Protonated heteroaromatic bases

Homolytic alkylation of homocyclic aromatic substrates is of much less interest than homolytic arylation because, in addition to the low selectivity, which also characterizes arylation, yields are usually poor, due to side reactions which compete seriously with the simple substitution reaction. The behavior of nonprotonated heteroaromatic substrates is similar. The case is quite different with protonated heteroaromatic bases because side reactions are eliminated or minimized, yields are generally good, and, above all, the selectivity is very high. Moreover, very versatile and easily available sources of alkyl radicals can be used under simple experimental condition it follows that homolytic alkylation of protonated heteroaromatic bases can be considered one of the main reactions of this class of compounds. 

O3yhydroperoxides. Peroxides of the oxyhydro type are obtained by the addition of hydrogen peroxide to ketones. High yields of alkyl radicals are then often obtained by reaction with ferrous salts. 1-Meth-oxycyclohexyl hydroperoxide is easily obtained from cyclohexanone and hydrogen peroxide in methanol. It gives rise to the 5-(methoxy-carbonyl)-pentyl radical, which has been used to alkylate protonated heteroaromatic bases in high yield [Eq. (6)]. 

The oxidative decarboxylation of carboxylic acids is the most convenient source for the alkylation of protonated heteroaromatic bases owing to their easy availability and the high versatility of the reaction, which permits methyl, primary, secondary, and tertiary alkyl radicals to be obtained under very simple experimental conditions. The following methods have been utilized. 

Oxidation of tertiary alcohols by lead tetraacetate gives alkyl radicals by /3-scission of the initially formed alkoxy radicals. The reaction has been used to alkylate protonated heteroaromatic bases using 1-methyl-cyclohexanol. (Scheme 4). 

The acyl radicals obtained by hydrogen abstraction from aldehydes easily attack protonated heteroaromatic bases. With secondary and tertiary acyl radicals decarbonylation competes with the aromatic acylation [Eq. (12)]. 

Some oxaziranes can be prepared very simply from ketones and N-chloroamines. Thus 2-methyl-3,3-pentamethyleneoxazirane is easily obtained from cyclohexanone and iV-methylchloramine its reduction by ferrous salts gives an alkyl radical, which has been used to alkylate, in high yield, protonated heteroaromatic bases in aqueous solution (Scheme 5). 

A quite different reaction course was observed with benzoyl peroxide. The increase in the decomposition rate on going from nonprotonated to protonated quinoline is relatively small. The high decomposition rate of decanoyl peroxide in the presence of protonated heteroaromatic bases was mainly ascribed to the nucleophilic character of the alkyl radicals, which allows the complete capture of the nonyl radicals escaping from the solvent cage and the consequently rapid induced decomposition. The... 

The homolytic alkylation of protonated heteroaromatic bases is characterized by a very high selectivity (Table II). 

This high sensitivity to polar effects of the homolytic alkylation of protonated heteroaromatic bases has been interpreted in terms of the transition state.This would be similar to a w-complex in which an enhanced contribution of polar forms (5) would explain the high sensitivity to polar influence. 

Two sources of acyl radicals have proved to be useful for the homolytic acylation of protonated heteroaromatic bases the oxidation of aldehydes and the oxidative decarboxylation of a-keto acids. The oxidation... 

Also in this case the acyl radical can be oxidized by the ferric salt, but in the presence of protonated heteroaromatic bases the aromatic attack successfully competes with the oxidation. The process has great versatility and can be carried out with a large variety of aldehydes (aliphatic, a,jS-unsaturated, aromatic, and heteroaromatic). 

The acyl radicals attack the protonated heteroaromatic bases with good results, although the oxidizing medium can lead to the competitive processes of Eqs. (31) and (32). 

The high reactivity of protonated heteroaromatic bases towards acyl radicals is shown by the success of the reaction with the pivaloyl radical, which usually undergoes rapid decarbonylation [Eq. (33)]. 

Protonated heteroaromatic bases are therefore more reactive than simple olefins toward acyl radicals. The radical addition of pivalaldehyde to olefins is, in fact, characterized by a radical chain, whose propagation is determined by decarbonylation of the pivaloyl radical and addition of <-butyl radical to the olefin. The synthetic interest is great in the case of substrates with only one reactive position, such as benzothiazole, ... 

The homolytic acylation of protonated heteroaromatic bases is, as with alkylation, characterized by high selectivity. Only the positions a and y to the heterocyclic nitrogen are attacked. Attack in the position or in the benzene ring of polynuclear heteroaromatics has never been observed, even after careful GLC analysis of the reaction products. Quinoline is attacked only in positions 2 and 4 the ratio 4-acyl- to 2-acylquinoline was 1.3 with the acetyl radical from acetaldehyde, 1.7 with the acetyl radical from pyruvic acid, and 2.8 with the benzoyl radical from benzaldehyde. 

The high selectivity of homolytic acylation of protonated heteroaromatic bases and the fact that under the same experimental conditions homocyclic substrates (benzene, anisole, nitrobenzene, protonated aniline, and A,A-dimethylaniline) are not attacked, indicate that polar effects play a dominant role. Only aromatic substrates with very strong electron-deficient character give rise to significant homolytic acylation. 

