Oxidative reactions steric effects

The most widely used method for the preparation of epoxides involves oxidation of an aUcene by a peracid, °° via a direct one-step transfer of an oxygen atom. More highly (alkyl) substituted alkenes react fastest showing that electronic effects are more important than steric effects in this reaction. Steric effects do, however, control the facial selectivity of epoxidation conversely hydrogen-bonding groups, such as OH and NH, can direct the reaction to the syn face. 

The reactivity of the individual O—P insecticides is determined by the magnitude of the electrophilic character of the phosphoms atom, the strength of the bond P—X, and the steric effects of the substituents. The electrophilic nature of the central P atom is determined by the relative positions of the shared electron pairs, between atoms bonded to phosphoms, and is a function of the relative electronegativities of the two atoms in each bond (P, 2.1 O, 3.5 S, 2.5 N, 3.0 and C, 2.5). Therefore, it is clear that in phosphate esters (P=0) the phosphoms is much more electrophilic and these are more reactive than phosphorothioate esters (P=S). The latter generally are so stable as to be relatively unreactive with AChE. They owe their biological activity to m vivo oxidation by a microsomal oxidase, a reaction that takes place in insect gut and fat body tissues and in the mammalian Hver. A typical example is the oxidation of parathion (61) to paraoxon [311-45-5] (110). 

The most common method of epoxidation is the reaction of olefins with per-acids. For over twenty years, perbenzoic acid and monoperphthalic acid have been the most frequently used reagents. Recently, m-chloroperbenzoic acid has proved to be an equally efficient reagent which is commercially available (Aldrich Chemicals). The general electrophilic addition mechanism of the peracid-olefin reaction is currently believed to involve either an intra-molecularly bonded spiro species (1) or a 1,3-dipolar adduct of a carbonyl oxide, cf. (2). The electrophilic addition reaction is sensitive to steric effects. 

The reaction is insensitive to steric effects, but kj increases with the number of alkyl substituents although it is not influenced by position of the alkyl groups (unlike oxidation by TI(III)) . In these respects Cr(VI) oxidation resembles bromination, chlorination and epoxidation and a symmetrical transition state of the type depicted is favoured. 

The resolution of the overall reaction into steps implied by the steric effect (above) has been achieved" for the oxidation of isopropanol. In 97% aqueous acetic acid a rapid reaction, ic2 x 1.25x10 l.mole . sec (15 °C, p = 0.183 Af NaC104), which is unaffected by deuteration, precedes the oxidation. Evidence for an intermediate has been reported for the oxidation of 1,1,1-tri-fluoro-2-propanol at very high acidities . 

It is interesting to note that the oxidation of sulphoxides by peracids is faster in alkaline than in acidic solution. This is in contrast to the oxidation of sulphides and amines with the same reagents " . The oxidation rate of ortho-substituted aryl alkyl sulphoxides with aromatic peracids is less than the corresponding meta- and para-substituted species due to steric hindrance of the incoming peracid anion nucleophiles . Steric bulk in the alkyl group also has some effect . Such hindrance is not nearly so important in the oxidation reaction carried out under acidic conditions . 

The reactivity order of alkenes is that expected for attack by an electrophilic reagent. Reactivity increases with the number of alkyl substituents.163 Terminal alkenes are relatively inert. The reaction has a low AHl and relative reactivity is dominated by entropic factors.164 Steric effects govern the direction of approach of the oxygen, so the hydroperoxy group is usually introduced on the less hindered face of the double bond. A key mechanistic issue in singlet oxygen oxidations is whether it is a concerted process or involves an intermediate formulated as a pcrcpoxide. Most of the available evidence points to the perepoxide mechanism.165... 

Wedekind and Stauwe" studied the oxidation of 3-substituted formazans and concluded that ease of oxidation depended on the steric effects of the 3-substituent. More recently, Hegoraty et al. 100 studied the reaction of formazans with bromine. It proceeds via an odd-electron species such as 52 favoring an electronic substituent effect (Scheme 5). The rate of reaction increases with electron-donating substituents. Similar conclusions have been reached using thalium(III) as the oxidant.101,102... 

More recently, reductive elimination of aryl ethers has been reported from complexes that lack the activating substituent on the palladium-bound aryl group (Equation (55)). These complexes contain sterically hindered phosphine ligands, and these results demonstrate how steric effects of the dative ligand can overcome the electronic constraints of the reaction.112,113 Reductive elimination of oxygen heterocycles upon oxidation of nickel oxametallacycles has also been reported, but yields of the organic product were lower than they were for oxidatively induced reductive eliminations of alkylamines from nickel(II) mentioned above 215-217... 

When supported complexes are the catalysts, two types of ionic solid were used zeolites and clays. The structures of these solids (microporous and lamellar respectively) help to improve the stability of the complex catalyst under the reaction conditions by preventing the catalytic species from undergoing dimerization or aggregation, both phenomena which are known to be deactivating. In some cases, the pore walls can tune the selectivity of the reaction by steric effects. The strong similarities of zeolites with the protein portion of natural enzymes was emphasized by Herron.20 The protein protects the active site from side reactions, sieves the substrate molecules, and provides a stereochemically demanding void. Metal complexes have been encapsulated in zeolites, successfully mimicking metalloenzymes for oxidation reactions. Two methods of synthesis of such encapsulated/intercalated complexes have been tested, as follows. 

The induction of steric effects by the pore walls was first demonstrated with heterogeneous catalysts, prepared from metal carbonyl clusters such as Rh6(CO)16, Ru3(CO)12, or Ir4(CO)12, which were synthesized in situ after a cation exchange process under CO in the large pores of zeolites such as HY, NaY, or 13X.25,26 The zeolite-entrapped carbonyl clusters are stable towards oxidation-reduction cycles this is in sharp contrast to the behavior of the same clusters supported on non-porous inorganic oxides. At high temperatures these metal carbonyl clusters aggregate to small metal particles, whose size is restricted by the dimensions of the zeolitic framework. Moreover, for a number of reactions, the size of the pores controls the size of the products formed thus a higher selectivity to the lower hydrocarbons has been reported for the Fischer Tropsch reaction. 

In conclusion to this section, the two step reaction requires the presence of a metal that can be easily oxidized (d8 over d6). However the 1,3 migration step does not appear to be easy in an intramolecular way. An intermolecular 1,3 shift seems feasible but is probably highly sensitive to steric effects. The pathways for the isomerization reactions with d6 and d8 metal complexes are significantly different. They have in common the preference for the hydrogen to move as a proton, whether the shift starts from Ca or from the metal center. 

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