Nucleophilic ethyl radical

Nitrone (286) reacts readily with nucleophilic ethyl radicals to give the expected ethyl product (288) in 50% yield as the only diastereomer, as well as a 32% yield of the C,0 -diethyl product (289) and trace quantities of ethyl... 

This reaction comprises firstly of SH2 reaction on the iodine atom of ethyl iodoacetate by an ethyl radical, formed from triethylborane and molecular oxygen, to form a more stable Chester radical and ethyl iodide. Electrophilic addition of the a-ester radical to electron-rich aromatics (36) forms an adduct radical, and finally abstraction of a hydrogen atom from the adduct by the ethyl radical or oxidation by molecular oxygen generates ethyl arylacetate (37), as shown in eq. 5.20. Here, a nucleophilic ethyl radical does not react with electron-rich aromatics (36), while only an electrophilic a-ester radical reacts with electron-rich aromatics via SOMO-HOMO interaction. 

Indole carboxylic acid 187 was converted via a Barton ester to fused indole 194 (11 examples, 5-79% yield). Barton ester 189 was formed by treatment of indole 187 with S-(l-oxido-2-pyridinyl)-l,l,3,3-tetramethyl thiouronium hexafluorophosphate (188, Garner s HOTT reagent) in the absence of light. Upon refluxing in MeCN, the Barton ester 189 decomposes to give nucleophilic ethyl radical 190, which adds to the unsubstituted carbon of alkyne 191 furnishing vinyl radical 192.This species cyclizes onto the C2 position of the indole to provide 193, which aromatizes to dehver the final product 194. The sequence proceeds without the need for an initiator or metal catalyst (14JOC5903). 

By contrast, substitution in position 7 is much easier thanks to the well-known Minisci reaction, which involves a nucleophilic radical attack on a protonated quinoline [31]. Moreover, due to the unavailability of position 2 of the quinoline nucleus, the reaction shows complete regioselectivity. Minisci alkylation with an ethyl radical produced in situ by decarbonylation of propionaldehyde is a crucial step in the process of preparation of irinotecan (4) (Scheme 16.6) [32], whereas the same kind of reaction led to the semisynthesis (Scheme 16.7) of gimatecan (9)[33], silatecan (10)[34], and belotecan (ll)[35j. This last compound entered clinical practice in Korea in 2005. 

The ionization potentials (IP), electron affinities (EA), and absolute electronegativities of fluoroalkyl radicals are useful in order to elucidate the nucleophilic and electrophilic reactivities of the fluoroalkyl radicals. Table 1.36 summarizes available IP and EA data, indicating that (1) all of the a-fluoromethyl radicals have lower IPs than methyl radicals in spite of the strong inductive effect of the fluorine atom, and (2) trifluoromethyl and pentafluoroethyl radicals are, of course, more electrophilic than methyl and ethyl radicals because of their higher values of EA [30]. The former result may arise from the electron-donating conjugation of lone-pair electrons on the fluorine atom, and the latter is due to the strong inductive effect of the fluorine atom. 

All the acyl radicals have nucleophilicities between that of a primary and a secondary alkyl radical i.e, the acetyl radical is more nucleophilic than the ethyl radical, but the benzoyl radical is much less nucleophilic than the benzyl radical. The different polarizability of these last two radicals, due to their different configuration, was considered an important factor of this behavior. An incipient positive charge in a transition state similar to a charge-transfer complex (27) can be stabilized in the benzyl radical 32) by the aromatic orbitals, but not in the benzoyl radical, in which the unpaired electron occupies a hybrid orbital (33). 

All monomers 1 are quickly and completely polymerized when subjected to sufficiently reactive nucleophiles or radicals. However, the reactivity of 1 toward polymerization initiated thermally or photochemically with 300 nm light is clearly dependent on the length of Af-alkyl chain. In fact, 1(R = C12H25) is selectively converted to the homopolymer when mixtures of it and 1 (R = C2H5) are sonicated at 100 °C in water. The dodecyl derivative appears to quickly polymerize within suspended, insoluble aggregates and the soluble ethyl analog remains unchanged in the water phase. 

