Radical single-electron transfer processes

Since the total reaction is basically initiated by generation of an organic radical, the reaction rate is closely related to the stability of the resulting radical. This type of oxidative addition therefore takes place rapidly for tertiary alkyl halides and quite slowly for tosylate regardless of steric repulsion. The stereochemistry of the O -carbon is completely lost. When the radical ion pair is not stable enough in the cage, the radical escapes to the solution leading to radical chain process 

Activation of Substrates with Polar Single Bonds 

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These experiments having eliminated participation of both the biradical and the hypothetical peracid analog there remains a large area where there are persistent indications of involvement of odd-electron species in oxidation processes. Single electron transfers occur in many of the same situations in which free radical initiation and photosensitization occur. There have been cases of this kind where superoxide radical ion, O2-, has been observed, and some of its interactions with singlet oxygen have been studied. 

The reactivities of the substrate and the nucleophilic reagent change vyhen fluorine atoms are introduced into their structures This perturbation becomes more impor tant when the number of atoms of this element increases A striking example is the reactivity of alkyl halides S l and mechanisms operate when few fluorine atoms are incorporated in the aliphatic chain, but perfluoroalkyl halides are usually resistant to these classical processes However, formal substitution at carbon can arise from other mecharasms For example nucleophilic attack at chlorine, bromine, or iodine (halogenophilic reaction, occurring either by a direct electron-pair transfer or by two successive one-electron transfers) gives carbanions These intermediates can then decompose to carbenes or olefins, which react further (see equations 15 and 47) Single-electron transfer (SET) from the nucleophile to the halide can produce intermediate radicals that react by an SrnI process (see equation 57) When these chain mechanisms can occur, they allow reactions that were previously unknown Perfluoroalkylation, which used to be very rare, can now be accomplished by new methods (see for example equations 48-56, 65-70, 79, 107-108, 110, 113-135, 138-141, and 145-146)... 

The mechanism proposed for the production of radicals from the N,N-dimethylaniline/BPO couple179,1 involves reaction of the aniline with BPO by a Sn-2 mechanism to produce an intermediate (44). This thermally decomposes to benzoyloxy radicals and an amine radical cation (46) both of which might, in principle, initiate polymerization (Scheme 3.29). Pryor and Hendrikson181 were able to distinguish this mechanism from a process involving single electron transfer through a study of the kinetic isotope effect. 

DP) and leads (Equation 4.5) to the formation of an anthracene cation radical as a result of the single-electron transfer process. The resulting ion-radical pair [AN, DP is the critical intermediate that subsequently evolves to cycloadduct (AD). 

The electrochemical generation and reactivity of phosphoniumyl and related charged radicals have been recently reviewed by Kargin and Bunikova [8]. In 1995, Yasui reviewed the reactivity of trivalent phosphorus compounds in single electron transfer (SET) processes [41] and, in 1990, the EPR features and reactivity of phosphoniumyl radicals were reviewed by Tordo [42]. 

As for the salt formation and single-electron transfer, thermodynamics for simple redox processes may be applied to predict their selectivity. As a first approximation, a cation with red lower and higher than 0.2 V would give a salt and a radical pair, respectively, when combined with [2 ]. In practice, the cations which were found to give salts with [2 ] have red values more negative than —0.8 V. On the other hand, quantitative single-electron transfer has been observed from [2 ] to the heptaphenyltropylium ion which is relatively unstable p/fR+ —0.54 in methanol (Battiste and Barton, 1968) and E ed —0.30 V vs. Ag/Ag in acetonitrile (Kitagawa et al., 1992). 

Reduction of Ketones and Enones. Although the method has been supplanted for synthetic purposes by hydride donors, the reduction of ketones to alcohols in ammonia or alcohols provides mechanistic insight into dissolving-metal reductions. The outcome of the reaction of ketones with metal reductants is determined by the fate of the initial ketyl radical formed by a single-electron transfer. The radical intermediate, depending on its structure and the reaction medium, may be protonated, disproportionate, or dimerize.209 In hydroxylic solvents such as liquid ammonia or in the presence of an alcohol, the protonation process dominates over dimerization. Net reduction can also occur by a disproportionation process. As is discussed in Section 5.6.3, dimerization can become the dominant process under conditions in which protonation does not occur rapidly. 

In an anionic/radical domino process an interim single-electron transfer (SET) from the intermediate of the first anionic reaction must occur. Thus, a radical is generated which can enter into subsequent reactions. Although a SET corresponds to a formal change of the oxidation state, the transformations will be treated as typical radical reactions. To date, only a few true anionic/radical domino transformations have been reported in the literature. However, some interesting examples of related one-pot procedures have been established where formation of the radical occurs after the anionic step by addition of TEMPO or Bu3SnH. A reason for the latter approach are the problems associated with the switch between anionic and radical reaction patterns, which often do not permit the presence of a radical generator until the initial anionic reaction step is finished. 

