleimide and naphthoquinone. These tetrahydroindole adducts could be aromatized with DDQ, although the overall yields were modest[3]. 

The process by which a solubility differential between exposed and unexposed areas occurs is well known (74). Photodegradation products of the naphthoquinone diazide sensitizer, eg, a l,2-naphthoquinonediazide-5-sulfonic acid ester (11), where Ar is an aryl group, to an indene carboxylic acid confers much increased solubility in aqueous alkaline developer solutions. 

A process has been disclosed in which the mixture of naphthoquinones is reacted with a diene such as butadiene. Owing to the fact that the undesked product is an unsubstituted naphthoquinone, this dieneophile readily reacts to form a Diels-Alder adduct. By appropriate control of reaction parameters, Htde reaction is observed with the substituted naphthoquinone. Differential solubiUty of the adduct and vitamin allows for a facile separation (57,58). 

Alkannin occurs in the roots of the plant as the alkah-sensitive ester of angelic acid (62). It may be extracted from the roots by using boiling light petroleum ether. Treatment of this extract with dilute sodium hydroxide gives a blue solution from which the dye is precipitated by the addition of acid. The cmde product is purified by vacuum sublimation (63). Its stmcture (11) is a hydroxylated naphthoquinone with a long, unsaturated side chain (64,65) it has the (3)-configuration. 

The synthetic procedure described is based on that reported earlier for the synthesis on a smaller scale of anthracene, benz[a]anthracene, chrysene, dibenz[a,c]anthracene, and phenanthrene in excellent yields from the corresponding quinones. Although reduction of quinones with HI and phosphorus was described in the older literature, relatively drastic conditions were employed and mixtures of polyhydrogenated derivatives were the principal products. The relatively milder experimental procedure employed herein appears generally applicable to the reduction of both ortho- and para-quinones directly to the fully aromatic polycyclic arenes. The method is apparently inapplicable to quinones having an olefinic bond, such as o-naphthoquinone, since an analogous reaction of the latter provides a product of undetermined structure (unpublished result). As shown previously, phenols and hydro-quinones, implicated as intermediates in the reduction of quinones by HI, can also be smoothly deoxygenated to fully aromatic polycyclic arenes under conditions similar to those described herein. 

When just a trace of dark impurity is present, as in some of the commercial preparations, a completely pure product is easily obtained by vacuum distillation, but the ordinary crude reaction product is likely to decompose when treated in this manner. The ether method introduced in the present procedure has the advantage of being simple and efficient. It is equally applicable to the purification of the homologues of a-naphthoquinone. 

C gives a complex mixture of products that includes naphthoquinone, naphthol denvatives, and benzene denvatives as products of nng degradation [47]... 

Amines can also be protected by this reagent cleavage must be carried out in acidic media to avoid amine oxidation. The by-product naphthoquinone can be removed by extraction with basic hydrosulfite. Ceric ammonium nitrate also serves as an oxidant for deprotection, but the yields are much lower. 

Naphthoquinone reacts in 30 minutes to give l,2,3,4-tetrahydro-l,4-dioxo-naphthalene in 70% yield. After recrystallization from hexane, the product has mp 95-97° 10). 

In his pioneering work, Sus (1944) assumed that the final product of photodediazoniation of 2,1-diazonaphthoquinone (10.75) is indene-l-carboxylic acid (10.79, not the 3-isomer 10.78). He came to this conclusion on the basis of some analogies (in addition to an elemental analysis). Cope et al. (1956) as well as Yates and Robb (1957) found that the infrared spectrum of the product was consistent with an a,P-unsaturated acid. Later, Melera et al. (1974) verified the structure 10.78 by H NMR spectroscopy. Friedrich and Taggart (1975) showed that the equilibrium between 10.78 and 10.79 at 233 K lies on the side of the latter, but 10.78 clearly predominates at or above 0°C. Ponomareva et al. (1980) showed that not only 2,1-, but also 1,2-diazo-naphthoquinone yields indene-3- and not -1-carboxylic acid. 

