Peroxyl Radicals from Hydroperoxides

Peroxyl Radicals from Hydroperoxides O2, DBPO, TBHP... 

With the increasing frequency of isolation of cyclic peroxides from natural sources [39] and the demonstrable antiparasitic and many other biological properties possessed by both the natural products and their analogs, there is currently considerable interest in the synthesis of such compounds [5]. In particular, the opportunity of exploiting the facile conversion of enols or enolates into peroxyl radicals and then inducing cyclization of the peroxyl radical (or hydroperoxide) by addition to a distal carbonyl group is apparent. 

In this reaction scheme, the steady-state concentration of peroxyl radicals will be a direa function of the concentration of the transition metal and lipid peroxide content of the LDL particle, and will increase as the reaction proceeds. Scheme 2.2 is a diagrammatic representation of the redox interactions between copper, lipid hydroperoxides and lipid in the presence of a chain-breaking antioxidant. For the sake of clarity, the reaction involving the regeneration of the oxidized form of copper (Reaction 2.9) has been omitted. The first step is the independent decomposition of the Upid hydroperoxide to form the peroxyl radical. This may be terminated by reaction with an antioxidant, AH, but the lipid peroxide formed will contribute to the peroxide pool. It is evident from this scheme that the efficacy of a chain-breaking antioxidant in this scheme will be highly dependent on the initial size of the peroxide pool. In the section describing the copper-dependent oxidation of LDL (Section 2.6.1), the implications of this idea will be pursued further. 

The values of enthalpies of peroxyl radical formation (A//r°) calculated from the enthalpies of hydroperoxide formation according to the thermochemical equation ... 

Olefin possesses two reaction centers to be attacked by the peroxyl radical. The peroxyl radicals abstract the hydrogen atom from the weakest C—H bonds in the a-position to the double bond of these compounds with the formation of hydroperoxides. In addition to this reaction, they attack the double bond of the olefin with the formation of oligomeric polyperoxides [12,13,15,137] ... 

The equilibrium between 1,1-dimethylethylperoxyl radicals and 1,1-dimethylethyl tetroxide was first evidenced by Bartlett and Guaraldi [157] for peroxyl radicals generated by irradiation of bis( 1,1-dimethylethyl) peroxycarbonate in CH2C12 at 77 K and oxidation of 1,1-dimethylethyl hydroperoxide with lead tetraacetate at 183 K in CH2C12. A series of studies of this equilibrium were performed later using the EPR technique (see Table 2.12). It is seen that the enthalpy of tetroxide decomposition ranges from 29 to 47 kJ mol-1. 

The traditional chain oxidation with chain propagation via the reaction RO/ + RH occurs at a sufficiently elevated temperature when chain propagation is more rapid than chain termination (see earlier discussion). The main molecular product of this reaction is hydroperoxide. When tertiary peroxyl radicals react more rapidly in the reaction R02 + R02 with formation of alkoxyl radicals than in the reaction R02 + RH, the mechanism of oxidation changes. Alkoxyl radicals are very reactive. They react with parent hydrocarbon and alcohols formed as primary products of hydrocarbon chain oxidation. As we see, alkoxyl radicals decompose with production of carbonyl compounds. The activation energy of their decomposition is higher than the reaction with hydrocarbons (see earlier discussion). As a result, heating of the system leads to conditions when the alkoxyl radical decomposition occurs more rapidly than the abstraction of the hydrogen atom from the hydrocarbon. The new chain mechanism of the hydrocarbon oxidation occurs under such conditions, with chain... 

The methods of co-oxidation and oxidation of hydrocarbon (RiH) in the presence of hydroperoxide (ROOH) opened the way to measure the rate constants of the same peroxyl radical with different hydrocarbons. Both the methods give close results [5,9]. The activity of different secondary peroxyl radicals is very close. It is seen from comparison of rate constants of prim-R02 and, v -R02 reactions with cumene at 348 K [9],... 

In the initial period the oxidation of hydrocarbon RH proceeds as a chain reaction with one limiting step of chain propagation, namely reaction R02 + RH. The rate of the reaction is determined only by the activity and the concentration of peroxyl radicals. As soon as the oxidation products (hydroperoxide, alcohol, ketone, etc.) accumulate, the peroxyl radicals react with these products. As a result, the peroxyl radicals formed from RH (R02 ) are replaced by other free radicals. Thus, the oxidation of hydrocarbon in the presence of produced and oxidized intermediates is performed in co-oxidation with complex composition of free radicals propagating the chain [4], A few examples are given below. 

Another factor complicating the situation in composition of peroxyl radicals propagating chain oxidation of alcohol is the production of carbonyl compounds due to alcohol oxidation. As a result of alcohol oxidation, ketones are formed from the secondary alcohol oxidation and aldehydes from the primary alcohols [8,9], Hydroperoxide radicals are added to carbonyl compounds with the formation of alkylhydroxyperoxyl radical. This addition is reversible. 

