Nitrone reactions radical

Israeli, A., Patt, M., Oron, M., Samuni, A., Kohen, R., and Goldstein, S. 2005. Kinetics and mechanism of the comproportionation reaction between oxoammonium cation and hydroxy-lamine derived from cyclic nitrones. Free Radical Biology and Medicine 38 317-324. 

The general trend of nitrones toward radical reactions can be explained by a variety of reasons (a) their readiness to be transformed into stable nitroxyl radicals as a result of the so-called spin trapping (b) one-electron oxidation into radical cations and (c) one-electron reduction into radical anions (Scheme 2.77, routes C,D and E). Depending on the reaction conditions either route has been... 

Nitrone reactions with lithiated dialkyl phosphite results in the formation of a-(hydroxyamino)phosphonate, which, depending on the character of the R substituent at a-C lead to a-phosphorylated nitrones (429) or fS-phosphorylated nitroxyl radicals (430) after successive oxidations (Scheme 2.200) (686—689). 

Scheme 4.11). The macroradicals are generated either through conventional polymerization initiated by TRI or from dormant chains pre-made by ATRP. The process is called ESCP (enhanced spin capturing polymerization) in the first case and NMRC (nitrone-mediated radical coupling) in the second. The formation of 21 is irreversible at the reaction temperature (<80°C), however,... 

Nitrones arc generally more stable than nitroso-compounds and arc therefore easier to handle. However, the nitroxides formed by reaction with nitrones [e.g. phenyl /-butyl nitrone (109)]483 484 have the radical center one carbon removed from the trapped radical (Scheme 3.86). The LPR spectra are therefore less sensitive to the nature of that radical and there is greater difficulty in resolving and assigning signals. Nitrones are generally less efficient traps than nitroso-compounds.476... 

Many nitrones and nitroso-compounds have been exploited as spin traps in elucidating radical reaction mechanisms by EPR spectroscopy (Section 3.5.2.1). The initial adducts are nitroxides which can trap further radicals (Scheme 5.17). 

Although these reactions are formulated as ionic reactions via 947 and 949, because of the apparent partial formation of polymers and inhibition of the fluoride-catalyzed reaction of pyridine N-oxide 860 with aUyl 82 or benzyltrimethylsilane 83 by sulfur or galvinoxyl yet not by Tempo, a radical mechanism caimot be excluded [61, 62]. The closely related additions of allyltrimethylsilane 82 (cf. Section 7.3) to nitrones 976 are catalyzed by TMSOTf 20 to give, via 977, either o-unsatu-rated hydroxylamines 978 or isoxazoHdines 979 (cf also the additions of 965 to 962a and 969 in schemes 7.20 and 7.21). 

It is unfortunate that typical concentrations of free-radical species present in biological systems are only at the limit of e.s.r. detection sensitivity and, of course, there are major technical difficulties in studying whole animals in this manner. Therefore, the most successful e.s.r. experiments have adopted the approach of spin trapping in which very reactive and thus transient radical species are converted to long-lived adducts via reaction with a trap such as a nitrone, e.g. Equation 1.1 ... 

Despite their short half-lives, it is possible to detect free radicals in biological tissues by the addition of nonradicals such as nitrones or nitroso compounds, which act as spin traps by forming relatively stable free radicals on reaction with the endogenous radical species. Utilizing the technique of electron spin resonance (e.s.r.) spectroscopy, we have demonstrated ROM generation by human rheumatoid synovium when subjected to cycles of hypoxia/normoxia in vitro. Using 3,5-dibromo-4-nitroso-benzenesulphonate (DBNBS) as a spin trap, a... 

Clerici and Porta reported that phenyl, acetyl and methyl radicals add to the Ca atom of the iminium ion, PhN+Me=CHMe, formed in situ by the titanium-catalyzed condensation of /V-methylanilinc with acetaldehyde to give PhNMeCHMePh, PhNMeCHMeAc, and PhNMeCHMe2 in 80% overall yield.83 Recently, Miyabe and co-workers studied the addition of various alkyl radicals to imine derivatives. Alkyl radicals generated from alkyl iodide and triethylborane were added to imine derivatives such as oxime ethers, hydrazones, and nitrones in an aqueous medium.84 The reaction also proceeds on solid support.85 A-sulfonylimines are also effective under such reaction conditions.86 Indium is also effective as the mediator (Eq. 11.49).87 A tandem radical addition-cyclization reaction of oxime ether and hydrazone was also developed (Eq. 11.50).88 Li and co-workers reported the synthesis of a-amino acid derivatives and amines via the addition of simple alkyl halides to imines and enamides mediated by zinc in water (Eq. 11.51).89 The zinc-mediated radical reaction of the hydrazone bearing a chiral camphorsultam provided the corresponding alkylated products with good diastereoselectivities that can be converted into enantiomerically pure a-amino acids (Eq. 11.52).90... 

The presence of /3-hydrogen in the nitroxide radical may lead to disproportionation reactions. In spin-trapping experiments, N-t-butyl-a-phenyl nitrone yields rather unstable spin adducts. This type of radical can be stabilized by coordination to Nin. The Ni11 complex with N-oxy-A-r-butyl-(2-pyridyl)phenylmethanamine (923) reveals a distorted octahedral geometry with antiferromagnetic interactions between the unpaired electrons of the metal ion and the radical spins.00... 

Branchaud and coworkers have used cobaloximes as alkyl radical precursors for the cross-coupling reaction with nitronates.57 This method is very useful for producing branched-chain monosaccharides, as shown in Eq. 5.39.57b... 

Antioxidants that break chains by reactions with alkyl radicals. These are compounds, such as quinones, nitrones, iminoquinones, methylenequinones, stable nitroxyl radicals, and nitrocompounds that readily accept alkyl radicals. Such antioxidants are efficient at very low concentrations of dioxygen and in solid polymers. 