Also, the results of the substituent effects in homolytic acylation of protonated heteroaromatic bases must be connected, as for homolytic alkylation, with the polar characteristics of the acyl radicals and the aromatic substrates, but not with the stabilization of the intermediate a-complexes. 

Oxidation of alcohols with a variety of oxidizing agents leads to a-hydroxyalkyl radicals. These attack protonated heteroaromatic bases only when obtained from methanol or primary alcohols, with secondary alcohols no attack takes place, probably owing to the ease with which such a-hydroxyalkyl radicals are oxidized. (This limitation does not apply to radiation-induced oxyalkylation, see later.)... 

If the mechanism in acid and without acid are the same, one might have expected 4-alkylation under both conditions, and the failure to observe any 4-alkylation when acid is not present is as yet unexplained. Possibly with nonprotonated bases the hydroxyalkylation occurs according to Scheme 11, in which dimerization of two radicals within the solvent cage would lead to attack only at position 2, while in acid the attack could take place, at least in part, according to Scheme 12 but with protonated base, leading to both the isomers (2 and 4), as in the hydroxyalkylation by oxidation of alcohols. The much higher affinity of alkyl radicals toward protonated heteroaromatic bases in comparison with nonprotonated bases would support this interpretation. 

Hydrogen peroxides, <-butyl hydroperoxide, and ammonium peroxy-disulfate have been used for the oxyalkylation of protonated heteroaromatic bases by the ethers dioxane, tetrahydrofuran, 1,3-dioxolan,... 

Carbamoyl radicals, like acyl radicals, show a net nucleophilic character which permits the amidation of protonated heteroaromatic bases. Quantitative studies concerning the polar character of the carbamoyl radicals have not yet been published, but the complete selectivity of attack at the a- and /-positions of protonated heteroaromatic bases indicates a definite nucleophilic character and synthetic value. 

The synthetic interest in direct substitution of protonated heteroaromatic bases by carbamoyl and a-amidoalkyl radicals arises because the reaction is applicable to a variety of heteroaromatic bases having highly reactive nucleophilic positions and because a variety of amides can be used. The selectivity of attack is complete at the a- and y-positions of the heterocyclic system owing to the nucleophilic character of both carbamoyl and a-amidoalkyl radicals, The results with formamide are shown in Table VI. Quinoline with dimethylformamide gave a variety... 

Radicals similar to carbamoyl are the alkoxycarbonyl radicals, ROCO. Also, these radicals were successfully used to carboxylate protonated heteroaromatic bases with good yields and selectivity. " ... 

The usual sources used for the homolytic aromatic arylation have been utilized also in the heterocyclic series. They are essentially azo- and diazocompounds, aroyl peroxides, and sometimes pyrolysis and photolysis of a variety of aryl derivatives. Most of these radical sources have been described in the previous review concerning this subject, and in other reviews concerning the general aspects of homolytic aromatic arylation. A new source of aryl radicals is the silver-catalyzed decarboxylation of carboxylic acids by peroxydisulfate, which allows to work in aqueous solution of protonated heteroaromatic bases, as for the alkyl radicals. 

This awareness in a short time led to new homolytic aromatic substitutions, characterized by high selectivity and versatility. Further developments along these lines can be expected, especially as regards reactions of nucleophilic radicals with protonated heteroaromatic bases, owing to the intrinsic interest of these reactions and to the fact that classical direct ionic substitution (electrophilic and nucleophilic) has several limitations in this class of compound and does not always offer alternative synthetic solutions. Homolytic substitution in heterocyclic compounds can no longer be considered the Cinderella of substitution reactions. 

These and other homolytic alkylations of neutral heteroaromatics usually proceed in poor yields, but if protonated heteroaromatic bases are used, many of the side reactions are minimized and selectivity is high and yields are good. Selectivity is increased because the alkyl radicals are nucleophilic in character and thus selectively attack the a-position. 

A new process for the homolytic acylation of protonated heteroaromatic bases has been developed by Minisci et al. An A-oxyl radical generated from iV-hydroxyphthalimide by oxygen and Co(ll) abstracts a hydrogen atom from an aldehyde. The resulting nucleophilic acyl radical adds to the heterocycle which is then rearomatized via a chain process. Under these conditions, quinoline and benzaldehyde afford three products (Equation 108) <2003JHC325>. A similar reaction with 4-cyanopyridine gives 2-benzoyl-4-cyanopyridine in 96% yield. 

The simple photolytic or thermal decomposition of 0-acyl thiohydroxamates in benzene or pyridine as solvent yields the product of decarboxylative rearrangement, and not alkylbenzenes or alkylpyridines. However, photolysis in dichioromethane in the presence of protonated heteroaromatic bases results in the formation of alkylated heterocycles in good yield, as illustrated in equation (57). The great advantage of this latter method lies in the fact that the base to be alkylated is not used as the reaction solvent, which evidently permits the use of a much wider range of bases as trapping agents. 

In the first step, the carbon centered radical is generated. The second step involves the addition of this radical to the protonated ring. The third step consists of the rearomatization of the radical adduct by oxidation. The rates of addition of alkyl and acyl radicals to protonated heteroaromatic bases are much higher than those of possible competitive reactions, particularly those with solvents. Polar effects influence the rates of the radical additions to the heteroaromatic ring by decreasing the activation energy as the electron deficiency of the heterocyclic ring increases. 

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