Thallium mechanism

Mechanical treatment alone may be sufficient to induce significant decomposition such processes are termed mechanochemical or tribo-chemical reactions and the topic has been reviewed [385,386]. In some brittle crystalline solids, for example sodium and lead azides [387], fracture can result in some chemical change of the substance. An extreme case of such behaviour is detonation by impact [232,388]. Fox [389] has provided evidence of a fracture initiation mechanism in the explosions of lead and thallium azide crystals, rather than the participation of a liquid or gas phase intermediate. The processes occurring in solids during the action of powerful shock waves have been reviewed by Dremin and Breusov [390]. 

The reaction between acyl halides and alcohols or phenols is the best general method for the preparation of carboxylic esters. It is believed to proceed by a 8 2 mechanism. As with 10-8, the mechanism can be S l or tetrahedral. Pyridine catalyzes the reaction by the nucleophilic catalysis route (see 10-9). The reaction is of wide scope, and many functional groups do not interfere. A base is frequently added to combine with the HX formed. When aqueous alkali is used, this is called the Schotten-Baumann procedure, but pyridine is also frequently used. Both R and R may be primary, secondary, or tertiary alkyl or aryl. Enolic esters can also be prepared by this method, though C-acylation competes in these cases. In difficult cases, especially with hindered acids or tertiary R, the alkoxide can be used instead of the alcohol. Activated alumina has also been used as a catalyst, for tertiary R. Thallium salts of phenols give very high yields of phenolic esters. Phase-transfer catalysis has been used for hindered phenols. Zinc has been used to couple... 

Mercuration of aromatic compounds can be accomplished with mercuric salts, most often Hg(OAc)2 ° to give ArHgOAc. This is ordinary electrophilic aromatic substitution and takes place by the arenium ion mechanism (p. 675). ° Aromatic compounds can also be converted to arylthallium bis(trifluoroacetates), ArTl(OOCCF3)2, by treatment with thallium(III) trifluoroacetate in trifluoroace-tic acid. ° These arylthallium compounds can be converted to phenols, aryl iodides or fluorides (12-28), aryl cyanides (12-31), aryl nitro compounds, or aryl esters (12-30). The mechanism of thallation appears to be complex, with electrophilic and electron-transfer mechanisms both taking place. 

The mechanism of oxidation probably involves in most cases the initial formation of a glycol (15-35) or cyclic ester,and then further oxidation as in 19-7. In line with the electrophilic attack on the alkene, triple-bonds are more resistant to oxidation than double bonds. Terminal triple-bond compounds can be cleaved to carboxylic acids (RC=CHRCOOH) with thallium(III) nitrate or with [bis(trifluoroacetoxy)iodo]pentafluorobenzene, that is, C6F5l(OCOCF3)2, among other reagents. 

The mechanisms of these reactions are presumably analogous to those of the Pr6vost and Woodward-Prevost reactions. In the first step of the reaction of iodine and thallium(I) acetate with cyclohexene in both parts A and B of this procedure, trans-2-iodocyclohexyl acetate is formed. The second equivalent of thal-lium(I) acetate scavenges iodide ion during formation of the 1,3-... 

A simple, high-yield procedure for the conversion of ArTlXj into ArjTlX compounds has recently been described 90). This symmetrization reaction, the mechanism of which is not known, can be effected by treatment of the ArTlX2 compound either with triethyl phosphite or with hot aqueous acetone. As a wide variety of ArTlXj compounds can now be easily prepared by electrophilic thallation of aromatic substrates with thallium(III) trifluoroacetate (q. v.), symmetrization represents the method of choice for the preparation of the majority of ArjTlX compounds. Only about twenty mixed compounds, RR TIX, have been prepared so far, and the only general synthetic procedure available consists of a disproportionation reaction between an RTIX2 species and another organometallic reagent [e.g., Eqs. (5)-(7)]. 

