Radical in autoxidation

Because of the importance of hydroperoxy radicals in autoxidation processes, their reactions with hydrocarbons arc well known. However, reactions with monomers have not been widely studied. Absolute rate constants for addition to common monomers are in the range 0.09-3 M"1 s"1 at 40 °C. These are substantially lower than kL for other oxygen-centered radicals (Table 3.7). 454... 

At elevated temperature alkyl hydroperoxides undergo thermal decomposition to alcohols [Eqs. (9.9)—(9.11)]. This decomposition serves as a major source of free radicals in autoxidation. Because of side reactions, such as p scission of alkylperoxy radicals, this process is difficult to control. Further transformation of the alkoxy... 

Possibly the most important reaction of the sulfite radical in autoxidation systems is with molecular oxygen. The reaction has been suggested to lead either to 02 or to the peroxy radical SO5... 

Thermal decomposition of alkyl hydroperoxides represents a major source of free radicals in autoxidation reactions. Unless hydrocarbons are rigorously purified before use, the trace amounts of hydroperoxides present can lead to erroneous results in kinetic studies, especially when there are no added initiators. 

The important features of autoxidation are auto-catalytic and free radical chain reactions. The rate of oxidation is initially slow and increases as the reaction progresses. However, once autoxidation is initiated, the reaction continues until the reaction substrate or catalytic factor becomes extinct. In short, unsaturated lipids undergo three reaction phases initiation, propagation, and termination. The participation of reactive oxygen radicals in autoxidation reactions is summarized in the following reaction steps. 

Cupric salts have not proven to be particularly useful in hydrocarbon oxidation. They do, however, exhibit interesting characteristics. Cupric ion has a singular ability to compete with oxygen for carbon-centered radicals in autoxidation (compare eq. (32), where X can be carboxylate, halide, etc., with eq. (3)) ... 

Hydroperoxides have been obtained from the autoxidation of alkanes, aralkanes, alkenes, ketones, enols, hydrazones, aromatic amines, amides, ethers, acetals, alcohols, and organomineral compounds, eg, Grignard reagents (10,45). In autoxidations involving hydrazones, double-bond migration occurs with the formation of hydroperoxy—azo compounds via free-radical chain processes (10,59) (eq. 20). 

The peioxy free radicals can abstract hydrogens from other activated methylene groups between double bonds to form additional hydroperoxides and generate additional free radicals like (1). Thus a chain reaction is estabhshed resulting in autoxidation. The free radicals participate in these reactions, and also react with each other resulting in cross-linking by combination. 

A question which inevitably arises on surveying the enormous sucess of the Amoco catalyst is why the combination Co/Mn/Br in acetic acid In order to answer this question we must first examine the mechanism of free radical chain autoxidations of alkylaromatics (ref. 4). 

HARDWICK W F, KALYANARAMAN B, PRITSOS C A and PARDINI R S (1988) The production of hydroxyl and semiquinone free radicals during the autoxidation of redox active flavonoids, in Simic MG, Taylor K A, Ward J F and von Sonntag C Oxygen Radicals in Biology and Medicine, Plenum Press, New York, 149-52. 

Studies on carotenoid autoxidation have been performed with metals. Gao and Kispert proposed a mechanism by which P-carotene is transformed into 5,8-per-oxide-P Carotene, identified by LC-MS and H NMR, when it is in presence of ferric iron (0.2 eq) and air in methylene chloride. The P-carotene disappeared after 10 min of reaction and the mechanism implies oxidation of the carotenoid with ferric iron to produce the carotenoid radical cation and ferrous iron followed by the reaction of molecular oxygen on the carotenoid radical cation. Radical-initiated autoxidations of carotenoids have also been studied using either radical generators like or NBS.35... 

This oxidative process has been successful with ketones,244 esters,245 and lactones.246 Hydrogen peroxide can also be used as the oxidant, in which case the alcohol is formed directly.247 The mechanisms for the oxidation of enolates by oxygen is a radical chain autoxidation in which the propagation step involves electron transfer from the carbanion to a hydroperoxy radical.248... 

Since alkoxy radicals are known precursors to chain scission in autoxidation (24), the "hot" alkoxy radicals formed as shown should undergo facile chain scission or fragmentation. The chain scission is illustrated for the alkoxy radical derived from either the ethylene or propylene monomer unit in EPM ... 

Abstraction of one of these hydrogen atoms produces a new radical (Lin ) that can react with oxygen in autoxidation. 

We propose that the first step in the formation of quinones, as shown in Scheme 3 for BP, involves an electron transfer from the hydrocarbon to the activated cytochrome P-450-iron-oxygen complex. The generate nucleophilic oxygen atom of this complex would react at C-6 of BP in which the positive charge is appreciably localized. The 6-oxy-BP radical formed would then dissociate to leave the iron of cytochrome P-450 in the normal ferric state. Autoxidation of the 6-oxy-BP radical in which the spin density is localized mainly on the oxygen, C-l, C-3 and C-12 (19,20) would produce the three BP diones. 

