Pyrrole, reactivity

There are not too much examples of fluorinated pyrroles reactivity. Nevertheless one can easily conclude that fluoropyrroles have very similar chemistry in comparison to other pyrroles. Thus, fluorinated pyrrole 442 can be N-alkylated by treatment with alkyl bromides [18]. Inverse process is possible for N-tosyl derivative 445 under basic workup [84]. 

The point of this remark may be seen if one considers the high electron density deduced by theory to be found on the nitrogen atom, and also the relative rareness of N-substitution. These features are connected with ideas frequently met in discussions of pyrrole reactivity. 

The authors analyze conditions of typical syntheses, limitations of their applicability, and possibility of vinyl chloride or dichloroethane application instead of acetylene. They examine chemical engineering aspects of the first synthesis of tetrahydroindole and indole from commercially available oxime of cyclohexanone and acetylene. In addition, the book discusses new facets of pyrroles and N-vinyl pyrroles reactivity in the reactions with the participation of both the pyrrole ring and N-vinyl groups. 

The preparation of 2 4-dimethyl-3 5-dicarbethoxypyrrole (II) is an example of the Knorr synthesis of pyrrole derivatives, involving the reaction of an -aminoketone (or a derivative thereof) with a reactive methylene ketone (or a derivative thereof). The stages In the present synthesis from ethyl acetoacetate (I) may be represented as follows ... 

Unsymmetrically substituted dipyrromethanes are obtained from n-unsubstitued pyrroles and fl(-(bromomethyl)pyiToIes in hot acetic acid within a few minutes. These reaction conditions are relatively mild and the o-unsubstituted pyrrole may even bear an electron withdrawing carboxylic ester function. It is still sufficiently nucleophilic to substitute bromine or acetoxy groups on an a-pyrrolic methyl group. Hetero atoms in this position are extremely reactive leaving groups since the a-pyrrolylmethenium( = azafulvenium ) cation formed as an intermediate is highly resonance-stabilized. 

This reaction sequence is much less prone to difficulties with isomerizations since the pyridine-like carbons of dipyrromethenes do not add protons. Yields are often low, however, since the intermediates do not survive the high temperatures. The more reactive, faster but less reliable system is certainly provided by the dipyrromethanes, in which the reactivity of the pyrrole units is comparable to activated benzene derivatives such as phenol or aniline. The situation is comparable with that found in peptide synthesis where the slow azide method gives cleaner products than the fast DCC-promoted condensations (see p. 234). 

Reactions of aromatic and heteroaromatic rings are usually only found with highly reactive compounds containing strongly electron donating substituents or hetero atoms (e.g. phenols, anilines, pyrroles, indoles). Such molecules can be substituted by weak electrophiles, and the reagent of choice in nature as well as in the laboratory is usually a Mannich reagent or... 

Heteroaromatics such as furan, thiophene, and even the 2-pyridone 280 react with acrylate to form 281(244-246]. Benzene and heteroaromatic rings are introduced into naphthoquinone (282) as an alkene component[247]. The pyrrole ring is more reactive than the benzene ring in indole. 

The oxidative coupling of thiophene, furan[338] and pyrrole[339,340] is also possible. The following order of reactivity was observed in the coupling of substituted furans[338] R = H > Me > CHO > CO Me > CH(OAc)i > CO2H. The cross-coupling of furans and thiophenes with arene is possible, and 4-phenylfurfural (397) is the main product of the cross-coupling of furfural and benzene[341]. 

As illustrated in Scheme 8.1, both 2-vinylpyrroles and 3-vinylpyiroles are potential precursors of 4,5,6,7-tetrahydroindolcs via Diels-Alder cyclizations. Vinylpyrroles are relatively reactive dienes. However, they are also rather sensitive compounds and this has tended to restrict their synthetic application. While l-methyl-2-vinylpyrrole gives a good yield of an indole with dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate, ot-substitiients on the vinyl group result in direct electrophilic attack at C5 of the pyrrole ring. This has been attributed to the stenc restriction on access to the necessary cisoid conformation of the 2-vinyl substituent[l]. 

