Phenanthrene, reactivity

A further consequence of association of acylating agents with basic compounds is an increase in the bulk of the reagent, and greater resistance to attack at the more stericaHy hindered positions of aromatic compounds. Thus acylation of chrysene and phenanthrene in nitrobenzene or in carbon disulfide occurs to a considerable extent in an outer ring, whereas acylation of naphthalene leads to extensive reaction at the less reactive but stericaky less hindered 2-position. 

The high reactivity of azomethine ylides allows addition to aromatic systems (71TL481). For example, trans-aziridine (30) adds to phenanthrene to give the fran5-phenanthropyr-rolidine (31). The reversal of expected stereochemistry is again attributed to azomethine ylide interconversion being allowed by the low reactivity of the aromatic system. 

Benzene rings can also be fused in angular fashion, as in phenanthrene, chrysene, and picene. These compounds, while reactive toward additions in the center ring, retain most of the resonance energy per electron (REPE) stabilization of benzene and naphthalene. ... 

In the presence of certain ethers such as Me20, Me0CH2CH20Me or tetrahydrofuran, Na forms deep-green highly reactive paramagnetic adducts with polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons such as naphthalene, phenanthrene, anthracene, etc. ... 

The chloromethylation can be generally employed in aromatic chemistry benzene, naphthaline, anthracene, phenanthrene, biphenyls and many derivatives thereof are appropriate substrates. The benzylic chlorides thus obtained can be further transformed, for example to aromatic aldehydes. Ketones like benzophe-none are not reactive enough. In contrast phenols are so reactive that polymeric products are obtained. ... 

Os04 will add to C=C bonds but will only attack the most reactive aromatic bonds thus benzene is inert, but it will attack the 9,10 bond in phenanthrene and will convert anthracene to 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroxytetra-hydroanthracene. It can be used catalytically in the presence of oxidizing agents such as NaC103 or H2O2 [53],... 

Blackley548 measured the rates of deuteration of biphenylene, fluorene, tri-phenylene, and phenanthrene relative to o-xylene as 6.15 5.85 1.08 1.32, which is in very good agreement with the values of 8.80 7.00 - 1.14 which may be deduced from the detritiation data in Table 159, obtained using anhydrous trifluoroacetic acid. Aqueous trifluoroacetic acid (with the addition in some cases of benzene to assist solubility) was used by Rice550, who found that triptycene was 0.1 times as reactive per aromatic ring as o-xylene (cf. 0.13 derivable from Table 159) whereas the compound (XXXI) was 0.9 times as reactive as o-xylene. An exactly comparable measure is not available from Table 158, but dihydroanthracene (XXXII), which is similar, was 0.51 times as reactive as o-xylene and... 

With this hypothesis, the calculated stability of the 9,10 addition compound of anthracene provides an explanation of the ease of attack of the 9,10 positions for addition. A similar calculation for phenanthrene shows that for this molecule too the 9,10 positions should be most reactive. 

Dihydrovinylphenanthrenes are more reactive than the corresponding vinyl phenanthrenes and undergo Diels-Alder reactions easily. They have been used in the synthesis of polycyclic aromatic compounds and helicenes. Examples of cycloaddition reactions of the 3,4-dihydro-1-vinylphenanthrene (70), [61] 3,4-dihydro-2-vinylphenanthrene (71) [68] and l,2-dihydro-4-vinylphenanthrene (72) [69] are reported in Equation 2.22 and Schemes 2.27 and 2.28. 

In fused ring systems, the positions are not equivalent and there is usually a preferred orientation even in the unsubstituted hydrocarbon. The preferred positions may often by predicted as for benzene rings. Thus it is possible to draw more canonical forms for the arenium ion when naphthalene is attacked at the a position than when it is attacked at the p position, and the a position is the preferred site of attack,though, as previously mentioned (p. 682), the isomer formed by substitution at the p position is thermodynamically more stable and is the product if the reaction is reversible and equilibrium is reached. Because of the more extensive delocalization of charges in the corresponding arenium ions, naphthalene is more reactive than benzene and substitution is faster at both positions. Similarly, anthracene, phenanthrene, and other fused polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are also substituted faster than benzene. 

