Polyenes radical additions

Despite the enormous importance of dienes as monomers in the polymer field, the use of radical addition reactions to dienes for synthetic purposes has been rather limited. This is in contrast to the significant advances radical based synthetic methodology has witnessed in recent years. The major problems with the synthetic use of radical addition reactions to polyenes are a consequence of the nature of radical processes in general. Most synthetically useful radical reactions are chain reactions. In its most simple form, the radical chain consists of only two chain-carrying steps as shown in Scheme 1 for the addition of reagent R—X to a substituted polyene. In the first of these steps, addition of radical R. (1) to the polyene results in the formation of adduct polyenyl radical 2, in which the unpaired spin density is delocalized over several centers. In the second step, reaction of 2 with reagent R—X leads to the regeneration of radical 1 and the formation of addition products 3a and 3b. Radical 2 can also react with a second molecule of diene which leads to the formation of polyene telomers. 

Based on the data collected in this section, one must conclude that the addition of radicals to dienes is certainly rapid enough to compete against the typical chain-breaking processes and that especially the addition of electrophilic radicals to polyenes appears to bear significant potential. Terminally substituted polyenes are likely to be unsuitable for radical addition reactions due to their lower addition rates and to undesirable side reactions. 

The regioselectivity in radical addition reactions to alkenes in general has successfully been interpreted by a combination of steric and electronic effects1815,47. In the absence of steric effects, regiochemical preferences can readily be explained with FMO theory. The most relevant polyene orbital for the addition of nucleophilic radicals to polyenes will be the LUMO for the addition of electrophilic orbitals it will be the HOMO. Table 10 lists the HOMO and LUMO coefficients (without the phase sign) for the first three members of the polyene family together with those for ethylene as calculated from Hiickel theory and with the AMI semiempirical method48. 

The present volume contains 13 chapters written by experts from 11 countries, and treats topics that were not covered, or that are complementary to topics covered in Volume 1. They include chapters on mass spectra and NMR, two chapters on photochemistry complementing an earlier chapter on synthetic application of the photochemistry of dienes and polyenes. Two chapters deal with intermolecular cyclization and with cycloadditions, and complement a chapter in Volume 1 on intramolecular cyclization, while the chapter on reactions of dienes in water and hydrogen-bonding environments deals partially with cycloaddition in unusual media and complements the earlier chapter on reactions under pressure. The chapters on nucleophiliic and electrophilic additions complements the earlier chapter on radical addition. The chapter on reduction complements the earlier ones on oxidation. Chapters on organometallic complexes, synthetic applications and rearrangement of dienes and polyenes are additional topics discussed. 

Pristine SWCNTs and their fluorinated derivatives, F-SWCNTs, were reacted with organic peroxides to functionalize their sidewalls covalently by attachment of free radicals (Scheme 1.15). The tubes reactivity towards radical addition was compared with that of corresponding polyaromatic and conjugated polyene JT-systems [150, 151]. The characterization of the functionalized SWCNTs and F-SWCNTs was performed by Raman, FT-IR and UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy and also by TGA/MS, TGA/FT-IR and with TEM measurements. The solution-phase UV/Vis/NIR spectra showed complete loss of the van Hove absorption band structure, typical of functionalized SWCNTs [150]. 

In one of the earliest investigations of regioselectivity in radical addition reactions to polyenes, the addition of hydrogen bromide to 1,3-butadiene was observed to yield mainly the 1,4-addition product in the presence of peroxides. The preference for attack at the Cl position of 1,3-butadiene has subsequently been observed for a large number of radicalsOnly for the addition of the methyl radical has the ratio of addition to the Cl vs C2 actually been measured. A value of Cl C2 = 1.0 0.01 has been found . For all other cases, products arising from attack at C2 have not been reported. This is also true for radical addition to 2,3-dimethyl-l,3-butadiene . Additions to 1,3-pentadiene occur predominantly at the Cl position due to the steric effect exerted by the terminal methyl This is a reflection of the reduced... 

Radical addition to polyenes 1,4-addition product is formed exclusively (equation l3). 

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