Pyridinium salts reactions with alkyl radicals

For the unsubstituted pyridinium cation, reaction at the 2- and at the 4-position is predicted according to the theory. Indeed, reaction of protonated pyridine with the tcrt-butyl radical at low conversions (<30%) afforded selectively the ortho- and para-substituted derivatives without any alkylation at the meta position [16], It turned out that the ortho-para ratio is highly solvent dependent. If the reaction is conducted in H2O, the para product is formed as the major compound (see 10, ortho. para — 23 77). The same reaction in benzene afforded mainly the ortho compound [ortho-.para = 11 29). The reversal of the selectivity can be explained by assuming a reversible initial radical addition, especially if the reaction is conducted in H2O [16]. Similar results were obtained for the reaction with the tetrahydrofuryl radical [16]. The alkylations are generally stopped at low conversions. Since the alkylated pyridinium cations are only slightly less electrophilic than the starting pyridinium cations, overalkylation competes at higher conversion. For example, ethylation of the pyridinium cation at 100% conversion afforded a mixture of mono-, double- and tri-ethylated pyridinium salts (—> 11a e) [17]. 

It was previously shown [1] that 4-vinyl pyridine (4-VP) polymerized spontaneously in presence of alkyl halides. The growing active species in this polymerization system exhibited high specificity. It was reacting only with monomeric vinyl pyridinium salts and not with other vinyl monomers including 4-VP. Therefore, in presence of excess of 4-VP, the polymerization was arrested after the alkyl halide was used up in the quaternization reaction. It was also observed that free radical inhibitors had no effect on the polymerization rate. 

The effects of increasing the concentration of initiator (i.e. increased conversion, decreased and broader PDi) and reducing the reaction temperature (i.e. decreased conversion, increased M and narrower PDi) for the polymerizations in ambient-temperature ionic Uquids are the same as observed in conventional solvents. Mays et al. reported similar results and, in addition, used NMR to investigate the stereochemistry of the PMMA produced in (BMIMjlPFej. They found that the stereochemistry is almost identical to that for PMMA produced by free radical polymerization in conventional solvents [28]. The homopolymerization and copolymerization of several other monomers are also reported. Similar to vdiat was found by Noda and Watanabe, in many cases the polymer was not soluble in the ionic liquid and thus phase separated [28,29]. Free radical polymerization of n-butyl methacrylate in ionic liquids based on imidazolium, pyridinium, and alkylammonium salts as solvents was investigated with a systematic variation of the length of the alkyl substituents on the cations, and employing different anions such as tetrafluoroborate, hexafluorophosphate, tosylate, triflate, alkyl sulfates and dimethyl phosphate [31]. 

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