It has been reported that photolysis of arylthallium ditrifluoroacetates in benzene suspension results in replacement of the thallium substituent by a phenyl group (i.e., phenylation) to give unsymmetrical biphenyls in excellent yield (152) this reaction is summarized in Section III,C. An analogous reaction occurs upon photolysis of diarylthallium trifluoroacetates in benzene suspension unsymmetrical biphenyls are formed in comparable yield (40-95%). The mechanism of this conversion is undoubtedly similar to that... 

Yields in the above reactions can often be improved by the addition of 1 mole of triphenylphosphine directly to the trifluoroacetic acid solution of the reactants immediately before final work-up. It would appear that the triphenylphosphine functions as a scavenger for TTFA released in the metal-metal exchange reaction, thus protecting the final phenol from further electrophilic thallation and/or oxidation. Validation of the metal-metal exchange mechanism was obtained indirectly by isolation and characterization of an ArTlX2/LTTFA complex directly from the reaction mixture. NMR analysis revealed that this complex still possessed an intact aryl-thallium bond, indicating that it was probably the precursor to the transmetallation products, an aryllead tristrifluoroacetate and TTFA. 

Monoalkylthallium(III) compounds can be prepared easily and rapidly by treatment of olefins with thallium(III) salts, i.e., oxythallation (66). In marked contrast to the analogous oxymercuration reaction (66), however, where treatment of olefins with mercury(II) salts results in formation of stable organomercurials, the monoalkylthallium(III) derivatives obtained from oxythallation are in the vast majority of cases spontaneously unstable, and cannot be isolated under the reaction conditions employed. Oxythallation adducts have been isolated on a number of occasions (61, 71,104,128), but the predominant reaction pathway which has been observed in oxythallation reactions is initial formation of an alkylthallium(III) derivative and subsequent rapid decomposition of this intermediate to give products derived by oxidation of the organic substrate and simultaneous reduction of the thallium from thallium(III) to thallium(I). The ease and rapidity with which these reactions occur have stimulated interest not only in the preparation and properties of monoalkylthallium(III) derivatives, but in the mechanism and stereochemistry of oxythallation, and in the development of specific synthetic organic transformations based on oxidation of unsaturated systems by thallium(III) salts. 

Tl(III) < Pb(IV), and this conclusion has been confirmed recently with reference to the oxythallation of olefins 124) and the cleavage of cyclopropanes 127). It is also predictable that oxidations of unsaturated systems by Tl(III) will exhibit characteristics commonly associated with analogous oxidations by Hg(II) and Pb(IV). There is, however, one important difference between Pb(IV) and Tl(III) redox reactions, namely that in the latter case reduction of the metal ion is believed to proceed only by a direct two-electron transfer mechanism (70). Thallium(II) has been detected by y-irradiation 10), pulse radiolysis 17, 107), and flash photolysis 144a) studies, butis completely unstable with respect to Tl(III) and T1(I) the rate constant for the process 2T1(II) Tl(III) + T1(I), 2.3 x 10 liter mole sec , is in fact close to diffusion control of the reaction 17). 

The effect of structure of the alkyl group on the stability of monoalkyl-thallium(III) compounds can best be understood by reference to the different mechanisms by which these compounds undergo decomposition. A number of authors have attributed the instability of monoalkylthallium(III) compounds to facile C—T1 bond heterolysis and formation of carbonium ions [Eq. (25)] (52, 66, 79). This explanation is, however, somewhat suspect in cases where primary carbonium ions would be involved and either the two-step sequence shown in Eqs. (26), (27), or the fully synchronous 8 2 displacement shown in Eq. (28), is more compatible with the known facts. Examination of the oxythallation reactions that have been described reveals that Eq. (27) [or, for concerted reactions, Eq. (28)] can be elaborated, and that five major types of decomposition can be recognized for RTlXj compounds. These are outlined in Scheme 8, where Y, the nucleophile... 

The reactions of acetylenes with thallium(III) salts are of considerable interest in that the results can be used in a qualitative comparison of reactivity between thallium(III) and mercury(II). Mercury(II) salt-catalyzed hydration of the C=C bond is a much studied and synthetically very useful process, although the detailed mechanism of the reaction is not known. The only published data available on the reactions of acetylenes with thallium-(III) salts are due to Uemura et al. 161), who employed thallium(III)... 