First, we examined the efficiency of the initiation process. A solution of buthyllithium was added to a THF solution of 7 at -70°C. The color of the solution turned to red immediately and a strong ESR signal was observed with a well separated hyperfme structure. The observed radical species was identified as the anion radical of 2-butyl-l,l,2,2-tetramethyldisilanyl-substituted biphenyl by computational simulation as well as by comparison with the spectra of a model compound. The anion radical should be a product of a single electron transfer (SET) process from buthyllithium to the monomer. Since no polymeric product was obtained under the above-mentioned conditions, the SET process is an undesired side reaction of the initiation and one of the reasons why more higher molecular weight polymer was observed than expected. ... 

Therefore, it has been considered that the formation of the dimer involves a mechanism different to the simple head-to-head radical coupling of the parent monomer. As suggested by the authors, it is likely that the overall mechanistic sequence is initiated by the radical-anion 472 of compound 469 formed by a single electron transfer (SET) process, which is the first stage of the bromine-lithium exchange (Scheme 68) [128],... 

Reductive Cross-Coupling of Nitrones Recently, reductive coupling of nitrones with various cyclic and acyclic ketones has been carried out electrochem-ically with a tin electrode in 2-propanol (527-529). The reaction mechanism is supposed to include the initial formation of a ketyl radical anion (294), resulting from a single electron transfer (SET) process, with its successive addition to the C=N nitrone bond (Scheme 2.112) (Table 2.9). 

The reactions of sodium dimethyl and diisopropyl phosphite with 4-nitrobenzyl chloride, 9-chlorofluorene, and diphenylchloromethane provided information that supported the proposed reaction mechanism. The RaPO anion acts towards an arylmethyl chloride as a base and abstracts a proton to form a carbanion, which can then participate in single-electron transfer processes to produce carbon-centred radicals. ... 

According to this sequence, formation of cis- and trani -stilbenes is preceded by formation of a magnetosensitive ion-radical by a singlet-triplet conversion. This means that spin polarization must be observed in cis- and trani -stilbene, and the isomerization rate must depend on the intensity of the magnetic held. These predictions were conhrmed experimentally (Lyoshina et al. 1980). Hence, the ion-radical route for trans —f cis conversion is the main one under photoirradiation conditions. Until now, the mechanisms assumed for such processes have involved energy transfer and did not take into account single-electron transfer. The electron transfer takes place in reality and makes the... 

The solution of the riddle posed by Kornblum s dark Sj l reaction is as follows. The nucleophile does work as a single electron-transfer initiator of the chain process. However, the mechanism of initiation does not consist of a mere outer-sphere electron transfer from the nucleophile to form the anion-radical of the substrate. Rather, it involves a dissociative process in which electron transfer and bond breaking are concerted (Costentin and Saveant 2000). Scheme b at the beginning of Section 7.8 illustrates the concerted mechanism. 

Steric constraints dictate that reactions of organohalides catalysed by square planar nickel complexes cannot involve a cw-dialkyl or diaryl Ni(iii) intermediate. The mechanistic aspects of these reactions have been studied using a macrocyclic tetraaza-ligand [209] while quantitative studies on primary alkyl halides used Ni(n)(salen) as catalyst source [210]. One-electron reduction affords Ni(l)(salen) which is involved in the catalytic cycle. Nickel(l) interacts with alkyl halides by an outer sphere single electron transfer process to give alkyl radicals and Ni(ii). The radicals take part in bimolecular reactions of dimerization and disproportionation, react with added species or react with Ni(t) to form the alkylnickel(n)(salen). Alkanes are also fonned by protolysis of the alkylNi(ii). 

The cyclization process can be promoted by using a single electron transfer mediator. Electron transfer from the mediator generates the carbonyl radical-ion away from the electrode surface so that cyclization can occur before there is opportunity for a second electron transfer. Thus reduction of 16, R = Me, in dimethyl-forraaraide at mercury in the presence of tetraethylammonium fluoroborate leads only to conversion of the ketone function to the secondaiy alcohol. However addition of a low concentration of N,N-dimethyl pyrrolidinium fluoroborate alters the course of reaction and the cyclized tertiary alcohol is now formed. This pyrrolidinium salt is reduced at -2.7 V vs. see at mercuiy to yield a complex DMP(Hg5) which is thought to act as a single electron transfer mediator [94]. Cyclization can... 

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