Hydroxy-THISs react with electron-deficient alkynes to give nonisol-able adducts that extrude carbonyl sulfide, affording pyrroles (23). Compound 16 (X = 0) seems particularly reactive (Scheme 16) (25). The cycloaddition to benzyne yields isoindoles in low- yield. Further cyclo-addition between isoindole and benzyne leads to an iminoanthracene as the main product (Scheme 17). The cycloadducts derived from electron-deficient alkenes are stable (23, 25) unless highly strained. Thus the two adducts, 18a (R = H, R = COOMe) and 18b (R = COOMe, R = H), formed from 7, both extrude furan and COS under the reaction conditions producing the pyrroles (19. R = H or COOMe) (Scheme 18). Similarly, the cycloadduct formed between 16 (X = 0) and dimethylfumarate... 

Section 12 18 Heterocyclic aromatic compounds may be more reactive or less reactive than benzene Pyridine is much less reactive than benzene but pyrrole furan and thiophene are more reactive... 

Indole is a heterocycHc analogue of naphthalene. The basic reactivity patterns of indole can be understood as resulting from the fusion of an electron-rich pyrrole ring with a ben2ene ring. 

Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution. The Tt-excessive character of the pyrrole ring makes the indole ring susceptible to electrophilic attack. The reactivity is greater at the 3-position than at the 2-position. This reactivity pattern is suggested both by electron density distributions calculated by molecular orbital methods and by the relative energies of the intermediates for electrophilic substitution, as represented by the protonated stmctures (7a) and (7b). Stmcture (7b) is more favorable than (7a) because it retains the ben2enoid character of the carbocycHc ring (12). 

Aldehydes and Ketones. Pyrrole aldehydes and ketones are somewhat less reactive than the corresponding benzenoid derivatives. The aldehydes do not undergo Cannizzaro or Perkin reactions but condense with a variety of compounds that contain active methylene groups. They also react with pyrroles under acidic conditions to form dipyrryhnethenes (26). The aldehydes can be reduced to the methyl or carbinol stmctures. The ketones undergo normal carbonyl reactions. 

Entrapment of biochemically reactive molecules into conductive polymer substrates is being used to develop electrochemical biosensors (212). This has proven especially useful for the incorporation of enzymes that retain their specific chemical reactivity. Electropolymerization of pyrrole in an aqueous solution containing glucose oxidase (GO) leads to a polypyrrole in which the GO enzyme is co-deposited with the polymer. These polymer-entrapped GO electrodes have been used as glucose sensors. A direct relationship is seen between the electrode response and the glucose concentration in the solution which was analyzed with a typical measurement taking between 20 to 40 s. 

The high reactivity of pyrroles to electrophiles is similar to that of arylamines and is a reflection of the mesomeric release of electrons from nitrogen to ring carbons. Reactions with electrophilic reagents may result in addition rather than substitution. Thus furan reacts with acetyl nitrate to give a 2,5-adduct (33) and in a similar fashion an adduct (34) is obtained from the reaction of ethyl vinyl ether with hydrogen bromide. 

The reactivity sequence furan > tellurophene > selenophene > thiophene is thus the same for all three reactions and is in the reverse order of the aromaticities of the ring systems assessed by a number of different criteria. The relative rate for the trifluoroacetylation of pyrrole is 5.3 x lo . It is interesting to note that AT-methylpyrrole is approximately twice as reactive to trifluoroacetylation as pyrrole itself. The enhanced reactivity of pyrrole compared with the other monocyclic systems is also demonstrated by the relative rates of bromination of the 2-methoxycarbonyl derivatives, which gave the reactivity sequence pyrrole>furan > selenophene > thiophene, and by the rate data on the reaction of the iron tricarbonyl-complexed carbocation [C6H7Fe(CO)3] (35) with a further selection of heteroaromatic substrates (Scheme 5). The comparative rates of reaction from this substitution were 2-methylindole == AT-methylindole>indole > pyrrole > furan > thiophene (73CC540). 

