Nitrogen dioxide reaction, with thiols

A mixture of 300 ml. of water, 150 ml. of concentrated nitric acid, and 0.2 g. of sodium nitrite (Note 2) is placed in a 2-1. threenecked flask equipped with a stirrer and a thermometer. The stirred mixture is warmed to 45°, and 2 g. of l,2,4-triazole-3(5)-thiol is added. When oxidation starts, as indicated by the evolution of brown fumes of nitrogen dioxide and a rise in temperature, a bath of cold water is placed under the reaction flask to provide cooling and an additional 99 g. (total, 101 g. 1 mole) of 1,2,4-triazole-3(5)-thiol is added in small portions over the course of 30-60 minutes. The rate of addition and the extent of cooling by the water bath are so regulated as to keep the temperature close to 45 7° all during the addition. The water bath is kept cold by the occasional addition of ice. 

The spontaneous reaction of nitric oxide with thiols is slow at physiological pH and the final product under anaerobic conditions is not a nitrosothiol (Pryor et al., 1982). The reaction is slow because it involves the conjugate base of the thiol (R—S"). At pH 7.0, the oxidation of cysteine by nitric oxide required 6 hr to reach completion and yields RSSR and N 2O as the products. The synthetic preparation of nitrosothiols usually involves the addition of nitrosonium ion from acidified nitrite to the thiol, or oxidation of the thiol with nitrogen dioxide under anaerobic conditions in organic solvents. Nitric oxide will form nitrosothiols by reaction with ferric heme groups, such as found in metmyoglobin or methemoglobin (Wade and Castro, 1990). It is also possible that nitrosyldioxyl radical also reacts with thiols to form a nitrosothiol. 

More recently, chemiluminescence detectors based on redox reactions have made possible the detection of many classes of compounds not detected by flame ionization. In the redox chemiluminescence detector (RCD), the effluent from the column is mixed with nitrogen dioxide and passed across a catalyst containing elemental gold at 200-400°C. Responsive compounds reduce the nitrogen dioxide to nitric oxide. The nitric oxide is reacted with ozone to give the chemiluminescent emission. The RCD yields a response from compounds capable of undergoing dehydrogenation or oxidation and produces sensitive emissions from alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, acids, amines, olifins, aromatic compounds, sulfides, and thiols. 

Oxidation of aromatic thiols with nitrogen dioxide leads to a variety of products, depending on the reaction conditions5,219,220. If the reaction is carried out at 25 °C in carbon tetrachloride using six equivalents of the oxidizing agent, then a quantitative yield of the aromatic sulphonic acid is formed, as depicted in equation 33. The reaction proceeds via the disulphide and the thiosulphinate, both of which may be isolated if the reaction is carried out at lower temperatures. 

Nitration aikanesulfonyl fluorides. Swiss chemists have reported two examples in which reactions are carried out successfully in 80-98% aqueous hydrofluoric acid. One is the nitration of anthraquinone with nitric acid or dinitrogen tetroxide in 80-98% aqueous hydrofluoric acid at 30-40°. The other is oxidation of aliphatic thiols to aikanesulfonyl fluorides with nitrogen dioxide in aqueous 80-98% HF. 

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