Nitrogen ions, decomposition

Treatment of A-nitroso-iV-(cr5-2-phenylcyclopropyl)urea with excess sodium formate in methanol at 25 "C for 15 hours affords ( )-3-methoxy-l-phenylprop-l-ene (25%) and 3-methoxy-3-phenylprop-l-ene (60%, Table 15, entry 7). An almost identical result is obtained when the tran -isomer is used as substrate. Formation of the 2-phenylcyclopropyldiazonium ion, decomposition with loss of nitrogen to the 2-phenylcyclopropyl cation, followed by ring opening to form the phenylallyl cation, can explain the result. When [l- Hi]aminocyclopropane is subjected to deamination with nitrous acid in water at 0°C (Table 15, entry 8), allyl alcohol is obtained, which is isolated as the 4-(phenylazo)benzoate derivative in 44% yield. In this case, the deuterium is only located at the C2 allyl position. ... 

When we turn to a secondary aliphatic diazonium ion, then loss of nitrogen to yield an unrearranged carbocation is an available pathway, so we get products of both diazonium ion decomposition and carbocation decomposition. We should thus expect to get less rearrangement from secondary than from primary aliphatic diazonium ions because this lower-energy pathway is available to the diazonium ion. 

The controlled thermal decomposition of dry aromatic diazonium fluoborates to yield an aromatic fluoride, boron trifluoride and nitrogen is known as the Schiemann reaction. Most diazonium fluoborates have definite decomposition temperatures and the rates of decomposition, with few exceptions, are easily controlled. Another procedure for preparing the diazonium fluoborate is to diazotise in the presence of the fluoborate ion. Fluoboric acid may be the only acid present, thus acting as acid and source of fluoborate ion. The insoluble fluoborate separates as it is formed side reactions, such as phenol formation and coupling, are held at a minimum temperature control is not usually critical and the temperature may rise to about 20° without ill effect efficient stirring is, however, necessary since a continuously thickening precipitate is formed as the reaction proceeds. The modified procedure is illustrated by the preparation of -fluoroanisole ... 

Figure 22 5 shows what happens when a typical primary alkylamine reacts with nitrous acid Because nitrogen free products result from the formation and decomposition of diazonium ions these reactions are often referred to as deamination reactions Alkyl... 

Phenyl cations are formed by thermal decomposition of aryl diazonium ions. The cation is so extremely reactive that under some circumstances it can recrqrture the nitrogen... 

The principal difference hes in the poorer ability of amide ions to act as leaving groups, compared to alkoxides. As a result, protonation at nitrogen is required for breakdown of the tetrahedral intermediate. Also, exchange between the carbonyl oxygen and water is extensive because reversal of the tetrahedral intermediate to reactants is faster than its decomposition to products. 

It has been observed2 that the dropwise addition of an aqueous solution of potassium ethyl xanthate to a cold (0°) aqueous solution of diazotized orthanilic acid results in the immediate loss of nitrogen when a trace of nickel ion is present in the stirred diazonium solution.3 The catalyst can be added as nickelous chloride or simply by using a nichrome wire stirrer. When no nickel ion is added and a glass stirrer is employed, the diazonium xanthate precipitates and requires heat (32°) to effect decomposition. 

Heath and Majer (H3) have recently used a mass spectrometer to study the decomposition of ammonium perchlorate. Decomposition was detected in the range from 110° to 120°C. At this temperature, there were ions in the mass spectrum caused by NH3, HC104, Cl2, HC1, nitrogen oxides, and 02. The appearance of the species NO, N02,02, and Cl2 in the decomposition products under very low pressure (i.e., in the absence of gas-phase molecular collisions) indicates that the principal decomposition reactions take place in the crystal and not in the gas phase. 

The conductometric results of Meerwein et al. (1957 b) mentioned above demonstrate that, in contrast to other products of the coupling of nucleophiles to arenediazonium ions, the diazosulfones are characterized by a relatively weak and polarized covalent bond between the p-nitrogen and the nucleophilic atom of the nucleophile. This also becomes evident in the ambidentate solvent effects found in the thermal decomposition of methyl benzenediazosulfone by Kice and Gabrielson (1970). In apolar solvents such as benzene or diphenylmethane, they were able to isolate decomposition products arising via a mechanism involving homolytic dissociation of the N — S bond. In a polar, aprotic solvent (acetonitrile), however, the primary product was acetanilide. The latter is thought to arise via an initial hetero-lytic dissociation and reaction of the diazonium ion with the solvent (Scheme 6-11). 

In all of the above cases involving decompositions of vinyl diazonium ions, the observed products are consistent with a vinyl cation formulation, but extensive mechanistic studies of these reactions have not been reported. It is difficult, for instance, to establish to what extent reaction proceeds through the diazonium ion via a backside nucleophilic attack and concerted loss of nitrogen rather than through the free vinyl cation. In the absence of kinetic data, it is also difficult to rule out competing or alternative mechanisms not involving vinyl cations. 

Li3(BN2) have already demonstrated the decomposition of (BN2) ions into boron nitride. The remaining nitride can lead to the formation of a binary metal nitride or reduce the transition metal ion under the formation of N2. Both mechanisms have been obtained experimentally, depending on the stability of the metal nitride. For instance niobium pentachloride forms NbN, titanium trichloride forms TiN, and nickel dichloride forms Ni, plus BN and nitrogen, respectively, in reactions with Li3(BN)2 (at 300-600°C) [24]. 

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