Reaction of azo compounds

The most noteworthy reaction of azo-compounds is their behaviour on reduction. Prolonged reduction first saturates the azo group, giving the hydrazo derivative (C NH-NH C), and then breaks the NH NH linkage, with the formation of two primary amine molecules. If method (1) has been employed to prepare the azo-compound, these two primary amines will therefore be respectively (a) the original amine from which the diazonium salt was prepared, and (6) the amino derivative of the amine or phenol with which the diazonium salt was coupled. For example, amino-azobenzene on complete reduction gives one equivalent of aniline, and one of p-phenylene diamine, NHaCeH NH benzene-azo-2-naphthoI similarly gives one equivalent of aniline and one of... 

Carbenes insert into the N=N bond of azo compounds and the unstable adducts rearrange spontaneously to produce benzopyrazoles (e.g. Scheme 7.31) [37,38], The reactions of azo compounds with dichlorocarbene is also catalysed by tertiary amines [36] and, under such conditions, azoxyarenes produce the benzimidazoles, presum-... 

Block Copolymers from Prepolymers Synthesised by the Reaction of Azo Compounds with Functionalized Polymers... 

The group of Yamamoto reported the catalytic enantioselective hetero-Diels-Alder reactions of azo compound 209 and dienes 208 (Scheme 2.54).87 In a ligand screening the use of BINAP (87) gave higher conversion and enantioselectivity than both Segphos (211) and Difluorphos (212). Interestingly, the optimal silver... 

Photoaddition reactions of azo compounds and photochemical para additions to benzenes are both rare so formation of the adduct (28) from N-methyltriazolinedione and benzene is an unusual process on bodi counts (Hamrock and Sheridan). In the meta-cvcloaddition of alkenes to benzenes, there are both theoretical and experimental grounds for believing that the Si benzene undergoes... 

MOLECULAR INCLUSION REACTIONS OF AZO COMPOUNDS WITH a-CYCLODEXTRIN... 

Lewis, G.E., Photochemical reactions of azo compounds. 1. Spectroscopic studies of the conjugate acids of cis- and frans-azobenzene, /. Org. Chem., 25, 2193—2195,1960. 

We have two cases to consider here. If the reactants are nonpolar and the products are nonpolar, it is a reasonable hypothesis that the transition state also is nonpolar. In this case, the Hughes-Ingold hypothesis (Section 8.1) leads us to expect that the solvent will have little effect on the rate. The decomposition of azo compounds provides an example. The reaction is... 

While the rate of azo-compound decomposition shows only a small dependence on solvent viscosity, the amount of cage reaction (and hence f) varies dramatically with the viscosity of the reaction medium and hence with factors that determine the viscosity (conversion, temperature, solvent, etc.) 1... 

These conditions severely limit the range of initiators and monomers that can be used and require that attention to reaction conditions is of paramount importance. The relatively low incidence of side reactions associated with the use of azo-compounds (Section 3.3.1) has led to these initiators being favored for this application. Functional azo compounds used in telechelic syntheses include 9,19c> 198 10l99,2ml and ll20l,2<12. The acylazidc end groups formed with initiator 11 may be thermally transformed to isocyanate ends.201 2t, ... 

Aromatic diazonium compounds became industrially very important after Griess (1866a) discovered in 1861/62 the azo coupling reaction, by which the first azo dye was made by C. A. Martius in 1865 (see review by Smith, 1907). This is still the most important industrial reaction of diazo compounds. Hantzsch and Traumann (1888) discovered that a heteroaromatic amine, namely 2-aminothiazole, can also be diazotized. Heteroaromatic diazonium compounds were, however, only used for azo dyes much later, to a small extent in the 1930 s, but intensively since the 1950 s (see Zollinger, 1991, Ch. 7). 

In 1988 Masoud and Ishak demonstrated that ( -arenediazo methyl ethers do not react with 2-naphthol in dry organic solvents such as dioxan, ethanol, 2-propanol, but only in the presence of water. The reactions are catalyzed by hydrochloric acid (even in the absence of water). Under such conditions almost quantitative yields of azo compounds were obtained. A careful and extensive kinetic investigation of the HCl-catalyzed dediazoniation of substituted benzenediazo methyl ethers, varying the HC1 concentration and the diazo ether/2-naphthol ratio (the latter either absent or in large excess), and comparing the observed rate constants with Hammett s acidity functions for dioxane and ethanol (see Rochester, 1970) indicated the mechanism shown in Schemes 12-8 to 12-10 (DE = diazo methyl ether, D+ = diazonium ion). 

A completely different method of synthesis of azo compounds from diazonium salts involving radical intermediates was found by Citterio et al. (1980, 1982 c), Cit-terio and Minisci (1982), and Fontana et al. (1988). It is a new general synthesis of arylazoalkanes based on the addition of an alkyl radical to an arenediazonium ion followed by reduction of the intermediate azo radical cation adduct by a metal salt (Scheme 12-80). The preferred source for the alkyl radical R in this reaction is an alkyl iodide, which gives rise to alkyl radicals cleanly in the presence of an arenediazonium salt and a Ti3+ or Fe2+ salt as in Scheme 12-81. The overall stoichiometric equation is therefore as given in Scheme 12-82. The yields vary between 36% and 79% (with respect to alkyl iodide). 

In the stepwise decomposition of azo-compounds such as 4, products can arise from reactions within the primary diazenyl-alkyl radical pair or from the secondary radical pair produced by loss of nitrogen from the... 

It has already been known that the reaction of primary amines with alkaline hypobromite gives nitriles, and the reaction of hydrazo compounds with bromine affords azo compounds. Recently, we also found that the reaction of primary amines and hydrazo compounds with BTMA Br3 in aq. sodium hydroxide or in water gave corresponding nitriles and azo compounds in satisfactory yields, respectively (Fig. 27) (ref. 35). 

There is a discussion of some of the sources of radicals for mechanistic studies in Section 11.1.4 of Part A. Some of the reactions discussed there, particularly the use of azo compounds and peroxides as initiators, are also important in synthetic chemistry. One of the most useful sources of free radicals in preparative chemistry is the reaction of halides with stannyl radicals. Stannanes undergo hydrogen abstraction reactions and the stannyl radical can then abstract halogen from the alkyl group. For example, net addition of an alkyl group to a reactive double bond can follow halogen abstraction by a stannyl radical. 

This review has attempted to bring together the reactions of ADC compounds which are useful in heterocyclic synthesis, and to develop the general trends that have so far appeared in their reactivity. Thus, in general, ADC compounds are more powerful dienophiles than the corresponding C=C compounds, particularly when the azo bond is in the cis configuration. However, they are also more reactive as enophiles and electrophiles, and may react as such even in cases where Diels-Alder (or other) cycloaddition is formally possible, and where the corresponding C=C compounds do react as dienophiles. Nevertheless, despite this added complication, the major use of ADC compounds has been as dienophiles in the synthesis of pyridazines... 

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