Oxidation reactions arene coupling

Complex iron(III) salts are frequently used in oxidative arene coupling reactions and quinone formation and tetra-n-butylammonium hexacyanoferrate(III) has several advantages in it use over more conventional oxidative procedures. When used as the dihydrogen salt, Bu4N[H2Fe(CN)6], it oxidizes 2,6-di-z-buty 1-4-methylphenol (1) to the coupled diarylethane (2), or aryl ethers (3) and (4) (Scheme 10.4), depending on the solvent. It is noteworthy that no oxidation occurs even after two days with the tris-ammonium salt. 

Anodic treatment of 1,2- or 1,4-dihydroxy-substituted benzenes to form the corresponding quinones or masked congeners is well known, since they represent valuable synthetic intermediates [64]. Benzoquinone ketals of electron rich arenes like 18 can be challenging since the oxidative aryl-aryl coupling reaction usually competes. When using BDD anodes the benzoquinone ketal 19 is obtained in an almost quantitative manner, demonstrating the superior properties of this electrode material. Despite the basic conditions, no deblocking of the silyl-protected phenol moiety is observed [65] (Scheme 9). 

There is a wider general interest in understanding the oxidation of cysteine thiolates in proteins since they are involved in redox-sensing reactions [99], Therefore, such oxidation reactions of thiols induced by Ru coordination may also play a more general role in the pharmacological activity of Ru-arene complexes by coupling Ru coordinative binding to redox processes both outside and inside cells. 

Karakhanov s group has also been exploring poly(ethylene oxide)- and poly(alkene oxide)-copolymer-bound catalysts [99-102]. A notable aspect of this work is the design of polyethers like 39 that contain jS-cyclodextrins and calyx[4]- and calyx[6]arenes. Such polyethers couple the molecular recognition associated with these macrocycles with the catalytic activity of acac, phosphine, dipyridyl, and catechol ligands. Metals complexed to such ligands have been used in reactions like hydroformylation, Wacker oxidations, and arene hy-droxylation. 

We have previously seen that calix[4]arenes and cyclodextrins have been used as host molecules for the recognition of various guest molecules (Sections 2.3-2.6) As a consequence of their hydrophobic cavity in conjunction with reactive functional groups, both calix[4]arenes and cyclodextrins, in particular, (3-cyclodextrin, have been used in many catalytic applications, for example, ester hydrolysis, oxidation reactions, hydroformylation, hydrogenation and cross-coupling reactions. 

The possibilities for the formation of carbon-carbon bonds involving arenes have been dramatically increased in recent years by the use of transition metal catalysis. Copper-mediated reactions to couple aryl halides in Ulknann-type reactions [12, 13] have been known for many years, and copper still remains an important catalyst [14, 15]. However, the use of metals such as palladium [16,17] to effect substitution has led to such an explosion of research that in 2011 transition metal-catalyzed processes comprised more than half of the reactions classified as aromatic substitutions in Organic Reaction Mechanisms [18]. The reactions often involve a sequence outlined in Scheme 6.6 where Ln represents ligand(s) for the palladium. Oxidative addition of the aryl halide to the paiiadium catalyst is followed by transmetalation with an aryl or alkyl derivative and by reductive elimination to give the coupled product and legeuCTate the catalyst. Part 6 of this book elaborates these and related processes. 

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