It is also of significance that in the dilute gas phase, where the intrinsic orientating properties of pyrrole can be examined without the complication of variable phenomena such as solvation, ion-pairing and catalyst attendant on electrophilic substitution reactions in solution, preferential /3-attack on pyrrole occurs. In gas phase t-butylation, the relative order of reactivity at /3-carbon, a-carbon and nitrogen is 10.3 3.0 1.0 (81CC1177). 

Pyrroles do not react with alkyl halides in a simple fashion polyalkylated products are obtained from reaction with methyl iodide at elevated temperatures and also from the more reactive allyl and benzyl halides under milder conditions in the presence of weak bases. Alkylation of pyrrole Grignard reagents gives mainly 2-alkylated pyrroles whereas N-alkylated pyrroles are obtained by alkylation of pyrrole alkali-metal salts in ionizing solvents. 

Pyrroles react with the conjugate acids of aldehydes and ketones to give carbinols (e.g. 67) which cannot normally be isolated but which undergo proton-catalyzed loss of water to give reactive electrophiles (e.g. 68). Subsequent reaction may lead to polymeric products, but in the case of reaction of pyrrole and acetone a cyclic tetramer (69) is formed in high yield. 

By using an aromatic aldehyde carrying an electron-releasing group the intermediate cation can be stabilized. This is the basis of the widely-used Ehrlich colour reaction for pyrroles, indoles and furans which have a free reactive nuclear position (Scheme 21). 

Furan has the greater reactivity in cycloaddition reactions compared with pyrrole and thiophene the latter is the least reactive diene. However, A -substituted pyrroles show enhanced dienic character compared with the parent heterocycle. 

Benzo[Z)]furans and indoles do not take part in Diels-Alder reactions but 2-vinyl-benzo[Z)]furan and 2- and 3-vinylindoles give adducts involving the exocyclic double bond. In contrast, the benzo[c]-fused heterocycles function as highly reactive dienes in [4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions. Thus benzo[c]furan, isoindole (benzo[c]pyrrole) and benzo[c]thiophene all yield Diels-Alder adducts (137) with maleic anhydride. Adducts of this type are used to characterize these unstable molecules and in a similar way benzo[c]selenophene, which polymerizes on attempted isolation, was characterized by formation of an adduct with tetracyanoethylene (76JA867). 

In many cases, substituents linked to a pyrrole, furan or thiophene ring show similar reactivity to those linked to a benzenoid nucleus. This generalization is not true for amino or hydroxyl groups. Hydroxy compounds exist largely, or entirely, in an alternative nonaromatic tautomeric form. Derivatives of this type show little resemblance in their reactions to anilines or phenols. Thienyl- and especially pyrryl- and furyl-methyl halides show enhanced reactivity compared with benzyl halides because the halogen is made more labile by electron release of the type shown below. Hydroxymethyl and aminomethyl groups on heteroaromatic nuclei are activated to nucleophilic attack by a similar effect. 

The main feature of the reactivity of pyrrole-2-carboxylic acids is the ease with which the carboxyl group is removed. Thermal decarboxylation is a preparatively useful reaction. 

The carbonyl reactivity of pyrrole-, furan-, thiophene- and selenophene-2- and -3-carbaldehydes is very similar to that of benzaldehyde. A quantitative study of the reaction of iV-methylpyrrole-2-carbaldehyde, furan-2-carbaldehyde and thiophene-2-carbaldehyde with hydroxide ions showed that the difference in reactivity between furan- and thiophene-2-carbaldehydes was small but that both of these aldehydes were considerably more reactive... 

Acyl-pyrroles, -furans and -thiophenes in general have a similar pattern of reactivity to benzenoid ketones. Acyl groups in 2,5-disubstituted derivatives are sometimes displaced during the course of electrophilic substitution reactions. iV-Alkyl-2-acylpyrroles are converted by strong anhydrous acid to A-alkyl-3-acylpyrroles. Similar treatment of N-unsubstituted 2- or 3-acyIpyrroles yields an equilibrium mixture of 2- and 3-acylpyrroles pyrrolecarbaldehydes also afford isomeric mixtures 81JOC839). The probable mechanism of these rearrangements is shown in Scheme 65. A similar mechanism has been proposed for the isomerization of acetylindoles. 

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