A system based upon the reactivity of coals during extraction with anthracene oil and phenanthrene has been developed. A convenient graphical method of expressing the data on Seyler s chart has been adopted. This method has limitations when dealing with prime coking coals, which show wide variations in extraction yield. The differences in extraction yield relate to the concentration of inertinite which is virtually insoluble in anthracene oil. 

A system of classifying coals for solvent extraction, based upon the extent of extraction when using anthracene oil and phenanthrene as solvents has been developed. The reactivity of the coals can be conveniently presented by superimposing the results on Seyler s coal chart. The effects of variations in maceral composition are also discussed. 

The table also shows the results of experiments with the donors and coal in phenanthrene as solvent. Consistent with the transfer of hydrogen in a radical process, those donors less reactive toward C130 than Tetralin are also less effective than Tetralin in conversion of coal to a phenanthrene-soluble product. However, in contrast to the chemistry of Step 2 we see that those donors that are more reactive toward C130 than Tetralin are also less effective in their action with coal. Thus this simple conversion scheme is suspect. 

At first three K-region oxides were studied, those of DMBA (XI), BP (XII) and phenanthrene, the non-carcinogenic parent (XIII) the structures are shown in Figure 8. These epoxides, which were considered very reactive, were found to remain stable both in air and in the X-ray beam when in the crystalline state (82, 83). 

Nucleophilic Trapping of Radical Cations. To investigate some of the properties of Mh radical cations these intermediates have been generated in two one-electron oxidant systems. The first contains iodine as oxidant and pyridine as nucleophile and solvent (8-10), while the second contains Mn(0Ac) in acetic acid (10,11). Studies with a number of PAH indicate that the formation of pyridinium-PAH or acetoxy-PAH by one-electron oxidation with Mn(0Ac)3 or iodine, respectively, is related to the ionization potential (IP) of the PAH. For PAH with relatively high IP, such as phenanthrene, chrysene, 5-methyl chrysene and dibenz[a,h]anthracene, no reaction occurs with these two oxidant systems. Another important factor influencing the specific reactivity of PAH radical cations with nucleophiles is localization of the positive charge at one or a few carbon atoms in the radical cation. 

A difference in reactivity was observed between the phenanthro[9,10-r]- and acenaphtho[l,2-c]-l,2,5-thiadiazole 1,1-dioxides 51 and 53 when treated with thiourea. The acenaphtho derivative 53 gave the expected addition product however, the phenanthro thiadiazole 51 was reduced to the thiadiazoline 1,1-dioxide 52 (Equation 2) <2004JP01091>. The difference in reactivity was attributed to the enhanced resonance stability offered by the phenanthrene group. 

The partially hydrogenated phenanthrene derivative 18 (entry 4) is a very moderate diene due to the steric crowding caused by the substituents and the anulated rings, and it reacts even with highly reactive dienophiles such as maleic anhydride (MA) or N-phenylmaleic imide only at high pressure. The minor product 20 in the reaction with MA obviously stems from diene 21. This can be explained by a double-bond isomerization 18 - 21 prior to the cycloaddition, certainly catalyzed by traces of acid present in the MA. In the absence of acid only the Diels-Alder adduct 22 derived from diene 18 was observed. In the reaction of diene 23 with MA (entry 5) a similar sequence of steps was observed. A [1,5] shift of the C—O bond in 23, again certainly acid-catalyzed, produces the diene 26 followed by the Diels-Alder reaction with MA to give 24 and 25. 