It is seen that the weaker the attacked a-C—H bond the higher the partial rate constant. Therefore, the strength of the bond of alcohol attacked by the peroxyl radical is a very important factor of alcohol reactivity. It is seen from the data in Table 7.7 that peroxyl radicals of different structures react with the same alcohol with different rate constants. The comparison of the rate constants of reactions RiOO + HR H with the strength of the formed O—H bond in hydroperoxide shows the higher the BDE of the O—H... 

A molecule of linear alkyl ether possesses a very convenient geometry for intramolecular hydrogen atom abstraction by the peroxyl radical. Therefore, chain propagation is performed by two ways in oxidized ethers intermolecular and intramolecular. As a result, two peroxides as primary intermediates are formed from ether due to oxidation, namely, hydroperoxide and dihydroperoxide [62],... 

These data appeared to be very useful for the estimation of the relative O H bond dissociation energies in hydroperoxides formed from peroxyl radicals of oxidized ethers. All reactions of the type R02 + RH (RH is hydrocarbon) are reactions of the same class (see Chapter 6). All these reactions are divided into three groups RO + R (alkane, parameter bre = 13.62 (kJ moC1)172, R02 + R2H (olefin, bre = 15.21 (kJ mob1)1 2, and R02 + R3H (akylaromatic hydrocarbon), hrc 14.32 (kJ mol )12 [71], Only one factor, namely reaction enthalpy, determines the activation energy of the reaction inside one group of reactions. Also,... 

These BDEs are higher than that for alkyl hydroperoxides (see Chapter 2) and this is the main reason for the extremely high reactivity of peroxyl radicals formed from aldehydes. The absolute rate constants of the reactions of different peroxyl radicals with aldehydes are collected in Table 8.7. 

The important role of reaction enthalpy in the free radical abstraction reactions is well known and was discussed in Chapters 6 and 7. The BDE of the O—H bonds of alkyl hydroperoxides depends slightly on the structure of the alkyl radical D0 H = 365.5 kJ mol 1 for all primary and secondary hydroperoxides and P0—h = 358.6 kJ mol 1 for tertiary hydroperoxides (see Chapter 2). Therefore, the enthalpy of the reaction RjOO + RjH depends on the BDE of the attacked C—H bond of the hydrocarbon. But a different situation is encountered during oxidation and co-oxidation of aldehydes. As proved earlier, the BDE of peracids formed from acylperoxyl radicals is much higher than the BDE of the O—H bond of alkyl hydroperoxides and depends on the structure of the acyl substituent. Therefore, the BDEs of both the attacked C—H and O—H of the formed peracid are important factors that influence the chain propagation reaction. This is demonstrated in Table 8.9 where the calculated values of the enthalpy of the reaction RjCV + RjH for different RjHs including aldehydes and different peroxyl radicals are presented. One can see that the value A//( R02 + RH) is much lower in the reactions of the same compound with acylperoxyl radicals. 

The mechanism of H02 formation from peroxyl radicals of primary and secondary amines is clear (see the kinetic scheme). The problem of H02 formation in oxidized tertiary amines is not yet solved. The analysis of peroxides formed during amine oxidation using catalase, Ti(TV) and by water extraction gave controversial results [17], The formed hydroperoxide appeared to be labile and is hydrolyzed with H202 formation. The analysis of hydroperoxides formed in co-oxidation of cumene and 2-propaneamine, 7V-bis(ethyl methyl) showed the formation of two peroxides, namely H202 and (Me2CH)2NC(OOH)Me2 [16]. There is no doubt that the two peroxyl radicals are acting H02 and a-aminoalkylperoxyl. The difficulty is to find experimentally the real proportion between them in oxidized amine and to clarify the way of hydroperoxyl radical formation. 

The experimental data are in agreement with this equation. In the presence of dioxygen, the alkyl radicals formed from enol rapidly react with dioxygen and thus the formed peroxyl radicals react with Fe2+ with the formation of hydroperoxide. The formed hydroperoxide is decomposed catalytically to molecular products (AcOH and AcH) as well as to free radicals. The free radicals initiate the chain reaction resulting in the increase of the oxidation rate. 

These reactions produce free radicals, as follows from the fact of consumption of free radical acceptor [42]. The oxidation of ethylbenzene in the presence of thiophenol is accompanied by CL induced by peroxyl radicals of ethylbenzene [43]. Dilauryl dithiopropionate induces the pro-oxidative effect in the oxidation of cumene in the presence of cumyl hydroperoxide [44] provided that the latter is added at a sufficiently high proportion ([sulfide]/[ROOH] > 2). By analogy with similar systems, it can be suggested that sulfide should react with ROOH both heterolytically (the major reaction) and homolytically producing free radicals. When dilauryl dithiopropionate reacts with cumyl hydroperoxide in chlorobenzene, the rate constants of these reactions (molecular m and homolytic i) in chlorobenzene are [42]... 

As in the case of linear peroxidation products, the initiation step of the formation of isoprostanes is the abstraction of a hydrogen atom from unsaturated acids by a radical of initiator. Initiation is followed by the addition of oxygen to allylic radicals and the cyclization of peroxyl radicals into bicyclic endoperoxide radicals, which form hydroperoxides reacting with hydrogen donors. 

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