Oxidation, anthracene benzene

Anthracene-benzene biplanemers (119) were prepared through the electrolytic oxidative decarboxylation of (4 + 4) photocycloadducts between substituted anthracenes and 1,2-dihydrophthalic anhydrides [165,166] (Scheme 36). Chemiluminescence was observed for 119 only in the solid state at > 120°C, but not in a liquid phase, whereas 119 (X = F or Cl, Y = Z = H) were not chemiluminescent [167], Efficient chemiluminescence was observed in the photocycloreversion of all biplanemers tested in both phases. 

The direct oxidation of benzene into phenol constitutes one of the challenges in chemistry to substitute the cumene process at the industrial level. Such oxidation has also been achieved with several TpfCu complexes as catalysts, leading to moderate yields and high selectivity toward phenol, in a transformation using hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant and at moderate temperatures. The same catalytic system has been employed for the selective oxidation of anthracenes into anthraquinones (Scheme 24). 

Both silica and alumina have served as a host for oxidation of benzene by ultraviolet irradiation, leading to the benzene dimer cation radical (benzene) (Tanei, 1968). Photoionization here is thought to be biphotonic (p. 180). On the other hand, the formation of perylene and anthracene cation radicals on silica alumina is enhanced by ultraviolet irradiation, and the process is found to be monophotonic (Takimoto and Miura, 1972). The fate of the photo-ejected electron is, of course, not known, a state of ignorance which pertains to all of the cation-radical forming reactions on catalyst surfaces. 

Chromic acid in hot glacial acetic acid oxidizes anthracene quantitatively to antlmaquinone in a very smooth reaction, but the method is too expensive for coxnmercial application in competition with synthetic anthraquinone made from cheap phthalic anhydride and benzene by means of the Friedel-Crafts reaction Prior to the development of the present methods of phthalic anhydride manufacture, the process was used extensively for anthraquinone production in Europe. The method has been recommended for anthracene analysis. 

In the dyestuff industry, anthraquinone still ranks high as an intermediate for the production of dyes and pigments having properties unattainable by any other class of dyes or pigments. Its cost is relatively high and will remain so because of the equipment and operations involved in its manufacture. As of May 1991, anthraquinone sold for 4.4/kg in ton quantities. In the United States and abroad, anthraquinone is manufactured by a few large chemical companies (62). At present, only two processes for its production come into consideration manufacture by the Friedel-Crafts reaction utilizing benzene, phthahc anhydride, and anhydrous aluminum chloride, and by the vapor-phase catalytic oxidation of anthracene the latter method is preferred. 

Has been purified by co-distillation with ethylene glycol (boils at 197.5°), from which it can be recovered by additn of water, followed by crysm from 95% EtOH, benzene, toluene, a mixture of benzene/xylene (4 1), or EtjO. It has also been chromatographed on alumina with pet ether in a dark room (to avoid photo-oxidation of adsorbed anthracene to anthraquinone). Other purification methods include sublimation in a N2 atmosphere (in some cases after refluxing with sodium), and recrystd from toluene [Gorman et al. J Am Chem Soc 107 4404 1985]. 

Dibenz[yellow-green colour (due to other pentacyclic impurities) has been removed by crystn from benzene or by selective oxidation with lead tetraacetate in acetic acid [Moriconi et al. J Am Chem Soc 82 3441 7960]. 

Os04 will add to C=C bonds but will only attack the most reactive aromatic bonds thus benzene is inert, but it will attack the 9,10 bond in phenanthrene and will convert anthracene to 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroxytetra-hydroanthracene. It can be used catalytically in the presence of oxidizing agents such as NaC103 or H2O2 [53],... 

Reactions of partial electrochemical oxidation are of considerable interest in the electrosynthesis of various organic compounds. Thus, at gold electrodes in acidic solutions, olefins can be oxidized to aldehydes, acids, oxides, and other compounds. A good deal of work was invested in the oxidation of aromatic compounds (benzene, anthracene, etc.) to the corresponding quinones. To this end, various mediating redox systems (e.g., the Ce /Ce system) are employed (see Section 13.6). 

The first chemiluminescent paracyclophanes have been described recently 208> the compounds 138 and 139 both contain a phthalhydrazide group as that part of the molecule producing the excitation energy which is transferred to the substituted benzene resp. anthracene moiety. 139 chemiluminesces with about double the amount of 2.3-anthracene dicarboxylic hydrazide on oxidation by oxygen/potassium tert. butoxide... 

Anthraquinone itself is traditionally available from the anthracene of coal tar by oxidation, often with chromic acid or nitric acid a more modern alternative method is that of air oxidation using vanadium(V) oxide as catalyst. Anthraquinone is also produced in the reaction of benzene with benzene-1,2-dicarboxylic anhydride (6.4 phthalic anhydride) using a Lewis acid catalyst, typically aluminium chloride. This Friedel-Crafts acylation gives o-benzoylbenzoic acid (6.5) which undergoes cyclodehydration when heated in concentrated sulphuric acid (Scheme 6.2). Phthalic anhydride is readily available from naphthalene or from 1,2-dimethylbenzene (o-xylene) by catalytic air oxidation. 