EPR study of electrochemical properties of nitrones and registration of resulting radical cation (RC) or radical anion (RA), such as, in the nitrone transformation into nitroxyl radicals, allows us to get direct answers to the questions concerning mechanisms of nitrone group reactions. The following schemes A-E can be realized depending on conditions as below (Scheme 2.77) ... 

A detailed analysis of photoisomerization of the nitrone group in the nitroxyl radical 4-phenyl-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-3-imidazoline-3-oxide-l-oxyl, based on double electron-nuclear resonance methods, has shown that in the absence of oxygen the photochemical reaction occurs without affecting the radical center. The... 

Oxidative Alkoxylation of Nitrones to a-Alkoxy Nitrones and a-Alkoxy Substituted Nitroxyl Radicals The first direct experimental evidence of the possibility to carry out radical cation nucleophilic addition to nitrones with the formation of nitroxyl radicals has been cited in Section 2.4. Further, such a reaction route was referred to as inverted spin trapping this route is an alternative to a conventional spin trapping (508-512). Realization of either mechanism depends on the reaction conditions namely, on the strength of both nucleophile and oxidant. The use of strong oxidants in weak nucleophilic media tends to favour the radical cation mechanism... 

Moreover, one should mention that in spite of similar electronic structures, PBN and the isoquinoline nitrone (278) react in a different way. Under no circumstances does PBN give an oxidative methoxylation product, whereas nitrone (278) reacts readily to form a,a-dialkoxy-substituted nitroxyl radical (280) (517). Perhaps this difference might be due to the ability to form a complex with methanol in aldo-nitrones with -configuration. This seems favorable for a fast nucleophilic addition of methanol to the radical cation (RC), formed in the oxidation step. The a-methoxy nitrone (279), obtained in the initial methoxylation, has a lower oxidation potential than the initial aldo-nitrone (see Section 2.4). Its oxidation to the radical cation and subsequent reaction with methanol results in the formation of the a,a-dimethoxy-substituted nitroxyl radical (280) (Scheme 2.105). 

Oxidative Animation of Nitrones to a-Amino-Substituted Nitroxyl Radicals Similar to the oxidative methoxylation reaction, oxidative animation of 4H -imidazole TV-oxides, in amine saturated alcohol solutions, give stable nitroxyl (282), nitronyl nitroxyl (283), imino nitroxyl (284) and (285) radicals with the amino group at the a-carbon atom of the nitroxyl group (Scheme 2.107) (520, 521). The observed influence of substituents on the ratio of animation products at C2 and C5 atom is close to the ratio observed in the previously mentioned oxidative methoxylation reaction. It allows us to draw conclusions about the preference of the radical cation reaction route. 

Oxidative Fluorination of Nitrones to a-Fluorosubstituted Nitroxyl Radicals Formation of nitroxyl radicals by the radical cation route was observed in reactions of various nitrones with xenon difluoride in dry methylene chloride (520, 523). In this reaction, more than 40 nitrones, including 4H -imidazole N,N -dioxides (219), 4H -imidazole TV-oxides (223) and (224), 2H -imidazole N -oxides (225), 2H -imidazole TV,TV-dioxides (226), 3,3,5,5-tetramethylpyrroline N -oxide (TMPO), derivatives of 3-imidazoline-3-oxides (231) and (232), have been examined. ESR spectra of nitroxyl radicals containing one or two fluorine atoms at a-C have been registered (Scheme 2.108) (523). In the case of... 

The use of Et3B as a radical initiator makes it possible to carry out the addition of other alkyl radicals to nitrone (286) using alkyl iodides. Good yields have been obtained of products (288b-d) when an excess of the appropriate alkyl iodide was used (Scheme 2.110). It has been established that the yield of alkyl by-products (288a) tends to decrease with the increase of the reaction temperature. The stereochemical features of this reaction are explained by the alkyl radical addition taking place predominantly from the less hindered re-face of (286) to avoid steric interaction with the phenyl group (525). 

Reductive Cross-Coupling of Nitrones Recently, reductive coupling of nitrones with various cyclic and acyclic ketones has been carried out electrochem-ically with a tin electrode in 2-propanol (527-529). The reaction mechanism is supposed to include the initial formation of a ketyl radical anion (294), resulting from a single electron transfer (SET) process, with its successive addition to the C=N nitrone bond (Scheme 2.112) (Table 2.9). 

This reaction is very important for the synthesis of natural products and for the design of diversely substituted ligands. The use of Sml2 in radical additions of nitrones to 0.,j3-unsaturated amides and esters, constitutes a convenient synthesis of various functionalized y-amino acids with high enantiomeric excess (Schemes 2.114 and 2.115) (531-533). 

The reaction of organometalic compounds with nitrones can be applied not only to the synthesis of stable nitroxyl radicals but also to the preparation of optically active secondary amines (Scheme 2.162) (617, 618). 

Addition ofN-, S- and P-Nucleophiles The reaction of nitrones with heteroatom centered nucleophiles has been little investigated and are mainly applied to the synthesis of new heterocyclic systems and stable nitroxyl radicals, containing a heteroatom at the a-carbon atom. 

The last few years have seen numerous applications of spin trapping to biological systems, and in these the trapping of hydroxyl radicals has assumed some importance. This work has been confined almost exclusively to nitrone scavengers 4 the fact that the hydroxyl adduct [6] of DMPO is much more persistent than that [7] of the commonly used nitrone, benzylidene-t-butylamine-N-oxide ( phenyl t-butyl nitrone ,3 or PBN) [3], may be due to a fragmentation reaction, with subsequent oxidation of the cr-hydroxybenzyl radical, as shown. 

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