Nucleophilic addition oxygen nucleophiles

Even sulfoxides, in which nucleophilicity is decreased by the additional oxygen, can be alkylated by methyl iodide. These sulfoxonium salts have useful synthetic applications as discussed in Section 2.5.1. 

In addition, oxygen atoms may act as the attacking nucleophile, such as those in water molecules. In aqueous solutions, hydrolysis by water is the major competing... 

Addition of Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Sulfur Nucleophiles... 

The mechanism for formation of benzaldehyde diethyl acetal which proceeds m two stages is presented m Figure 17 9 The first stage (steps 1-3) involves formation of a hemiacetal m the second stage (steps 4-7) the hemiacetal is converted to the acetal Nucleophilic addition to the carbonyl group characterizes the first stage carbocation chemistry the second The key carbocation intermediate is stabilized by electron release from oxygen... 

Under conditions of acid catalysis the nucleophilic addition step follows protonation of the carbonyl oxygen Protonation increases the carbocat ion character of a carbonyl group and makes it more electrophilic... 

Writing the bromine addition step m this way emphasizes the increased nucleophilicity of the enol double bond and identifies the source of that increased nucleophilicity as the enolic oxygen... 

FIGURE 18 7 Nucleophilic addition to a p unsaturated aldehydes and ketones may take place either in a 1 2 or 1 4 manner Direct addition (1 2) occurs faster than conjugate addition (1 4) but gives a less stable product The product of 1 4 addition retains the carbon-oxygen double bond which is in general stronger than a carbon-carbon double bond... 

Protonation of the carbonyl oxygen activates the carbonyl group toward nucleophilic addition Addition of an alcohol gives a tetrahedral inter mediate (shown m the box m the preceding equation) which has the capacity to revert to starting materials or to undergo dehydration to yield an ester... 

Step 1 The acid catalyst activates the anhydride toward nucleophilic addition by protonation of the carbonyl oxygen... 

The carbon-nitrogen triple bond of nitriles is much less reactive toward nucleophilic addition than is the carbon-oxygen double bond of aldehydes and ketones Strongly basic nucleophiles such as Gngnard reagents however do react with nitriles in a reaction that IS of synthetic value... 

Nucleophilic addition (Section 17 6) The charactenstic reac tion of an aldehyde or a ketone An atom possessing an un shared electron pair bonds to the carbon of the C=0 group and some other species (normally hydrogen) bonds to the oxygen... 

The reaction of a hydroperoxide with 2-methylaziridine [75-55-8] has been described (94). The reaction of ethyleneknine with phenols (95) and carboxyHc acids (96,97) produces ethylamine ethers and esters, respectively. However, these reactions frequentiy yield product mixtures which contain polyaminoalkylated oxygen nucleophiles and polymers, in addition to the desked products (1). The selectivity of the reaction can often be improved by using less than the stoichiometric amount of the aziridine component (98,99). 

CgH COO from BPO. The first type involves direct radical displacement on the oxygen—oxygen bond and is the preferred mode for nucleophilic radicals, eg, -CH(R)OR7 The second type involves radical addition to, or abstraction from, the hydrocarbyl group adjacent to the peroxide this is the preferred mode for electrophilic radicals, eg, Cl C (eq. 32). In the last type (eq. 33), there is hydrogen donation from certain hydrogen-donating radicals, eg, ketyls (52,187,188,199). 

This addition is general, extending to nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, and sulfur nucleophiles. This reactivity of the quinone methide (23) is appHed in the synthesis of a variety of stabili2ers for plastics. The presence of two tert-huty groups ortho to the hydroxyl group, is the stmctural feature responsible for the antioxidant activity that these molecules exhibit (see Antioxidants). 

The importance of steric effects in determining the oxidation state of the product can be illustrated by a thioether linkage, eg (57). If a methyl group is forced to be adjacent to the sulfur bond, the planarity required for efficient electron donation by unshared electrons is prevented and oxidation is not observed (48). Similar chemistry is observed in the addition of organic nitrogen and oxygen nucleophiles as well as inorganic anions. 

An especially interesting case of oxygen addition to quinonoid systems involves acidic treatment with acetic anhydride, which produces both addition and esterification (eq. 3). This Thiele-Winter acetoxylation has been used extensively for synthesis, stmcture proof, isolation, and purification (54). The kinetics and mechanism of acetoxylation have been described (55). Although the acetyhum ion is an electrophile, extensive studies of electronic effects show a definite relationship to nucleophilic addition chemistry (56). 

The reaction involves the nucleophilic attack of a peracid anion on the unionized peracid giving a tetrahedral diperoxy intermediate that then eliminates oxygen giving the parent acids. The observed rate of the reaction depends on the initial concentration of the peracid as expected in a second-order process. The reaction also depends on the stmcture of the peracid (specifically whether the peracid can micellize) (4). MiceUization increases the effective second-order concentration of the peracid because of the proximity of one peracid to another. This effect can be mitigated by the addition of an appropriate surfactant, which when incorporated into the peracid micelle, effectively dilutes the peracid, reducing the rate of decomposition (4,90). 

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