Simple alkyl radicals such as methyl are considered to be nonnucleophilic. Methyl radicals are somewhat more reactive toward alkenes bearing electron-withdrawing substituents than towards those with electron-releasing substituents. However, much of this effect can be attributed to the stabilizing effect that these substiments have on the product radical. There is a strong correlation of reaction rate with the overall exothermicity of the reaction. Hydroxymethyl and 2-hydroxy-2-propyl radicals show nucleophilic character. The hydroxymethyl radical shows a slightly enhanced reactivity toward acrylonitrile and acrolein, but a sharply decreased reactivity toward ethyl vinyl ether. Table 12.9 gives some of the reactivity data. 

On the basis of the reaction of alkyl radicals with a number of polycyclic aromatics, Szwarc and Binks calculated the relative selectivities of several radicals methyl, 1 (by definition) ethyl, 1.0 n-propyl, 1.0 trichloromethyl, 1.8. The relative reactivities of the three alkyl radicals toward aromatics therefore appears to be the same. On the other hand, quinoline (the only heterocyclic compound so far examined in reactions with alkyl radicals other than methyl) shows a steady increase in its reactivity toward methyl, ethyl, and n-propyl radicals. This would suggest that the nucleophilic character of the alkyl radicals increases in the order Me < Et < n-Pr, and that the selectivity of the radical as defined by Szwarc is not necessarily a measure of its polar character. 

All reactions of benzotriazole derivatives of the type Bt-CR RbS discussed above are based on electrophilic or nucleophilic substitutions at the ot-carbon, but radical reactions are also possible. Thus, the first report on unsubstituted carbon-centered (benzotriazol-l-yl)methyl radical 841 involves derivatives of (benzotriazol-l-yl)methyl mercaptan. 3 -(Benzotriazol-l-yl)methyl-0-ethyl xanthate 840 is readily prepared in a reaction of l-(chloromethyl)-benzotriazole with commercially available potassium 0-ethyl xanthate. Upon treatment with radical initiators (lauroyl peroxide), the C-S bond is cleaved to generate radical 841 that can be trapped by alkenes to generate new radicals 842. By taking the xanthate moiety from the starting material, radicals 842 are converted to final products 843 with regeneration of radicals 841 allowing repetition of the process (Scheme 134). Maleinimides are also satisfactorily used as radical traps in these reactions <2001H(54)301>. 

The yields of reaction products from thermal nucleophilic substitution reactions in DMSO of 0- and p-nitrohalobenzenes (Zhang et al. 1993) or p-dinitrobenzene (Liu et al. 2002) with the sodium salt of ethyl a-cyanoacetate were found to be markedly diminished from the addition of small amounts of strong electron acceptors such as nitrobenzenes. At the same time, little or no diminution effects on the yields of the reaction products were observed from the addition of radical traps such as nitroxyls. These results are consistent with the conclusion that such reactions proceed via a nonchain radical nucleophilic substitution mechanism (Scheme 4.26). 

In many cases, homopolymerization can be initiated by the anion-radicals of the monomers themselves. Of course, such monomers must have pronounced electron affinity (EA) and be stabilized by delocalization of an unpaired electron. Typical examples are represented by the anion-radicals of 1,1-dicyanoethylene (EA = 1.36 eV) and methyl or ethyl 2-cyanoacrylates (EA = 1.08 eV). In all of these anion-radicals, an unpaired electron is primarily localized on C atom of the CH2 segment and characterized by appreciable resonance stabilization (Brinkmann et al. 2002). These anion-radicals are nucleophilic and attack the neutral monomers to initiate polymerization. 

Alkylimidazolinm tetraflnoroborates are, for example, ionic liquids at room-temperature that can provide an anion to stabilize an intermediate cation-radical with no possibility of nucleophilic attack on it. Ionic liquids have a huge memory effect, and their total friction is greater than that of conventional polar solvents. Thus, the total friction of l-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluoro-phosphate is about 50 times greater than that of AN (Shim et al. 2007). The solvent effects of ionic liquids on ion-radical ring closures deserve a special investigation. The ring closure reactions can be, in principal, controlled by solvent effects. 

Attack by alkoxycarbonyl radicals, which are isoelectronic with but less nucleophilic than carbamoyl radicals, has been less well studied than acylation and amidation. An example is provided by the reaction of quinoline with ethyl pyruvate, hydrogen peroxide and an iron(II) salt (Scheme 213) (73TL645). 

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