Numerous autoxidation reactions of aliphatic and araliphatic hydrocarbons, ketones, and esters have been found to be accompanied by chemiluminescence (for reviews see D, p. 19 14>) generally of low intensity and quantum yield. This weak chemiluminescence can be measured by means of modern equipment, especially when fluorescers are used to transform the electronic excitation energy of the triplet carbonyl compounds formed as primary reaction products. It is therefore possible to use it for analytical purposes 35>, e.g. to measure the efficiency of inhibitors as well as initiators in autoxidation of polymer hydrocarbons 14), and in mechanistic studies of radical chain reactions. 

Chain generation in autoxidized ketones proceeds via the bimolecular reaction [4]. The BDE of the a-C—H bonds of the alkyl and benzyl ketones are higher than 330 kJ mol 1 and, therefore, the bimolecular reaction should prevail as the main reaction of radical generation (see Chapter 4). 

It has been proposed that a major source of oxygen radicals in sickle erythrocytes is mutant hemoglobin HbS. However, although HbS showed an accelerated autoxidation rate under in vitro conditions, its in vivo oxidative activity was not determined. Sheng et al. [401] suggested that the observed oxidation rate of HbS is exaggerated by adventitious iron. Dias-Da-Motta et al. [402] proposed that another source of enhanced superoxide production in sickle cells are monocytes in contrast, there is no difference in superoxide release by sickle... 

A one-electron oxidation study of quercetin (see structure below) and quercetin derivatives (rutin) by DPBH, CAN, or dioxygen in protic and aprotic solvents has shown that quercetin radicals quickly disproportionate to generate quercetin and produce a quinone. This quinone adds water molecules and is then degraded. Oligomerization might be a minor route in media of low water content. Oxidation of quercetin-serum albumin complex retarded water to the quercetin quinone. The role of the quercetin 3-OH was established as follows (1) allows the formation of jo-quinonoid compounds, quickly converted into solvent adducts which still react with one-electron oxidants, and (2) in its deprotonated form stabilizes radicals, allowing autoxidation to proceed under mild conditions. 

Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit autoxidation reactions by rapidly reacting with radical intermediates to form less-reactive radicals that are unable to continue the chain reaction. The chain reaction is effectively stopped, since the damaging radical becomes bound to the antioxidant. Thus, vitamin E (a-tocopherol) is used commercially to retard rancidity in fatty materials in food manufacturing. Its antioxidant effect is likely to arise by reaction with peroxyl radicals. These remove a hydrogen atom from the phenol group, generating a resonance-stabilized radical that does not propagate the radical reaction. Instead, it mops up further peroxyl radicals. In due course, the tocopheryl peroxide is hydrolysed to a-tocopherylquinone. 

Tphe original objectives of this work were to determine how much the relative reactivity of two hydrocarbons toward alkylperoxy radicals, R02, depends on the substituent R—, and whether there are any important abnormalities in co-oxidations of hydrocarbons other than the retardation effect first described by Russell (30). Two papers by Russell and Williamson (31, 32) have since answered the first objective qualitatively, but their work is unsatisfactory quantitatively. The several papers by Howard, Ingold, and co-workers (20, 21, 23, 24, 29) which appeared since this manuscript was first prepared have culminated (24) in a new and excellent method for a quantitative treatment of the first objective. The present paper has therefore been modified to compare, experimentally and theoretically, the different methods of measuring relative reactivities of hydrocarbons in autoxidations. It shows that large deviations from linear rate relations are unusual in oxidations of mixtures of hydrocarbons. 

The relations above seem to apply to ethers (31, 32, 33) as well as hydrocarbons. Oxidations of alcohols (33) and a few hydrocarbons (22) utilize as chain carriers HOo radicals which have high termination constants. We are now investigating the behavior of some alcohols, ketones, and esters in autoxidations. 

In the early stages of the autoxidation of chloroprene the amount of oxygen absorbed increased as the square of the time. This dependence on time is frequently observed in autoxidations and is an approximation to that expected for an oxidation of long chain length, initiated by the first-order decomposition of the peroxidic product and terminated by a bimolecular reaction of the propagating peroxy radicals. 

The structures in brackets are phosphoranyl radicals with nine electrons on phosphorus and are considered to be transient intermediates. The radical, R-, presumably represents some initiator fragment, but since the phosphoranyl radical in Reaction 11 is symmetric, R exchanges can (and do) take place. In this regard, triaryl phosphites autoxidize much more slowly, and it has been suggested (3) that here phenoxy radicals are generated via another exchange (Reaction 13) and then terminate chains. 

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