Pyridines proton abstraction

A further difficulty arises during preparative electrolyses in aprotic solvents because of the bulk pH change which commonly occurs. Thus cathodic reductions often require proton abstraction from the solvent in order to yield stable products, while many anodic oxidations, mcluding those of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons, give rise to a quantitative yield of proton and the consequent changes in the pH. of the electrolysis media would be expected to lead to a variation in the products with the duration of the electrolysis. Unfortunately, the pH can be a very difficult parameter to control in aprotic solvents and most work reported in the literature has been carried out in unbuffered conditions. In the case of oxidations, organic bases, e.g. pyridine, have... 

One more example of metal ion catalysis will be considered briefly. In a now classic paper, Cox (1974) showed that the enolization of 2-acetylpyri-dine (but not 4-acetylpyridine) is catalysed by divalent transition metal ions. Proton abstraction by acetate ions is strongly accelerated by Zn2+, Ni2+ and Cu2+ ions and the transition state stabilization by these ions roughly parallels their abilities to bind to the substrate (Table A6.5). The three metal ions are significantly superior to the proton as electrophilic catalysts, no doubt because they can chelate to both the pyridine nitrogen and the... 

It may have been the dramatic 1964 publication of E.S. Lewis and L. Funderburk that forced the question of hydrogen tunneling in complex solution reactions near room temperature into the consciousness of a larger scientific public, particularly in physical-organic chemistry. This article presented isotope effects for proton abstraction from 2-nitropropane by a series of substituted pyridines, and the values rose sharply as the degree of steric hindrance to the reaction increased (Fig. 1). AU the observed H/D isotope effects, from 9.6 to 24, were larger than expected from the simplest version of the so-called semiclassical theory of isotope effects (Fig. 2). 

Fig. 1 Lewis and Funderburk found that the H/D primary kinetic isotope effects (25 °C in aqueous t-butyl alcohol) for proton abstraction from 2-nitropropane by pyridine derivatives all exceed the maximum isotope effect that could have been derived from the isotopic difference in reactant-state zero-point energies alone (a value around 7). The magnitude of the isotope effect increases with the degree of steric hindrance to reaction presented by the pyridine derivative, the identical results for 2,6-lutidine and 2,4,6-collidine ruling out any role for electronic effects of the substituents. The temperature dependence shown for 2,4,6-collidine is exceedingly anomalous the pre-exponential factor Ahis expected to be near unity but is instead about 1/7, while the value of AH — AH = 3030 cal/mol would have generated an isotope effect at 25 °C of 165 if the pre-exponential factor had indeed been unity.

It has been pointed out (75TL213) that path A behavior might be more complex in some instances, and involve initial ylide formation followed by intramolecular proton abstraction (Scheme 202). The aryloxy quaternary salt (274), formed by reaction of pyridine 1-oxide with an arenediazonium salt, undergoes an interesting base-catalyzed rearrangement that is believed to take the course (path E) indicated (Scheme 203) (71JA3074). 

All presently known phosphamethin-cyanines were prepared according to our original procedure (1964) in which two quaternary salts of a heterocyclic base (e. g. 4) are condensed with tris-hydroxymethyl-phosphine 5 in the presence of a proton-abstracting base The preparation ofbis-[N-ethyl-benzothiazole(2)]-phosphamethin-cyanine-tetrafluoroborate 6 illustrates the synthetic sequence. A mixture of 2 moles of N-ethyl-2-chlorobenzothiazolium-tetrafluoroborate 4 and 1 mole of tris-hydroxymethyl-phosphine 5 in dimethylformamide is slowly reacted with ethyl-di-isopropylamine or pyridine at 0 °C. Addition of water immediately affords the crystalline cyanine dye 6 in ca. 45% yield ... 

Unexpectedly, thermal decomposition of bis(pyridine)bis(trifluoromethyl)zinc, Zn(CF3)2 2C5H5N (76), gave rise to CF3H, which is believed to be a result of proton abstraction from pyridine by the trifluoromethyl group. Pyridine has been identified as the major product of the decomposition. No Zn-containing ions were detected for 76. ... 

The anomalously large isotope effects observed in the proton abstraction from nitroalkanes by certain pyridine bases (Funderburk and Lewis, 1964 Bell and Goodall, 1966) have been attributed to tunneling. There seems to be no other reasonable attribution. No unambiguous effect of this type has yet been identified in an A-SE2 reaction. Since the expected value in the absence of tunneling is not certain (Section IIA3) the anomaly would have to be quite large to be interpreted confidently. 

The chlorine atom in 4-chloropyridine can be replaced photochemically by the dimethyl ketyl radical755. Irradiation of 4-chloropyridine in a 4 1 mixture of 2-propanol and water gives a low yield (2%) of 2-(4 -pyridyl)-2-propanol. Sensitization by benzophenone increases the yield to 25%, but the product is now accompanied by 6% of diphenyl-(4-pyridyl)methanol. The major product is believed to be formed via hydrogen abstraction from 2-propanol by photoexcited pyridine. Protonated pyridines do not undergo this abstraction process, and accordingly the product yield decreases under acidic conditions. The radical (259) formed from the pyridine will combine (at position 4) with the dimethyl ketyl radical (260) and elimination of HC1 from the adduct (261) completes the reaction (equation 194). 

More vigorous conditions are required for the amination of 2- or 4-alkyl-pyridines, since proton abstraction from the side-chain (cf. 8.10) by the amide occurs first, and ring attack must therefore involve a dianionic intermediate. Amination of 3-alkyl-pyridines is regioselective for the 2-position. ... 

Which electrophile is lost from the amino acid residue is, of course, controlled by the enzyme. One way this may occur is by the enzyme binding the PLP imine so that the electrophile is in close proximity to a suitable or base to aid abstraction and also so that the a orbital of the bond to be broken is periplanar with the p r acceptor system, i.e. orthogonal to the plane of the pyridine ring (XXXI). Maximal orbital overlap, stereoelectronic control, will lower the activation energy for the reaction. Aldol-type reactions can also occur with PLP as in the laboratory the key to making carbon-carbon bonds is the formation of a stabilised carbanion. Proton abstraction from the initially formed imine gives a masked carbanion which can nucleophili-... 

Several compounds have been prepared by nucleophilic substitution of chlorine in 2-chloro-l,3-dithian with Grignard reagent (RMgBr), malonic esters, and phenols.A mechanism for the de-ethoxycarbonylation of the 2-(l,3-dithianyl)malonates by sodium chloride or sodium ethoxide has been studied. 2-Chlorotetrahydrofuran reacts with nucleophiles such as 2-lithio-2-phenyl-l,3-dithian (326) by three simultaneous mechanisms i.e. substitution, proton abstraction, and electron transfer) to give the products (327)—(330) (Scheme 12)/° When a dithian (331 R = H or COiMe) was treated with a sulphonyl chloride in pyridine, ring-expansion to the 5//-l,4-dithiepin (332) occurred instead of the expected formation of a sulphonate. ... 

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