SUBJECTS aromatic compounds

When an aromatic compound having an aliphatic side chain is subjected to oxidation, fission of the side chain occurs between the first and second carbon atoms from the benzene ring, the first carbon atom thus becoming part of a carboxyl ( -COOH) group. For example ... 

Sulfonic acids may be subjected to a variety of transformation conditions, as shown in Figure 2. Sulfonic acids can be used to produce sulfonic anhydrides by treatment with a dehydrating agent, such as thionyl chloride [7719-09-7J. This transformation is also accomphshed using phosphoms pentoxide [1314-56-3J. Sulfonic anhydrides, particulady aromatic sulfonic anhydrides, are often produced in situ during sulfonation with sulfur trioxide. Under dehydrating conditions, sulfonic acids react with substituted aromatic compounds to give sulfone derivatives. 

Reduction of a conjugated enone to a saturated ketone requires the addition of two electrons and two protons. As in the case of the Birch reduction of aromatic compounds, the exact order of these additions has been the subject of study and speculation. Barton proposed that two electrons add initially giving a dicarbanion of the structure (49) which then is protonated rapidly at the / -position by ammonia, forming the enolate salt (50) of the saturated ketone. Stork later suggested that the radical-anion (51), a one electron... 

Under Lewis-acid-catalyzed conditions, electron-rich arenes can be added to alkenes to generate Friedel-Crafts reaction products. This subject will be discussed in detail in Chapter 7, on aromatic compounds. However, it is interesting to note that direct arylation of styrene with benzene in aqueous CF3CO2H containing H2PtCl6 yielded 30-5% zram-PhCH CHR via the intermediate PhPt(H20)Cl4.157 Hydropheny-lation of olefins can be catalyzed by an Ir(III) complex.158... 

The allene host 20 exhibits high inclusion selectivity in competition experiments using mixtures of solvents 26). In fact, preliminary results indicate that it can be used for the separation of constitutional isomers, of homologues, and of aliphatic from alicyclic or aromatic compounds (Table 3). Other derivatives of the allene, e.g. 21, are also functional as host molecules, and are currently being subjected to further investigations 22). 

Boylan and Tripp [76] determined hydrocarbons in seawater extracts of crude oil and crude oil fractions. Samples of polluted seawater and the aqueous phases of simulated samples (prepared by agitation of oil-kerosene mixtures and unpolluted seawater to various degrees) were extracted with pentane. Each extract was subjected to gas chromatography on a column (8 ft x 0.06 in) packed with 0.2% of Apiezon L on glass beads (80-100 mesh) and temperatures programmed from 60 °C to 220 °C at 4°C per minute. The components were identified by means of ultraviolet and mass spectra. Polar aromatic compounds in the samples were extracted with methanol-dichlorome-thane (1 3). 

Reduction of aromatic compounds to dihydro derivatives by dissolved metals in liquid ammonia (Birch reduction) is one of the fundamental reactions in organic chemistry308. When benzene derivatives are subjected to this reduction, cyclohexa-1,4-dienes are formed. The 1,4-dienes obtained from the reduction isomerize to more useful 1,3-dienes under protic conditions. A number of syntheses of natural products have been devised where the Birch reduction of a benzenoid compound to a cyclohex-1,3-diene and converting this intermediate in Diels-Alder fasion to polycyclic products is involved (equation 186)308f h. 

A relatively unique type of reactive metabolite is carbene, i.e., a divalent carbon, which is a proposed intermediate in the oxidation of methylene dioxy-containing compounds. A methylenedioxy group in aromatic compounds is subject to O-dealkylation, e.g., 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, as shown in Figure 8.20. The process generates formic acid and the catechol metabolite as final products. However, in the course of the reaction, a... 

It must be reiterated that, whereas aromatic azo compounds are relatively stable thermally and can be subjected to typical reactions of aromatic compounds [67, 68a, 88], the aliphatic azo compounds may be substantially less stable thermally. Aliphatic azo compounds, such as oc,a -azobis(isobutyro-nitrile), do decompose on heating and are used as free radical sources. Hence adequate safety precautions must be taken in handling them. This, by the way, does not mean that aliphatic azo compounds have not been subjected to distillation and to vapor phase chromatography. Many have been distilled and, as will be pointed out in a subsequent section, their preparation by isomerization of hydrazone depends on a distillation technique. 

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) are two series of tricyclic aromatic compounds which exhibit similar physical and chemical properties. Some of these compounds have extraordinary toxic properties and were the subject of much concern. They have been involved in accidents like the Yusho accident in Japan 1968 l 9 the intoxication at horse arenas in Missouri, USA in 1971 (2.) and the accident near Seveso, Italy in 1976 (3.). The chemical structures and the numbering of these hazardous compounds are given below. 

Other fluoroaromatic compounds such as fluorobenzene, trifluorotoluene and their derivatives may be elaborated to more complex aromatic compounds by directed metallation reactions (in itself, the subject of another large review [322-324]). Wakselman and co-workers described the conversion of 3-tri-fluoromethylphenol into 2-(trifluoromethyl)-l,3-cyclopentadienone, an intermediate they used to synthesise angularly trifluoromethylated steroid analogues [325]. The reaction, which involved an interesting ring contraction reaction, occurred with rather low efficiency (Eq. 122) [326]. 

To test the necessity of aromatic n electrons in the epimerization reaction, indolo[2,3-a]quinolizidines with different substituents at C-10 were prepared [14]. Subjecting these compounds to epimerization conditions (TFA, 90°C, 60 min) gave the following results, Table 1. 

The methods of preparation which are considered in this chapter involve, principally, ring-forming reactions leading to a restricted and subjective selection of various typical and interesting heterocyclic systems. These cyclic systems may be classified as (a) saturated or partly unsaturated heterocyclic, or (b) heteroaromatic, according to their physical, chemical and spectroscopic properties and to the reactivity of the functional groups attached to the ring atoms. In this way such properties and reactivity are broadly related to those of alicyclic and aromatic compounds. 

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