Thiazole reactivity

Only few attempts have been made to apply free-energy relations to thiazole reactivity. 

These genera] trends direct the organization of Chapters VI and VII syntheses from the already formed thiazole ring, physicochemical studies, ambident reactivity ring carbon reactivity, main derivatives, and aminothiazole applications. 

Charge diagrams suggest that the 2-amino-5-halothiazoles are less sensitive to nucleophilic attack on 5-position than their thiazole counterpart. Recent kinetic data on this reactivity however, show, that this expectation is not fulfilled (67) the ratio fc.. bron.c.-2-am.noih.azoie/ -biomoth.azoie O"" (reaction with sodium methoxide) emphasizes the very unusual amino activation to nucleophilic substitution. The reason of this activation could lie in the protomeric equilibrium, the reactive species being either under protomeric form 2 or 3 (General Introduction to Protomeric Thiazoles). The reactivity of halothiazoles should, however, be reinvestigated under the point of view of the mechanism (1690). 

Thus in neutral medium the reactivity of 2-aminothiazoles derivatives toward sp C electrophilic centers usually occurs through the ring nitrogen. A notable exception is provided by the reaction between 2-amino-thiazole and a solution (acetone-water, 1 1) of ethylene oxide (183) that yields 2-(2-hydroxyethylamino)thiazole (39) (Scheme 28), Structure 39... 

Reactions of the 2-amino-4,5-substituted thiazole (52) in acetic acid with ethylene oxide has been reported to give the N-exocyclic disubstitution product (S3) (201) in a 40% yield (Scheme 38). The reactive species in this reaction is probably the carbocation generated in acetic acid by ethvlene oxide. 

If the thiazole under consideration reacts in its neutral form, the ring nitrogen is expected to be reactive center. Exceptions could be expected for 2-araino-4-R thiazoies with bulky R groups and for electrophilic reactants able to generate a carbocation. 

Scheme 55) (235. 236). -The product obtained (77) is probably formed via the protonated form of the thiazole, whose reactivity is treated in Section IV, 1. The light-yellow leucobase (77) is reported to be oxidized by PbOj to the red-black carbinol (78) (236). This condensation reaction is also successful when benzaidehyde is replaced by formaldehyde, bis(2-amino-4-phenylthiazolyl-5)methane (79 i beine obtained (Scheme 56) (237). 

Alkylation of 2-methylaminothiazole (204) with ROH in 85% sulfuric acid gives 2-methylimino-3-alkyl-4-thiazoIine (54). 2-Amino-4-rnethyl-thiazoie alkylated with an excess of isopropanol, however, gives 95% of 2-isopropylamino-4-methyl-5-isopropylthiazole (56). The same result is obtained with cyclohexanol (242). These results and those reported in Sections III.l.C and IV.l.E offer interesting new synthetic possibilities in thiazole chemistry. The reactive species in these alkylations is the conjugate acid of 2-aminothiazole. and the diversity of the products obtained suggests that three nucleophilic centers may be operative in this species. 

The ambident reactivity of 2-amino-4,5-disubstituted thiazoles toward benzoylthiocyanate 153 has been studied (311) and parallels that of ethoxycarbonyl isothiocyanate (Scheme 98) the percentages of 154. 155. 

No systematic study of the free radical reactivity of aminothiazole derivatives has yet been reported. Their behavior, however, may be extrapolated from the detailed work performed on other thiazoles (see Chapter III. Section IX. 1). 

For ionic reactivity two cases must be considered depending on the electron demand the thiazole ring may either be electron donating or electron accepting. 

Xmino substituents in both neutral and protonated thiazole rings should favor electrophilic reactivity. 

Acetamidothiazole is nitrated in the same way (58, 378, 379). 2-Acetamido-4-phenylthiazole is reported to be nitrated on C-5 (380) as opposed to 2-amino-4-phenylthiazole, where nitration occurs on the phenyl ring (381). This latter result is not consistent with the other data on electrophilic reactivity in most cases 2-amino-4-arylthiazole derivatives react with electrophilic reagents at the C-5 position (see Sections rV.l.B and D). Furthermore, N-pyridy]-(2)-thiazolyl-2-amine (178) is exclusively nitrated on the thiazole ring (Scheme 113) (132, 382). 

The amino group is expected to have decreased reactivity in thiazolium salts. 2-Amino-4,5-trimethylene thiazole (224) heated in diluted HQ at 80°C, however, gives the product 227a (463). The probable mechanism is shown in Scheme 139. This mechanism suggests a retro-Hantzsch ... 