Wiberg and Koch 167) also disagreed with Littler s results, and found that the major product (75%) obtained on treatment of cyclohexanone with aqueous thallium(III) perchlorate was cyclopentanecarboxylic acid (XL). 2-Hydroxycyclohexanone was isolated in only 3 % yield unchanged starting material accounted for the remainder of the product. Wiberg and Koch were unable to detect any cyclohexane-1,2-dione in the product mixture, but did prove that 2-hydroxycyclohexanone did not function as the precursor to the ring-contracted acid. From the results obtained from a study of the oxidation of 2,2,6,6-[Pg.196]

The recently reported (757) conversion of 5-pyrazolones directly to a,j8-acetylenic esters by treatment with TTN in methanol appears to be an example of thallation of a heterocyclic enamine the suggested mechanism involves initial electrophilic thallation of the 3-pyrazolin-5-one tautomer of the 5-pyrazolone to give an intermediate organothallium compound which undergoes a subsequent oxidation by a second equivalent of TTN to give a diazacyclopentadienone. Solvolysis by methanol, with concomitant elimination of nitrogen and thallium(I), yields the a,)S-acetylenic ester in excellent (78-95%) yield (Scheme 35). Since 5-pyrazolones may be prepared in quantitative yield by the reaction of /3-keto esters with hydrazine (168), this conversion represents in a formal sense the dehydration of /3-keto esters. In fact, the direct conversion of /3-keto esters to a,jS-acetylenic esters without isolation of the intermediate 5-pyrazolones can be achieved by treatment in methanol solution first with hydrazine and then with TTN. 

Mercuric acetate and thallic acetate have also been used for the oxidative cydiza-tion of vinylallenes (Eq. 13.24) [29]. Exposure of vinylallene 75 to stoichiometric mercuric acetate in acetic acid led to cydopentenone 76 in 75% yield. With thallium acetate as the oxidant, the yield of 76 was 60%. The presumed mechanism of the oxidative cyclization involves a Nazarov cyclization of acetoxymercury intermediate 77. 

Uses. The unalloyed metal cannot be directly used owing to its bad mechanical properties and its high oxidability. Several thallium alloys are used as semiconductors or ceramic compounds it may be used as additive to gold, silver or copper contacts in the electronic industries. Thallium is dangerously toxic. 

Kabanov, A. A. etal., Russ. Chem. Rev., 1975, 44, 538-551 Application of electric fields to various explosive heavy metal derivatives (silver oxalate, barium, copper, lead, silver or thallium azides, or silver acetylide) accelerates the rate of thermal decomposition. Possible mechanisms are discussed. 

The thallium trinitrate-mediated ring contraction of frani-decal-2-ones has opened up a new route to the hydrindane system, and fluorinative ring contraction of cyclic alkenes to afford difluorocycloalkanes has been induced by iodotoluene difluoride and EtsN-HF. A possible mechanism is shown in Scheme 78. The double bond of the cyclohexene ring is attacked by iodotoluene difluoride activated by HF from the axial direction, followed by the addition of a fluoride ion from the trans direction. Reductive elimination of iodotoluene from the resulting adduct, ring contraction and the addition of the fluoride ion to the carbocation stabilized by fluorine then take place to give the ring-contracted difluorinated product. 

Several mechanisms have been postulated to account for thallium s toxicity, including ligand formation with sulfhydryl groups of enzymes and transport proteins, inhibition of cellular respiration, interaction with riboflavin and riboflavin-based cofactors, alteration of the activity of K -dependent proteins, and disruption of intracellular calcium homeostasis. ... 

A cationic mechanism is responsible for the ring contraction of cycloalkenes with thallium(III) salts in the presence of diluted perchloric acid resulting in the formation of formylcycloalkanes. This method was unsuccessful for cyclopentene, whereas 1-methylcyclopentene gave acetyicy-clobutane (32) in 16-24% yield98 depending on the better stabilization of the intermediate cationic species. 

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