Radical substitution, heteroaromatic

Free-Radical Substitutions of Heteroaromatic Compounds R. O. C. Norman and G. K. Radda... 

In Volume 2, in the chapter on Free-Radical Substitutions of Heteroaromatic Compounds by R. O. C. Norman and G. K. Radda, p. 166, Table VI, 6-R-Acridine should read 9-R-Acridine p. 167, lines 17 and 18, 6-phenylacridine should read 9-phenyl-acridine... 

Substantially fewer studies have been published for the reactions of alkyl-substituted heteroaromatics, although these compounds also have implications for coal combustion. Several references discussed in the previous section contain information on methylated heteroaromatic rings. Mackie and coworkers completed experimental and theoretical studies of the pyrolytic decomposition of 2-picoline (2-methylpyridine). They concluded that decomposition proceeded mainly through o-pyridinyl and 2-picolinyl radicals. The former tended to decompose predominantly to yield cyanoacetylene, while the latter favored decomposition to a cyano-functionalized cyclopentadiene (Fig. 16). 

Aromatic substitution reactions are often complicated and multistep processes. A correlation, however, in many cases can be found between the charged attacking species and the electron density distribution in the molecule attacked during electrophilic and nucleoph c substitution. No such correlation is expected in radical substitution where the attacking particles are neutral, rather a correlation between the reactivities of separate bonds and a free valency index of the bond order. This allows the prediction of the most reactive bonds. Such an approach has been used by researchers who applied quantum calculations to estimate the reactivities of the isomeric thienothiophenes and to compare them with thiophene or naphthalene. " Until recently quantum methods for studying reactivities of aromatics and heteroaromatics were developed mainly in the r-electron approximation (see, for example, Streitwieser and Zahradnik ). The M orbitals of a sulfur atom were shown not to contribute substantially to calculations of dipole moments, polarographic reduction potentials, spin-density distribution, ... 

Minisci-type substitution is one of the most useful reactions for the synthesis of alkyl- and acyl-substituted heteroaromatics. The acyl radicals are formed by the redox decomposition from aldehyde and /-butyl hydroperoxide or by silver-catalyzed decarboxylation of a a-keto acid with persulfate. Synthesis of acylpyrazines 70 as ant pheromones are achieved by this methodology using trialkyl-substituted pyrazines 69 with the acyl radicals generated from aldehydes or a-keto acids (Equation 10) <1996J(P1)2345>. The latter radicals are highly effective for the acylation. Homolytic alkylation of 6-chloro-2-cyanopyrazine 71 is performed by silver-catalyzed decarboxylation of alkanoic acids to provide 5-alkyl-substituted pyrazines 72 (Scheme 18) <1996CCC1109>. 

Halogen functionality in heteroaromatics undergoes a variety of transformations by nucleophilic substitution metal-halogen exchange, radical substitution, and cross coupling reactions. The connecting link between these processes and the DoM reaction is therefore a powerful tool in heterocyclic chemistry. 

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