Nucleophilic reactivity of the sulfur atom has received most attention. When neutral or very acidic medium is used, the nucleophilic reactivity occurs through the exocyclic sulfur atom. Kinetic studies (110) measure this nucleophilicity- towards methyl iodide for various 3-methyl-A-4-thiazoline-2-thiones. Rate constants are 200 times greater for these compounds than for the isomeric 2-(methylthio)thiazole. Thus 3-(2-pyridyl)-A-4-thiazoline-2-thione reacts at sulfur with methyl iodide (111). Methyl substitution on the ring doubles the rate constant. This high reactivity at sulfur means that, even when an amino (112, 113) or imino group (114) occupies the 5-position of the ring, alkylation takes place on sulfiu. For the same reason, 2-acetonyi derivatives are sometimes observed as by-products in the heterocyclization reaction of dithiocarba-mates with a-haloketones (115, 116). 

The nucleophUic reactivity in neutral medium has been used extensively to prepare various thioethers of thiazole (122). In acidic medium, alkylation may be performed with alcohols (123, 124). An unexpected reaction encountered was the decarboxylation of 2-mercapto-4-methyl-5-thiazolecarboxyhc acid (60) when treated with butyl alcohol under acidic conditions (Scheme 27) (123). Reaction between A-4-thiazoline-2-thione... 

The reaction of MeO /MeOH with 2-Cl-5(4)-X-thiazoles (122) follows a second-order kinetic law, first order with respect to each reactant (Scheme 62) (297, 301). A remark can be made about the reactivity of the dichloro derivatives it has been pointed out that for reactions with sodium methoxide, the sequence 5>2>4 was observed for monochlorothiazole compounds (302), For 2.5-dichlorothiazole, on the contrary, the experimental data show that the 2-methoxy dehalogenation is always favored. This fact has been related to the different activation due to a substituent effect, less important from position 2 to 5 than from... 

In the first chapter, devoted to thiazole itself, specific emphasis has been given to the structure and mechanistic aspects of the reactivity of the molecule most of the theoretical methods and physical techniques available to date have been applied in the study of thiazole and its derivatives, and the results are discussed in detail The chapter devoted to methods of synthesis is especially detailed and traces the way for the preparation of any monocyclic thiazole derivative. Three chapters concern the non-tautomeric functional derivatives, and two are devoted to amino-, hydroxy- and mercaptothiazoles these chapters constitute the core of the book. All discussion of chemical properties is complemented by tables in which all the known derivatives are inventoried and characterized by their usual physical properties. This information should be of particular value to organic chemists in identifying natural or Synthetic thiazoles. Two brief chapters concern mesoionic thiazoles and selenazoles. Finally, an important chapter is devoted to cyanine dyes derived from thiazolium salts, completing some classical reviews on the subject and discussing recent developments in the studies of the reaction mechanisms involved in their synthesis. 

Many monomeric heterocyclic anhydrobases can be isolated now using specific methods (44), but application of these methods to thiazole ring did not succeed however, appropriate conditions lead to the separation of a dimer, the structure of which has been established by its NMR Spectra and chemical reactivity (26). The most probable mechanism of its formation appears identical with the one previously described in the benzothiazolium series (24). A second molecule of quaternary salt A3... 

This chapter is an attempt to present the important results of studies of the synthesis, reactivity, and physicochemical properties of this series of compounds. The subject was surveyed by Bulka (3) in 1963 and by Klayman and Gunther (4) in 1973. Unlike the oxazoles and thiazoles. there are few convenient preparative routes to the selenazoles. Furthermore, the selenium intermediates are difficult to synthesize and are often extremely toxic selenoamides tend to decompose rapidly depositing metallic selenium. This inconvenience can be alleviated by choice of suitable reaction conditions. Finally, the use of selenium compounds in preparative reactions is often complicated by the fragility of the cycle and the deposition of metallic selenium. 

A comparison of the reactivity of the heterocycles, selenazoie, thiazole. and pyridine, was made by Ochiai (41), who used theoretical considerations to show that the degree of aromaticity was ... 

The greater reactivity of the 5-position of selenazoles, compared to thiazoles, toward electrophilic substitution has also been demonstrated (19). Substituents in the 2-position possessing a mesomeric donor effect increase the reactivity, but, as Haginiwa (19) observed, also increase the tendancy to ring Opening,... 

In conclusion, in terms of electrophilic reactivity a methyl group in the 2-position is equally reactive in the two categories of heterocycles (selenazole and thiazole). