Oxidation of Carbon-Centered Radicals

Methyl substitution increases the electron density at the neighboring carbon due to hyperconjugation effects and thus shifts the pfCa of the radical to higher values as it does with the parent compound (Table 6.1). 

As expected, radical cations may have especially low pKa values due to their positive charge. A good example is phenol (pKa = 10) whose radical cation has a pKa value of -2 (Dixon and Murphy 1976). Here, the difference with respect to its parent is as large as 12 pK units [equilibrium (10)]. 

Similar effects are observed with the nucleobase-derived radical cations (Chap. 10.2). 

Reduction potentials of radicals may be determined by pulse radiolysis (Chap. 13.3) or photomodulated voltammetry (Wayner and Houman 1998 for a compilation, see Steenken 1985 Wardman 1989). 

In the case of a-hydroxyalkyl radicals, the corresponding carbonyl compounds are formed in full yields. In contrast, the oxidation of a-alkoxyalkyl radicals by Fe(CN)63 may not always be a straightforward outer-sphere ET reaction (Janik et al. 2000a,b). Details are as yet not fully understood. 

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Oxidation of Carbon-Centered Radicals Substituted by a Hetero-Atom E at Ca... 

Carotenoid radicals — Many of the important oxidations are free-radical reactions, so a consideration of the generation and properties of carotenoid radicals and of carbon-centered radicals derived from carotenoids by addition of other species is relevant. The carotenoid radicals are very short-lived species. Some information has been obtained about them by the application of radiation techniques, particularly pulse radiolysis. Carotenoid radicals can be generated in different ways. "... 

Not only alkenes and arenes but also other types of electron-rich compound can be oxidized by oxygen. Most organometallic reagents react with air, whereby either alkanes are formed by dimerization of the metal-bound alkyl groups (cuprates often react this way [80]) or peroxides or alcohols are formed [81, 82]. The alcohols result from disproportionation or reduction of the peroxides. Similarly, enolates, metalated nitriles, phenolates, enamines, and related compounds with nucleophilic carbon can react with oxygen by intermediate formation of carbon-centered radicals to yield dimers (Section 5.4.6 [83, 84]), peroxides, or alcohols. The oxidation of many organic compounds by air will, therefore, often proceed faster in the presence of bases (Scheme 3.21). 

Carboxylic acids are the most general, versatile and useful source of carbon-centered radicals successfully used for selective alkylation and acylation of protonated heteroarenes. Alkyl, acyl, carbamoyl, and alkoxycarbonyl radicals have been obtained by oxidative decarboxylation of the corresponding acids with peroxydisulfate as an oxidant and Ag(I) as catalyst. 

Barton Esterification Reductive Decarboxylation. O-Acyl thiohydroxamates or Barton esters are useful precursors of carbon-centered radicals via thermolysis or photolysis. Several different methods are available for converting carboxylic acids into Barton esters (eq 1). These reactions generally proceed via the attack of a 2-mercaptopyridine-N-oxide salt on an activated carboxylic acid that has either been preformed (acid chloride, mixed anhydride) or generated in situ (with 1,3-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide or tri-n-butylphosphine + 2,2 -dithiodipyridine-l,r-dioxide). However, HOTT has the distinct advantages of (1) being easy to prepare and handle without the need for any special precautions, (2) facilitates efficient Barton esterification of carboxylic acids, and (3) simplifies subsequent work-up and purifications by avoiding the need to remove by-products like 1,3-dicyclohexylurea. 

Motherwell and Potier have been interested in the reactivity of thionitrite esters as a potential surrogate of nitric oxide toward carbon-centered radicals. Tertiary thionitrite esters react with Barton esters to give after decarboxylation the corresponding oximes or the nitroso-dimers in moderate yield [57]. 

Carbon-Carbon Bond Formation. The CAN-mediated oxidative generation of carbon-centered radicals has been extensively investigated. The radicals add to a C=C double bond resulting in the formation of a new carbon-carbon bond. The adduct radical can be further oxidized by another CAN molecule to give the carbocation, which is then trapped by a suitable nucleophile to give the final product. Active methylene compounds such as 1,3-dicarbonyls are among the typical substrates. For example, the CAN-mediated oxidative addition of dimedone to 1-phenylcyclohexene affords the corresponding 2,3-dihydrofuran... 

In another frequent case concerning aerobic oxidations, the role of the so-called catalyst is in reality the generation of carbon center radicals that by an auto-oxidation mechanism react with molecular oxygen forming peroxo radicals that abstract one hydrogen atom from another substrate molecule initiating a new chain (Scheme 2.9). Also in this case transition metals... 

Further oxidation of an alkoxy radical (RO ), via H-atom abstraction at the carbon adjacent to the oxygen s radical center, leads to the formation of an aldehyde. 

Under low oxygen conditions, C5 -sugar radicals can react with the base residue on the same nucleotide. In purine nucleotides, the carbon-centered radical 91 can add to the C8-position of the nucleobase (Scheme 8.31). Oxidation of the intermediate nucleobase radical 92 yields the 8,5 -cyclo-2 -deoxypurine lesion 93197,224,225,230-233 Similarly, in pyrimidine nucleotides, the C5 -radical can add to the C6-position of nucleobase. Reduction of the resulting radical intermediate yields the 5, 6-cyclo-5,6-dihydro-2 -deoxypyrimidine lesion 94,234-236... 

The nitroxide radical (from processes 5 and 6 and attack by other radicals on the parent piperidine) is found in photo-oxidizing PPH samples in concentrations of M. x 10 M (initial piperidine level 5 x 10-3M) up to the embrittlement point of the PPH film (7.). Nitroxides are well known to scavenge carbon centered radicals (but not peroxyl radicals) in both polymers and liquid alkanes (reaction 7) (10, 8). In the liquid phase k7 is... 

Hi. Lysine. Gamma radiolysis of aerated aqueous solution of lysine (94) has been shown, as inferred from iodometric measurements, to give rise to hydroperoxides in a similar yield to that observed for valine and leucine. However, attempts to isolate by HPLC the peroxidic derivatives using the post-column derivatization chemiluminescence detection approach were unsuccessful. This was assumed to be due to the instability of the lysine hydroperoxides under the conditions of HPLC analysis. Indirect evidence for the OH-mediated formation of hydroperoxides was provided by the isolation of four hydroxylated derivatives of lysine as 9-fluoromethyl chloroformate (FMOC) derivatives . Interestingly, NaBILj reduction of the irradiated lysine solutions before FMOC derivatization is accompanied by a notable increase in the yields of hydroxylysine isomers. Among the latter oxidized compounds, 3-hydroxy lysine was characterized by extensive H NMR and ESI-MS measurements whereas one diastereomer of 4-hydroxylysine and the two isomeric forms of 5-hydroxylysine were identified by comparison of their HPLC features as FMOC derivatives with those of authentic samples prepared by chemical synthesis. A reasonable mechanism for the formation of the four different hydroxylysines and, therefore, of related hydroperoxides 98-100, involves initial OH-mediated hydrogen abstraction followed by O2 addition to the carbon-centered radicals 95-97 thus formed and subsequent reduction of the resulting peroxyl radicals (equation 55). 

Cyclization of nitro-stabilized radicals provides another method for the generation of cyclic nitronates (221). Oxidation of the aci-foim of nitroalkanes with ceric ammonium nitrate generates the ot-carbon centered radical, which in the presence of an alkene, leads to the homologation of the a-radical. In the case of a tethered alkene of appropriate length, radical addition leads to a cyclic nitronate (Scheme 2.20). 

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