Synthetically Useful Radical Substitution Reactions

Most synthetically useful radical addition reactions pair nucleophilic radicals with electron poor alkenes. In this pairing, the most important FMO interaction is that of the SOMO of the radical with the LUMO of the alkene.36 Thus, many radicals are nucleophilic (despite being electron deficient) because they have relatively high-lying SOMOs. Several important classes of nucleophilic radicals are shown in Scheme IS. These include heteroatom-substituted radicals, vinyl, aryl and acyl radicals, and most importantly, alkyl radicals. 

The reaction of nucleophilic radicals, under acidic conditions, with heterocycies containing an imine unit is by far the most important and synthetically useful radical substitution of heterocyclic compounds. Pyri-dines, quinolines, diazines, imidazoles, benzothiazoles and purines are amongst the systems that have been shown to react with a wide range of nucleophilic radicals, selectively at positions a and y to the nitrogen, with replacement of hydrogen. Acidic conditions are essential because A-protonation of the heterocycle... 

Substitution reactions involving aryl radicals have been quite important in synthesis. The reason, in part, is that the resistance of aryl halides and related compounds to nucleophilic substitution greatly restricts the utility of Sn2 processes for synthetic purposes. Radical substitution reactions can be carried out with any of the sources of aryl radicals mentioned in Section 12.1.4, but acylnitrosoanilines and aryl diazonium compounds have been most widely used in synthesis. The decomposition of acylnitrosoanilines is a relatively complex process. The principal points of evidence supporting the mechanism shown below have been briefly reviewed ... 

Despite the enormous importance of dienes as monomers in the polymer field, the use of radical addition reactions to dienes for synthetic purposes has been rather limited. This is in contrast to the significant advances radical based synthetic methodology has witnessed in recent years. The major problems with the synthetic use of radical addition reactions to polyenes are a consequence of the nature of radical processes in general. Most synthetically useful radical reactions are chain reactions. In its most simple form, the radical chain consists of only two chain-carrying steps as shown in Scheme 1 for the addition of reagent R—X to a substituted polyene. In the first of these steps, addition of radical R. (1) to the polyene results in the formation of adduct polyenyl radical 2, in which the unpaired spin density is delocalized over several centers. In the second step, reaction of 2 with reagent R—X leads to the regeneration of radical 1 and the formation of addition products 3a and 3b. Radical 2 can also react with a second molecule of diene which leads to the formation of polyene telomers. 

This reaction may be used to illustrate the mechanistic steps that occur in a radical substitution reaction. Its synthetic value is strictly limited, because, as we will see, there is little control over the product distribution. Furthermore, the reaction tends to proceed explosively, which limits its popularity. 

The synthetically useful ring closure reaction (intramolecular cyclization) of 1 -fo-chloropheny 1 (naphthalene (485) gives fluoranthene (486) in 72% chemical yield (Scheme 6.236).1342 This reaction proceeds via initial homolysis of the C—Cl bond, followed by radical aromatic substitution. 

Aromatic rings are moderately reactive toward addition of free radicals (see Part A, Section 12.2) and certain synthetically useful substitution reactions involve free radical substitution. One example is the synthesis of biaryls.175... 

Allenylcobaloximes, e.g. 26, react with bromotrichloromethane, carbon tetrachloride, trichloroacetonitrile, methyl trichloroacetate and bromoform to afford functionalized terminal alkynes in synthetically useful yields (Scheme 11.10). The nature of the products formed in this transformation points to a y-specific attack of polyhaloethyl radicals to the allenyl group, with either a concerted or a stepwise formation of coba-loxime(II) 27 and the substituted alkyne [62, 63]. Cobalt(II) radical 27 abstracts a bromine atom (from BrCCl3) or a chlorine atom (e.g. from C13CCN), which leads to a regeneration of the chain-carrying radical. It is worth mentioning that the reverse reaction, i.e. the addition of alkyl radicals to stannylmethyl-substituted alkynes, has been applied in the synthesis of, e.g., allenyl-substituted thymidine derivatives [64],... 

The absolute rate constants for a variety of cyclizafions have been measured. In particular, the rates of decarbonylafion of a variety of alkoxycarbonyl radicals have been obtained by LFP studies on PTOC oxalates." From these data, rate constants for the reduction of alkoxycarbonyl radicals with BusSnH and their 5-exo cyclizafions were determined. Whereas cyclizations were slightly faster than the analogous alkyl radical 5-exo cyclizations, their reactions with BusSnH were 10 times slower, indicating that cyclization processes should be synthetically useful. The rate constants for the cyclization of a number of variously substituted a-amide radicals have been determined together with their relative reactivities towards reduction using BusSnH (Scheme 16). Cyclizations of secondary-based radicals were found to be similar to the corresponding alkyl-substituted radicals. In addition, the rate constants were subject to minor electronic... 

By far the most generally useful synthetic application of allyltributyltin is in the complementary set of transition metal- and radical-mediated substitution reactions. When the halide substrates are benzylic, allylic, aromatic or acyl, transition metal catalysis is usually the method of choice for allyl transfer from tin to carbon. When the halide (or halide equivalent) substrate is aliphatic or alicyclic, radical chain conditions are appropriate, as g-hydrogen elimination is generally not a problem in these cases. 

Chromic acid oxidation is a third synthetically useful free radical or, at least, free radical-like reaction for the substitution of diamonoid hydrocarbons. While... 

Russell and coworkers62,109,110 have shown that simple enolates undergo free radical-chain nucleophilic substitution reactions with a-chloronitroalkanes by an SRN2 rather than an S l mechanism, and competition with a chain dimerization process was also observed. Using two equivalents of the enolate anion in the reaction allows complete elimination of HN02 to yield a,/i-unsaturated ketones. The synthetic potential of these reactions has also been reported110. 

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