Radical Additions Anti-Markovnikov Product Formation

RADICAL ADDITIONS ANTI-MARKOVNIKOV PRODUCT FORMATION 

Radicals, lacking a closed outer shell of electrons, are capable of reacting with double bonds. However, a radical requires only one electron for bond formation, unlike the electrophiles presented in this chapter so far, which consume both electrons of the tt bond upon addition. The product of radical addition to an alkene is an alkyl radical, and the final products exhibit anti-Markovnikov regiochemistry, similar to the products of hydroboration-oxidation (Section 12-8). 

Hydrogen bromide can add to alkenes In anti-Markovnikov fashion a change In mechanism 

When freshly distilled 1-butene is exposed to hydrogen bromide, clean Markovnikov addition to give 2-bromobutane is observed. This result is in accord with the ionic mechanism for electrophilic addition of HBr discussed in Section 12-3. Curiously, the same reaction, when carried out with a sample of 1-butene that has been exposed to air, proceeds much more quickly and gives an entirely different result. In this case, we isolate 1-bromobutane, formed by anti-Markovnikov addition. 

This change caused considerable confusion in the early days of alkene chemistry, because one researcher would obtain only one hydrobromination product, whereas another would obtain a different product or mixtures from a seemingly identical reaction. The mystery was solved by Kharasch in the 1930s, when it was discovered that the culprits responsible for anti-Markovnikov additions were radicals formed from peroxides, ROOR, in alkene samples that had been stored in the presence of air. In practice, to effect anti-Markovnikov hydrobromination, radical initiators, such as peroxides, are added deliberately to the reaction mixture. 

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RADICAL ADDITIONS ANTI-MARKOVNIKOV PRODUCT FORMATION... 

Dimer formation can be quenched by conducting the experiment in a nucleophilic solvent, and the product obtained is characteristic of radical cation trapping. The anti-Markovnikov addition of acetone across the C-C single bond of the methylated analogue, eq. 41 (116,117),... 

When electron transfer reactions of olefins are carried out in nucleophilic solvents (alcohols) or in the presence of an ionic nucleophile (KCN/acetonitrile/2,2,2-trifluoroethanol), the major products formed are derived by anti-Markovnikov addition of the nucleophile to the olefin. In several cases, nucleophilic capture completely suppresses dimer formation [122, 143]. It is important to realize that the observed mode of addition reflects the formation of the more stable (allylic) intermediate and cannot be interpreted as evidence for the charge density distribution in the radical cation. 

Irradiation of a methanolic solution of l-methyltricyclo[4.1.0.0 ]heptane (22) in the presence of naphthalene-l-carbonitrile gave 6-methoxy-7-methylbicyclo[3.1.1]heptane (23a, 93Vo, isolated yield 56%). In an aqueous system, the corresponding hydroxy derivative 23b was isolated in 70% yield. The orientation of addition was anti-Markovnikov and the substituents were located in the less hindered positions. The same bond was cleaved when the 2-/er/-butyl derivative 24 was submitted to this reaction. With two methyl substituents, i.e. 26, a mixture of two stereoisomers 27A,B and a dehydrogenated product 28 was obtained whose formation could be explained by the occurence of a tertiary carbon radical. ... 

The photoinduced anti-Markovnikov addition of methanol to 1,1-diphenylethene reported by Arnold and co-workers in 1973 provides the first example of the addition of a nucleophile to an arylalkene radical cation. There are now a number of studies that demonstrate the generality of nucleophilic addition of alcohols, amines, and anions such as cyanide to aryl- and diaryl-alkene radical cations. Product studies and mechanistic work have established that addition occurs at the 3-position of I-aryl or 1,1 -diarylalkene radical cations to give arylmethyl or diaryl-methyl radical-derived products as shown in Scheme I for the addition of methanol to 1,1-diphenylethene. For neutral nucleophiles, such as alcohols and amines, radical formation requires prior deprotonation of the 1,3-distonic radical cation formed in the initial addition reaction. The final product usually results from reduction of the radical by the sensitizer radical anion to give an anion that is then protonated, although other radical... 

The free radical addition of a thiol to carbon-carbon double or triple bonds is a well-established reaction. It represents one of the most useful methods of synthesizing sulfides under mild conditions. Since its discovery [5] and its much later formulation as a free-radical chain reaction (Scheme 1) [6], the anti-Markovnikov addition of thiols to unsaturated compounds has been the subject of many reviews [8, 9]. These reactions were originally initiated by thermal decomposition of peroxides or azocompounds, by UV irradiation or by radiolysis [10]. (An example of addition of 1-thiosugar to alkenes initiated by 2,2 -azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) [11] is reported in equation (1)). More recently, organoboranes have been used as initiators and two examples (Et3B and 9-bora-bicyclo [3.3.1.] nonane) are reported in equations (2) and (3) [12,13]. Troyansky and co-workers [14a] achieved the synthesis of macrocycles like 12- and 13-membered sulfur-containing lactones by the double addition of thiyl radical to alkynes. An example is depicted in equation (4). The same approach has also been applied to the construction of 9- and 18-membered crown thioethers [14b]. The radical chain addition of thiyl radicals to differently substituted allenes has been considered in detail by Paste and co-workers [15], who found that preferential attack occurs at the central allenic carbon and gives rise to a resonance-stabilized ally radical. The addition of benzenethiol to allenic esters has been reported and the product formation has been similarly inferred (equation (5)) [16]. 

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