An interesting suggestion was made by Levine in 1969. He supposed that the ketene formed photolytically from 1,2-naphthoquinone diazide could react with unreacted 1,2-naphthoquinone diazide to form a spirolactone-type addition product. This suggestion was tested experimentally almost twenty years later by Huang and Gu (1988). They irradiated 1,2-naphthoquinone diazide in dioxane in the presence of pyrene as sensitizer with a high-pressure mercury vapor lamp (Scheme 10-103). They did indeed obtain the spirolactonespiro(naphtho[4,5 2/,l/]furano-2-one)-3 T -inde-... 

Nanaomycin A 103 and deoxyfrenolicin 108 are members of a group of naphthoquinone antibiotics based on the isochroman skeleton. The therapeutic potential of these natural products has attracted considerable attention, and different approaches towards their synthesis have been reported [65,66]. The key step in the total synthesis of racemic nanaomycin A 103 is the chemo-and regioselective benzannulation reaction of carbene complex 101 and allylacety-lene 100 to give allyl-substituted naphthoquinone 102 after oxidative workup in 52% yield [65] (Scheme 47). The allyl functionality is crucial for a subsequent intramolecular alkoxycarbonylation to build up the isochroman structure. However, modest yields and the long sequence required to introduce the... 

For that reason an intramolecular benzannulation was developed, which incorporates all components for the intramolecular alkoxycarbonylation into the naphthoquinone 105 [65]. Based on that strategy a short and convergent pathway for the synthesis of racemic deoxyfrenolicin 108 was accomplished. Xu et al. replaced the allylacetylene 100 in the reaction sequence for nanaomycin A by alkynoate 106. The benzannulation product 107 was an appropriate precursor for a subsequent tandem oxa-Pictet-Spengler cyclisation/DDQ-induced coupling reaction [66]. Following this strategy the total synthesis of enan-tiomerically pure deoxyfrenolicin could be accomplished (Scheme 48). 

Sandur, S.K. et ah, Plumbagin (5-hydroxy-2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone) suppresses NF-kappa B activation and NF-kappa B-regulated gene products through modulation of p65 and I-kappa-B-alpha kinase activation, leading to potentiation of apoptosis induced by cytokine and chemotherapeutic agent, J. Biol. Chem., 281, 17023, 2006. 

The transformation of arenes in the troposphere has been discussed in detail (Arey 1998). Their destruction can be mediated by reaction with hydroxyl radicals, and from naphthalene a wide range of compounds is produced, including 1- and 2-naphthols, 2-formylcinnamaldehyde, phthalic anhydride, and with less certainty 1,4-naphthoquinone and 2,3-epoxynaphthoquinone. Both 1- and 2-nitronaphthalene were formed through the intervention of NO2 (Bunce et al. 1997). Attention has also been directed to the composition of secondary organic aerosols from the photooxidation of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the presence of NO (Eorstner et al. 1997) the main products from a range of alkylated aromatics were 2,5-furandione and the 3-methyl and 3-ethyl congeners. 

It is dangerous to prepare phthalic anhydride because of the oxidation exothermicity and risks of accidental catalysis by rust. This reaction forms naphthoquinone as a by-product. This compound may have caused a large number of accidents (that caused the compounds to ignite spontaneously) causing the compounds to combust. These accidents may have been caus by the naphthoquinone oxidation catalysed by iron phthalates, which are present in this reaction. However, it will be seen later that phthalic anhydride can also decompose in certain conditions that may be combined here. 

The crude naphthoquinone is precipitated by pouring the reaction mixture into 6 1. of water. The yellow precipitate is filtered, washed with 200 ml. of water, and dried in a desiccator. The product can be crystallized from 500 ml. of petroleum ether (b.p. 80-100°) (Note 3) and separates in the form of long yellow needles, m.p. 124-125°. The yield is 14-17 g. (18-22%) (Note 4). 

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