Moro-Oka et al. (1976) have reported that the oxidation of 9,10-dihydroanthracene by K02 solubilized in DMSO by 18-crown-6 gives mainly the dehydrogenated product, anthracene. Under the same conditions, 1,4-hexadiene is dehydrogenated to benzene. The authors proposed a mechanism in which the superoxide ion acts as a hydrogen-abstracting agent only. The oxidations of anthrone (to anthraquinone), fluorene (to fluorenone), xanthene (to xanthone) and diphenylmethane (to benzophenone) are also initiated by hydrogen abstraction. 

For instance, NOBF4 oxidation of benzo[a]pyrene (BP, the additional benzene ring is fused at positions 7 and 8 of pyrene) generates the BP+ BF4 salt. When this cation-radical salt is attacked with nucleophiles of various strengths, the pattern of nucleophilic substitution reflects the distribution of a positive charge in the cation-radical part of the salt. This positive charge is localized mainly at the meio-anthracenic position, that is, at the C-6 atom. Nucleophiles (Nu ) such as OH , AcO , and F enter this position (Scheme 3.68). 

A third important reaction of aromatic radical-cations is carbon-carbon bond formation with a further aromatic substrate. This reaction is limited to the oxidation in acetonitrile of substrates with electrondonating substituents. Radical-cations from benzene, naphthalene and anthracene form a-complexes but do not form a a-bonded reaction intermediate. Tlie dimerization reaction has been investigated both by pulse-radiolysis [22] in water and by electrochemical methods [27] in acetoni-... 

Benzene, naphthalene and anthracene afford quinones by oxidation in aqueous based media and these processes are technically important. Electrochemical oxida-... 

In a different study, anthracene, phenanthrene, perylene 93 (Fig. 31), and 2,7-di-tert-butylpyrene underwent regioselective oxidative-substitution reactions with iodine(III) sulfonate reagents in dichloromethane to give the corresponding aryl sulfonate esters. The use of [hydroxy(tosyloxy)iodo]benzene, in conjunction with trimethylsilyl isothiocyanate, led to thiocyanation of the PAH nucleus. 

Isolation of Oxidation Products. After oxygen absorption had ceased, or reached the desired value, the oxidates were poured into water. In many cases the reaction product could be removed by filtration in high yield. In this manner xanthone (m.p. 172-174°C.), was isolated from oxidations of xanthene or xanthen-9-ol thioxanthone (m.p. 208-210°C.), from thioxanthene acridine (m.p. 107-109°C.), from acridan anthracene (m.p. 216-217°C.), from 9,10-dihydroanthracene phenanthrene (m.p. 95-99°C.), from 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene pyrene (m.p. 151-152.5°C.) (recrystallized from benzene) from 1,2-dihydropyrene and 4-phenan-throic acid (m.p. 169-171 °C.) (recrystallized from ethanol) by chloroform extraction of the hydrolyzed and acidified oxidate of 4,5-methyl-enephenanthrene. 

A sample of the monohydroperoxide, previously reported by Bickel and Kooyman (2), was obtained by autoxidation of 9,10-dihydroanthra-cene in benzene under ultraviolet irradiation. When this compound was treated under nitrogen with benzyltrimethylammonium hydroxide, it decomposed to give a mixture of anthracene and anthrone. (Under acidic conditions, it decomposed entirely to anthracene.) A fresh sample of the hydroperoxide was then oxidized. The physical appearance of the reaction mixture was similar to that in the oxidation of anthrone. The product was analyzed, and the conversion to anthraquinone was only 59%. Again, other oxidation products or anthrone may have contributed to the anthraquinone estimate. 

Table VII shows the rate constants and other data observed and calculated for some anthracenes in different solvents. Some values of ao2 and j8 for anthracenes in different solvents are listed in Table VIII, taken from Livingston s article.3 There are discrepancies in some j8 values reported, and the Ao2 values are not always comparable, since, for example, they may or may not depend on the oxygen concentrations applied (e.g., anthracene in benzene or carbon disulfide, respectively). Furthermore, one may suspect that A0s values greater than unity are either in error (see, however, p. 34) or indicate a secondary oxidation...

Early examples of electron transfer processes are shown in equations (2), (12), and (13). Birch in 1944 followed up the findings of Wooster, and demonstrated that Na metal and ethanol in ammonia reduce benzene, anisole, and other aromatics to 1,4-cyclohexadienes. Birch speculated about the mechanism of this reaction, but did not explicitly describe a radical pathway involving 55 (equation 87) until later, as described in his autobiography. Electron transfer from arenes was found by Weiss in 1941, who obtained crystalline salts of Ci4H]o from oxidation of anthracene. ... 

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