Oxidation ladders

Polycarbonitrile Air oxidation Ladder intermolecular condensation "Ribbon Carbonization Carbon... 

Osmium compounds appear in various guises in this report. At the high oxidation state end of the spectrum, the Os(IV) complex OsH3(SiMe3)(CO)(PPh3)2 has been synthesised by Mohlen and co-workers. Lower down the oxidation ladder, the tetraosmium complex [Os2(CO)5(thd)2]2 has been synthesised (and an EHMO study included). 

Using standard-state potentials to construct a ladder diagram can present problems if solutes are not at their standard-state concentrations. Because the concentrations of the reduced and oxidized species are in a logarithmic term, deviations from standard-state concentrations can usually be ignored if the steps being compared are separated by at least 0.3 A trickier problem occurs when a half-reaction s potential is affected by the concentration of another species. For example, the potential for the following half-reaction... 

The ladder diagram for this system is shown in Figure 11.24a. Initially the potential of the working electrode remains nearly constant at a level near the standard-state potential for the Fe UFe redox couple. As the concentration of Fe + decreases, however, the potential of the working electrode shifts toward more positive values until another oxidation reaction can provide the necessary current. Thus, in this case the potential eventually increases to a level at which the oxidation of H2O occurs. 

Polydithiazoles Polyoxadiazoles Polyamidines Pyrolyzed polyacrylonitrile Polyvinyl isocyanate ladder polymer Polyamide-imide Polysulfone Decompose at 525°C (977°F) soluble in concentrated sulfuric acid. Decompose at 450-500°C (842-932°F) can be made into fiber or film. Stable to oxidation up to 500°C (932°F) can make flexible elastomer. Stable above 900°C (1625°F) fiber resists abrasion with low tenacity. Soluble polymer that decomposes at 385°C (725°F) prepolymer melts above 405° C (76l.°F). Service temperatures up to 288° C (550°F) amenable to fabrication. Thermoplastic use temperature —102°C (—152°F) to greater than 150° C (302°F) acid and base resistant. 

The preferred catalysts are salts of inorganic and organic acids as well as tertiary amines. Phthalic anhydride, succinic anhydride and maleic anhydride are typical acid anhydrides, while ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, epichlorohydrin and phenyl glycidyl ether are typical epoxides. The synthesis of a ladder polymer was carried out by using bisanhydrides264. ... 

The ladder polysilanes are highly a-conjugated systems, and they are easily oxidized and reduced to give unique oxidation products and persistent radical anions. 

Oxidation of Si-Si bonds with peracids is one of the fundamental reactions of polysilanes.47 The ladder polysilanes have several unequivalent Si-Si bonds, and it seems interesting to study the selectivity of their oxidation positions.48,49... 

When anti-2 was oxidized with 3 equivalents of MCPBA, the trioxidation product 11 was obtained in 81% yield (Scheme 7). Similarly, the oxidation of anti,anti-3 and anti,anti,anti-4 with 4 and 5 equivalents of MCPBA gave the tetraoxidation product 12 and the pentaoxidation product 13, respectively, in moderate yields. Therefore, these ladder polysilanes were found to be oxidized in a unique manner one of two polysilane main chains was oxidized selectively, and novel ladder compounds consisting of polysiloxane and polysilane chains were formed. 

In Fig. 14, the UV spectra of the domino oxidation products are shown. As the number of oxatetrasilacyclopentane rings increases, the lowest energy absorption maximum shifts bathochromically, and the molecular extinction coefficient becomes far larger (10 270 nm (s 3200), 11 273 nm (s 7600), 12 292 nm (s 25000), 13 297 nm (s 51900). The intense absorption of the order 104 is remarkable because these molecules contain no obvious chromo-phores which should give such intense absorption. Since the intense absorption is not observed in the ladder polysilanes, it is apparently due to the electronic effect of the oxygen atoms on the Si-Si a conjugation systems. 

The structures of the radical anions were confirmed by the following experiment (Scheme 9). The reduction of the ladder polysilanes was monitored by UY-visible-NIR spectroscopy. When the absorption of the ladder polysilanes was completely replaced by the absorption of the radical anions, the sealed tube was opened. The radical anions were immediately oxidized, and the starting ladder polysilanes were recovered in high isolated yields. It is reasonable to conclude that the radical anions of the ladder polysilanes retain the ladder structure, and the Si-Si bond cleavage or skeletal rearrangement does not occur. 

Fundamental knowledge on the structures and properties of the ladder polysilanes has accumulated in our research for the past 15 years. Some results were unpredictable, including the silicon double helix structure, the domino oxidation, the formation of persistent radical anions, the Diels-Alder reactions at the 1,4-positions of anthracene, etc. These results let us recognize that the construction of novel structures will open the new chemistry. 

Scheme 37 m-CPBA oxidation of ladder polysilanes to hybrid silane/siloxane polymers (substituents /-Pr). 

The ratio of the oxide formed to the metal consumed is called the Piling and Bedworth number. When the number is over 1, the metal rusts. Aluminum and magnesium are the best examples of metals that do not rust because a protective oxide coat forms that is, they have a Piling to Bedworth number of 1. Scratch an aluminum ladder and notice a bright fissure forms and quickly self-coats. The heat release in the sealing aluminum oxide is dissipated to the ladder structure. 

Flnoranthene derivatives transform into cation-radicals upon one-electron oxidation. These species are not stable and qnickly undergo further oxidation. For example, 7,14-diphenylacenaphtho [1,2-k] flnoranthene gives a ladder polymer according to Scheme 8.8 (Debad and Bard 1998). 

Oligo(organylsilsesquioxanes) and their homo derivatives can be used for the preparation of ladder polymers displaying a very high heat resistance and thermo-oxidative resistance... 

---