Cycloaddition reactions radical cations

SCHEME 4.1 Thermodynamic representation of radical cation cycloaddition reaction acceleration. 

Enaminoesters, -ketones, and -nitriles have also successfully been applied in electro-chemically induced radical cation cycloaddition reactions, especially with 2-vinylindoles or 2-vinylpyrroles. Some examples are given in Eq. (31). Depending on the structures, the reaction starts with the formation of either the vinylindole or vinylpyrrole radical cation or the radical cation of the enamidoester, -ketone, or -nitrile. In Eq. (32), a representative reaction pathway for the cycloaddition between a 2-vinylpyrrole and an acceptor-substituted enamine is formulated via the enamine radical cation [159]. 

Butadiene Radical Cations. Cycloaddition reactions between the radical cations of... 

The gas-phase reactions of the fulvene radical cation with neutral 1,3-butadiene, alkenes and 2-propyl iodide have been investigated by Russell and Gross131a using ICR mass spectrometry. Unlike ionized benzene, ionized fulvene undergoes no C—C coupling with 2-propyl iodide. On the basis of deuterium and 13C labelling, the reaction of ionized fulvene with 1,3-butadiene was suggested to occur by [6 + 4] cycloaddition to yield tetrahydroazulene radical cations. Cycloadditions of neutral fulvene were also studied in this work. 

The development of mass spectrometric ionization methods at atmospheric pressures (API), such as the atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI)99 and the electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS)100 has made it possible to study liquid-phase solutions by mass spectrometry. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry coupled to a micro-reactor was used to investigate radical cation chain reaction is solution101. The tris (p-bromophenyl)aminium hexachloro antimonate mediated [2 + 2] cycloaddition of trans-anethole to give l,2-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)-3,4-dimethylcyclobutane was investigated and the transient intermediates 9 + and 10 + were detected and characterized directly in the reacting solution. However, steady state conditions are necessary for the detection of reactive intermediates and therefore it is crucial that the reaction must not be complete at the moment of electrospray ionization to be able to detect the intermediates. 

As shown in Table 4.1, formation of the mixed adduct is favored over homodimerization of 8a with the simple styrene 13a, but this selectivity is inverted for the case of the more bulky dienophile tra 5-[3-methylstyrene 13b, presumably due to steric effects. Although the overall reaction is highly exothermic on the radical cation surface, the reaction is not insensitive to steric effects. Chemoselectivity in the radical cation cycloaddition is largely a consequence of a substrate s ability to stabilize the radical cation of the oxidized species through the formation of a weakly bound ion-molecule complex. Such complexes have been known for a long time in gas-phase... 

Polyelectrolytes and soluble polymers containing triarylamine monomers have been applied successfully for the indirect electrochemical oxidation of benzylic alcohols to the benzaldehydes. With the triarylamine polyelectrolyte systems, no additional supporting electrolyte was necessary [91]. Polymer-coated electrodes containing triarylamine redox centers have also been generated either by coating of the electrode with poly(4-vinyltri-arylamine) films [92], or by electrochemical polymerization of 4-vinyl- or 4-(l-hydroxy-ethyl) triarylamines [93], or pyrrol- or aniline-linked triarylamines [94], Triarylamine radical cations are also suitable to induce pericyclic reactions via olefin radical cations in the form of an electron-transfer chain reaction. These include radical cation cycloadditions [95], dioxetane [96] and endoperoxide formation [97], and cycloreversion reactions [98]. 

A study of the stereoselectivity of the radical-cation Diels-Alder reaction of indole with the diene 139 gave a mixture of both cis and trans adducts. This lack of stereospecificity is consistent with other evidence that the radical-cation cycloaddition is non-concerted. <93TL6391>... 

Despite the demonstrated utility of alkene radical cation cycloadditions, little kinetic data for these reactions are currently available. However, two recent studies have provided rate constants for the initial step in the cyclobutanation or Diels-Alder reactions of a number of styrene radical cations.Previous work by Bauld had shown that the rrradical cation reacts with a variety of alkenes to generate either cyclobutane or Diels—Alder adducts (Eqs. 23, 24) 110 j, g [jnetic data for the styrene radical cation cycloadditions, in combination with the dimerization results discussed above, provide a detailed assessment of the effects of radical cation and alkene structure on dimerization and cross addition reactions. 

These results provide the first detailed calibration for a series of intramolecular radical cation probes based on cycloaddition chemistry. The cyclization rate constants cover several orders of magnitude in timescale, an ideal case for using 1—3 as probes for radical cations of different lifetimes. However, the time-resolved experiments demonstrate that the application of radical cation probes, at least those based on aryl alkene cycloaddition chemistry, may be considerably less straightforward than similar experiments with free radical probes or clocks. Some of the problems that need to be addressed include the variation of products with the reaction conditions and method of radical cation generation, and the possibility of reversibility of the initial adduct formation. Furthermore, at least some radical cation reactions are quite sensitive to solvent and this may mean that calibrations for radical cation cycloadditions will have to be done in a variety of solvents. 

Meyer and Metzger [29, 40a[ studied the tris(p-bromophenyl)aminium hexachlor-oantimonate (l SbClg) mediated [2 + 2[-cycloaddition of trans-anethole (2) to give l,2-fois-(4—methoxyphenyl)-3,4-dimethyl cyclobutane (3) (Scheme 5.3). The reaction proceeds as a radical cation chain reaction via transients 2 and 3 that were unambiguously detected and characterized by ESI-MS/MS directly in the reacting solution. At first, the reaction was studied by APCI-MS, because substrate 2 and product 3 are not ionized by ESI. A solution of l SbCla and a solution of 2, both in... 

The first studies on cation-radical Diels-Alder reactions were undertaken by Bauld in 1981 who showed [33a] the powerful catalytic effect of aminium cation radical salts on certain Diels-Alder cycloadditions. For example, the reaction of 1,3-cyclohexadiene with trans, iraw5-2,4-hexadiene in the presence of Ar3N is complete in 1 h and gives only the endo adduct (Equation 1.14) [33]. 

Luche and coworkers [34] investigated the mechanistic aspects of Diels-Alder reactions of anthracene with either 1,4-benzoquinone or maleic anhydride. The cycloaddition of anthracene with maleic anhydride in DCM is slow under US irradiation in the presence or absence of 5% tris (p-bromophenyl) aminium hexachloroantimonate (the classical Bauld monoelectronic oxidant, TBPA), whereas the Diels Alder reaction of 1,4-benzoquinone with anthracene in DCM under US irradiation at 80 °C is slow in the absence of 5 % TBPA but proceeds very quickly and with high yield at 25 °C in the presence of TBPA. This last cycloaddition is also strongly accelerated when carried out under stirring solely at 0°C with 1% FeCh. The US-promoted Diels Alder reaction in the presence of TBPA has been justified by hypothesizing a mechanism via radical-cation of diene, which is operative if the electronic affinity of dienophile is not too weak. 

It is important to note that the efficiency of the various cycloaddition reactions presented above arises from a rapid cleavage of the resulting cation radical intermediates, which renders the back electron transfer process ineffective. 

Although cycloaddition reactions have yet to be observed for alkene radical cations generated by the fragmentation method, there is a very substantial literature covering this aspect of alkene radical cation chemistry when obtained by one-electron oxidation of alkenes [2-16,18-26,28-31]. Rate constants have been measured for cycloadditions of alkene and diene radical cations, generated oxidatively, in both the intra- and intermolecular modes and some examples are given in Table 4 [91,92]. 

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