Nitro compounds, detection reduction

Nitro compounds and their reduction products. Tertiary nitro compounds (these are generally aromatic) are reduced by zinc and ammonium chloride solution to the corresponding hydroxylamines, which may be detected by their reducing action upon an ammoniacal solution of silver nitrate or Tollen s reagent ... 

Fig. 21 Reaction scheme for the detection of aromatics, by means of the reaction sequence, nitration, reduction, diazotization and coupling to an azo dye, and of aliphatic nitro compounds by detection of the primary amino group produced on reduction.

The specific detection of aromatic nitro compounds is a second example. These can be converted by reduction to primary amines, which are then diazotized and coupled to yield azo dyes (cf. reagent sequence Titanium(III) chloride — Bratton-Marshall reagent ). Sodium nitrite —naphthol reagent, diazotized sulfanilic acid and other reagents specific for amino groups (e.g. ninhydrin, fluorescamine, DOOB, NBD chloride [9]) can also be used in the second stage of the reaction (Fig. 21). 

The aromatic nitro compounds make up another group of substances. These can also be formed directly on the TLC layer as a result of the frequently used VrrAU reaction [24]. They are detected - as shown in Fig. 21 - by reduction and coupling to azo dyes. 

Spin trapping has been widely used for superoxide detection in various in vitro systems [16] this method was applied for the study of microsomal reduction of nitro compounds [17], microsomal lipid peroxidation [18], xanthine-xanthine oxidase system [19], etc. As DMPO-OOH adduct quickly decomposes yielding DMPO-OH, the latter is frequently used for the measurement of superoxide formation. (Discrimination between spin trapping of superoxide and hydroxyl radicals by DMPO can be performed by the application of hydroxyl radical scavengers, see below.) For example, Mansbach et al. [20] showed that the incubation of cultured enterocytes with menadione or nitrazepam in the presence of DMPO resulted in the formation of DMPO OH signal, which supposedly originated from the reduction of DMPO OOH adduct by glutathione peroxidase. 

Barek et al. have reported on the determination of AT-nitroso compounds, azo compounds, heterocychcs, aromatic nitro compounds, heterocychc amines and even benzyl chloride using electrochemical methods such as voltammetry and polarog-raphy. The nitro and AT-nitroso compounds work particularly well in reductive mode [47, 48]. For appropriate analytes, adsorptive stripping voltammetry and anodic stripping voltammetry can give orders of magnitude lower detection hmits than are available from HPLC with electrochemical detection [48]. 

Wardman P, Dennis MF, Everett SA, Patel KB, Stratford MRL, Tracy M (2003) Radicals from one-electron reduction of nitro compounds, aromatic N-oxides and quinones the kinetic basis for hypoxia-selective, bioreductive drugs. Biochem Soc Symp 61 171-194 Warman JM, de Haas MP, Hummel A, van Lith D, VerberneJB, Loman H (1980) A pulse radiolysis conductivity study of frozen aqueous solutions of DNA. Int J Radiat Biol 38 459-459 Warman JM, de Haas MP, Rupprecht A (1996) DNA a molecular wire Chem Phys Lett 249 319-322 Warters RL, Lyons BW (1992) Variation in radiation-induced formation of DNA double-strand breaks as a function of chromatin structure. Radiat Res 130 309-318 Warters RL, Hofer KG, Harris CR, Smith JM (1977) Radionuclide toxicity in cultured mammalian cells Elucidation of the primary site of radiation damage. Curr Top Radiat Res Q 12 389-407 Weiland B, Huttermann J (1998) Free radicals from X-irradiated, dry and hydrated lyophilized DNA as studies by electron spin resonance spectroscopy analysis of spectral components between 77 K and room temperature. Int J Radiat Biol 74 341-358 Weinfeld M, Soderlind K-JM (1991) 32P-Postlabeling detection of radiation-induced DNA-damage identification and estimation of thymine glycols and phosphoglycolate termini. Biochemistry 30 1091-1097... 

The excretion of amines is unusual in animals. Amines are highly toxic and one method employed by vertebrates to detoxify them is via monoamine oxidase, an enzyme which has been detected in H. diminuta (569). Amines can arise from the decarboxylation of the appropriate amino acid, e.g. glycine and alanine can give rise to methylamine and ethylamine, respectively. Another possible source of amines may be the reduction of azo or nitro compounds (39) and azo- and nitro-reductase activity has been reported from M. expansa (180, 181). Furthermore, the physiologically active amines octopamine, dopamine, adrenalin and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) have been demonstrated in cestodes (283, 296, 435, 681, 682, 758, 859), where they probably function predominantly as neurotransmitters (see Chapter 2). 

Nitrobenzene reductase activity has been detected in the fat body, gut, and Malpighian tubules of the Madagascar cockroach, G. portentosa (Rose and Young, 1973). Anaerobic conditions are essential for activity. The enzymes in the microsomes are strongly NADH dependent, whereas those in the soluble fraction are strongly NADPH dependent. Activity is enhanced by the addition of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), flavin mononucleotide (FMN) or riboflavin. It appears that the true substrate for the nitroreductase is FMN and that the reduction of the nitro compounds occurs nonenzymatically (Figure 8.15). Similar results are obtained using azofuchsin as substrate. 

Electrochemical detectors are based upon the volta-metric oxidation or reduction of separated analytes at a micro- or thin-film electrode. A number of pharmacologically active compounds that are aldehydes, ketones, or quinones (such as doxorubicin), or nitro compounds (such as nitrofurantoin) are amenable to reduction at a mercury or platinum electrode electron-rich indole derivatives and catecholamines can be oxidized at these electrodes. An important condition that must be fulfilled for electrochemical detection to be practicable is that the mobile phase must be capable of conducting an electrical current. This makes electrochemical detection particularly useful in reversed-phase liquid chromatography, where buffered water mixed with one or more organic cosolvents is usually the mobile phase. 

The nitroso intermediate can in this case be detected directly in the reduction mixture by its bluish green color and its polarographic wave the nitroso compound is, as most other nitroso derivatives, more easily reducible than the corresponding nitro compound. 

Table 4 shows selected results for the reduction of a variety of functionalized nitro compounds to the corresponding anilines with this new catalyst system. No reduction of the second function was ever detected even a C=C bond remained completely unreduced ... 

Reductions Microbial and mammalian nitroreductase reduces nitro compounds to amines. Chlorinated alkanes and alkenes are common contaminants in ground water and chlorinated aromatics, PCBs, organochlorine pesticides, are often detected in soils and sediments and it has been of interest to evaluate the potential for these compounds to be metabolized. A number of microorganisms are able to dechlorinate both halogenated aliphatic and aromatic compounds in a reduction reaction." It has been observed that the more highly chlorinated congeners are more reactive in these systems in contrast to the response in oxidative dechlorinations. 

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