Super-electrophiles with 4,6-dinitrobenzofuroxan

Some interesting reactions of the super-electrophile 4,6-dinitrobenzofuroxan (151) with aryloxide ions have been reported 130 (151) with phenoxide ion gives the O-bonded ff-adduct (152) which has been fully characterized for the first time. On... 

There have been several studies utilizing the ability of 4,6-dinitrobenzofuroxan (DNBF) to act as a super-electrophile. It has been shown that the initial product of its reaction with phenoxide ions is the O-bonded adduct (29), although this rearranges to give die C-bonded adduct.117 The reaction of DNBF with ethyl vinyl ether yields a dihydrooxazine A -oxidc cycloadduct as a mixture of two diastereoisomers, and in the presence of excess ether a di-adduct (30) is formed.118 Rate constants have been reported for the reaction of DNBF with 3-methoxythiophene in DMSO-water mixtures. The reaction results in a er-adduct which is the product of Se-At substitution in the thiophene, and the results were used to probe the carbon basicity of the thiophene derivative.119... 

S Ar reactions have been studied mostly with dinitro and trinitro activated benzenes. Recently, the aniline reactions with the highly activated super-electrophile, 4,6-dinitrobenzofuroxan (DNBF), have attracted considerable attention due to its ambident reactivity114. In acidic solvent, where aniline is almost completely protonated, the reaction by nitrogen attack is inhibited. However, a carbon-carbon bonded adduct is slowly formed by reaction at the 4-position of the aniline. Kinetic studies in H2O-DMSO have shown that this adduct formation involves two steps a carbon-carbon bond formation ( a), followed by elimination of a proton, Kiep (vide infra). The reactions of anilines with DNBF in DMSO have shown that the N-bonded adduct (a-N) is kinetically preferred, but the C-bonded adduct (a-C), formed in equilibrium with its deprotonated form, is the thermodynamically favored product (Scheme 14). 

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