Phenanthridines electrophilic

Quinoline 1-oxide undergoes nucleophilic attack by ozone to yield a hydroxamic acid (128), and 40% of the starting iV-oxide is recovered (Scheme 74). When an excess of ozone is employed the aldehydes (129) and (130) are obtained. Formation of these products has been attributed to electrophilic attack by ozone rather than further oxidation of (128), because in a separate experiment (128) yielded carbostyril on treatment with ozone. Isoquinoline 2-oxide yields 2-hydroxyisoquinolin-l-one, and acridine 10-oxide gives 10-hydroxyacridone and acridone in a similar manner to the above. Likewise, phenanthridine 5-oxide affords mainly 5-hydroxyphenanthridone. Quinoline 1-oxide undergoes oxidation by lead tetraacetate as shown (Scheme 75). 

A very large group of syntheses in which the /3,y-bond is formed are those in which a side chain electrophile attacks the benzene ring. These include the Skraup and Doebner-von Miller syntheses (dealt with in Section 2.08.2.2.3(ii)), the Knorr, Conrad-Limpach and Combes syntheses of quinolines (dealt with here), the Pomerantz-Fritsch synthesis of isoquinolines, and many syntheses of phenanthridines and of acridines. 

Calculated reactivity indices are at one with qualitative electronic theory in accounting for ready nucleophilic attack at C-6 in the phenanthridine molecule. However, the limited data available on positional reactivities in electrophilic substitutions is not accounted for satisfactorily by any of the available treatments (see later) and it has been pointed out that the simple Hiickel treatment used by some authors,223, 220 is generally inapplicable in heteroaromatic systems.228... 

Phenanthridine in methanol solution is unaffected by ozone, but in methylene dichloride quinoline-3,4-dicarboxylic acid (2%) and phenanthridone (23%) are formed a large part of the remaining phenanthridine can be recovered unchanged.335 The reaction thus proceeds much less readily than in the case of acridine. The mechanism by which the lactam is formed is not known with certainty, but an intermediate such as 233 has been proposed.335 However, an initial electrophilic attack producing 234, followed by loss of oxygen and a proton shift, seems equally likely. 

Volume 13 of this serial publication comprises six chapters of which four deal with general accounts of compound classes 1-azirines (F. W. Fowler), phenanthridines (B. R. T. Keene and P. Tissington), tri-thiapentalenes (N. Lozac h), and heterocyclic ferrocenes (F. D. Popp and E. B. Moynahan). The other two chapters are concerned with particular aspects of the chemistry of groups of heterocyeles the tautomerism of purines (B. Pullman and A. Pullman) and quantitative aspects of the electrophilic substitution reactions of five-membered rings (G. Marino). 

Intramolecular reaction involving attack of an electrophilic orf/w-position of aryl groups on the enaminone carbonyl is shown by the ring closure of anilinomethylenecy-clohexanones to tetrahydro phenanthridines (equation 185). Including rearrangement, the reaction leads to acridines (equation 185). The course of the reaction depends on the conditions255. ... 

Reactions of dibenzopyridines show analogies with pyridine, quinoline and isoquinoline. Acridine and phenanthridine are A-protonated by strong protic acids, iV-alkylated by alkyl halides and A-oxidized by peroxy acids. Electrophilic substitutions of acridine often result in disubstitution at the 2- and 7-positions (e.g. nitration giving 3), whereas those of phenanthridine occur at different positions (e.g. nitration mainly at the 1- and 10-position yielding 4 and 5) ... 

---