Phenanthrene (10.28, Fig. 10.10) is the positional isomer of anthracene, yet the differences in reactivity and metabolism between the two compounds are marked. Whereas epoxidation of anthracene in mammals occurs only at the 1,2-position (Fig. 10.9), phenanthrene is epoxidized at the 9,10- (major), 1,2- (minor), and 3,4-positions (trace). The reason for preferential oxygenation at the 9,10-position is due at least in part to its higher reactivity. This position within a phenanthrene-like topography, known as the K region, is found in a number of PAHs with four or more cycles. Phenanthrene is also representative of higher PAHs since it contains a so-called bay region (Fig. 

Detailed kinetic studies comparing the chemical reactivity ofK-region vs. non-K-region arene oxides have yielded important information. In aqueous solution, the non-K-region epoxides of phenanthrene (the 1,2-oxide and 3,4-oxides) yielded exclusively phenols (the 1-phenol and 4-phenol, respectively, as major products) in an acid-catalyzed reaction, as do epoxides of lower arenes (Fig. 10.1). In contrast, the K-region epoxide (i.e., phenanthrene 9,10-oxide 10.29) gave at pH < 7 the 9-phenol and the 9,10-dihydro-9,10-diol (predominantly trans) in a ratio of ca. 3 1. Under these conditions, the formation of this dihydrodiol was found to result from trapping of the carbonium ion by H20 (Fig. 10.11, Pathway a). At pH > 9, the product formed was nearly ex-... 

L. Lewis-Bevan, S. B. Little, J. R. Rabinowitz, Quantum Mechanical Studies of the Structure and Reactivities of the Diol Epoxides of Benzo[c]phenanthrene , Chem. Res. Toxicol. 1995, 8, 499 - 505. 

Biphenyl, naphthalene, azulene, phenanthrene, etc. show preferential a-reactivity in photocyanation (Figure 10). 

This preference of photoreaction with a nucleophile at position 1 of azulene and naphthalene (4 and 2 in biphenyl, 9 in phenanthrene) is also evident upon considering the products from the reactions of derivatives of these hydrocarbons (Lok, 1972). In many other cases besides those represented in Figure 10 and equations (19) amd (20), the a-reactivity can be recognized as a major orientation rule. 

The relative performances of the two autoclaves were compared by the use of ratios. Three ratios were derived utilising (a) the unconverted phenanthrene, denoted by P (b) the amounts of the various hydro-derivatives of phenanthrene multiplied by the relative number of hydrogens added, eg % tetrahydrophenanthrene 4, denoted by HP (c) the total content of hydrocracked compounds, denoted by C. These ratios would indicate the reactivity of the autoclaves and their relative abilities towards hydrogenation and hydrocracking. 

The synthesis of li7-cyclopropa[/]phenanthrene (142) presented unexpected difficulties and met many failures. Early approaches used a variety of schemes which were not adequate for this highly reactive compound and invariably produced ring-opened products. Thus irradiation of the substituted indazole 138 resulted in nitrogen extrusion and formation of the biradical 139, which reacted with the solvent, benzene, to form 140. The desired cycloproparene 141 was not formed. Ring contraction of 144, in turn, produced derivatives of 9-phenanthroic acid, the formation of which was shown not to involve phenanthrocyclopropenone (143). °° The attempted 1/3/elimination of 145 was similarly unsuccessful and afforded no 142. ... 

The fusion of a second aromatic ring results in subtle changes in reactivity. Halogenation of naphtho[l,2-c]-l,2,5-thiadiazole (42) occurs either by 4,5-addition of chlorine (43a) or by 5,6-substitution (44) by bromine. This heterocyclic analog of phenanthrene behaves like phenanthrene in that it gave the 4,5-addition product (43b) when treated with Br2 in glacial acetic acid (Scheme... 

Sodium reacts with naphthalene in dimethyl ether to form a dark green reactive complex. This addition product, naphtalenesodium, CioHsNa, is stabilized by solvation with ether. Anthracene, phenanthrene, biphenyl, and many other aromatics form similar complexes with sodium in the presence of methylethyl ether, tetrahyrofuran, dioxane, and other ethers. 

---