Oxygen-centered Nucleophiles

The synthesis of a large number of y-pyrones and y-pyranols from enamines has been brought about through the use of a wide variety of bifunctional molecules. These molecules include phenolic aldehydes (126,127), phenolic Mannich bases (128), ketal esters (129), and diketene (120-132). All of these molecules have an electrophilic carbonyl group and a nucleophilic oxygen center in relative 1,4 positions. This is illustrated by the reaction between salicylaldehyde (101) and the morpholine enamine of cyclohexanone to give pyranol 102 in a quantitative yield (127). 

An important finding is that all peroxo compounds with d° configuration of the TM center exhibit essentially the same epoxidation mechanism [51, 61, 67-72] which is also valid for organic peroxo compounds such as dioxiranes and peracids [73-79], The calculations revealed that direct nucleophilic attack of the olefin at an electrophilic peroxo oxygen center (via a TS of spiro structure) is preferred because of significantly lower activation barriers compared to the multi-step insertion mechanism [51, 61-67]. A recent computational study of epoxidation by Mo peroxo complexes showed that the metallacycle intermediate of the insertion mechanism leads to an aldehyde instead of an epoxide product [62],... 

Density functional calculations reveal that epoxidation of olefins by peroxo complexes with TM d° electronic configuration preferentially proceeds as direct attack of the nucleophilic olefin on an electrophilic peroxo oxygen center via a TS of spiro structure (Sharpless mechanism). For the insertion mechanism much higher activation barriers have been calculated. Moreover, decomposition of the five-membered metallacycle intermediate occurring in the insertion mechanism leads rather to an aldehyde than to an epoxide [63]. 

In Studying asymmetric oxidation of methyl p-tolyl sulfide, employing Ti(OPr-/)4 as catalyst and optically active alkyl hydroperoxides as oxidants, Adam and coworkers collected experimental evidence on the occurrence of the coordination of the sulfoxide to the metal center. Therefore, also in this case the incursion of the nucleophilic oxygen transfer as a mechanism can be invoked. The authors also used thianthrene 5-oxide as a mechanistic probe to prove the nucleophilic character of the oxidant. 

The C—H bond is normally not very polar. As a result, the <7Ch and ch orbitals are widely separated and more or less symmetrically disposed relative to a. A sluggish reaction is expected with carbon free radicals, but a rapid reaction may be anticipated with both electrophilic and nucleophilic free radicals. Examples of both kinds of reactions are ubiquitous in organic chemistry. An ab initio investigation of the former, involving oxygen-centered free radicals, has been carried out [237], The reactivity spectrum may be modified by substitution on the carbon bearing the hydrogen atom. As we have seen in Chapter 7, all three kinds of substituents stabilize the carbon-centered free-radical intermediate. 

In the product-determining step of Scheme 6, the nucleophilic oxygen of water attacks one of the carbons this carbon then withdraws its orbital from the three-center bond and an ordinary a bond is formed between the remaining carbon and the hydrogen. 

Not all radical aromatic substitutions are as immune to polar effects as is attack by phenyl. Some radicals reveal marked electrophilic or nucleophilic character. Oxygen-centered radicals, for example, are electrophilic, as would be expected if there is substantial polar contribution to the transition state. Table 9.13 lists partial rate factors for substitution by benzoyl radicals note that the orientation and activation trends found in typical electrophilic substitutions have begun to appear, but are still modest compared with the dramatic effects shown in Table 9.12 for a true heterolytic substitution.179... 

The ester 14 reacts as an oxygen-centered hetero-nucleophile with... 

It is well known that benzophenone generates a biradical through n-ir electronic transition under irradiation ( 340 nm). Irradiation of a mixture of 1,4-benzoquinone (34) and aromatic aldehydes in the presence of benzophenone generates 2-aroyl-l,4-dihydroxybenzene (35) [47-49]. This reaction comprises of the abstraction of a formyl hydrogen atom of an aromatic aldehyde by the oxygen-centered radical of the benzophenone biradical to form an aroyl radical and a 1,1-diphenylhydroxymethyl radical, and addition of the nucleophilic aroyl radical to 1,4-benzoquinone (34) to form a phenoxyl radical derivative, which finally abstracts a hydrogen atom from an aromatic... 

Although no kinetic evidence exists at this time to include the nucleophilic oxygen in such a bonding process (i.e., SE2 vs. four-center), it is difficult to believe that a negatively charged oxygen would not participate in the nearby formation of a positively charged mercury atom. 

The ring-opening reaction can also be induced by attack of oxygen-centered nucleophiles, as demonstrated by the facile ring cleavage of the unsymmetrical bicyclic aziridine 60 with methanol in the presence of boron trifluoride etherate to give the product of attack at the more-substituted aziridine carbon <2002T7355>. Indium triflate... 

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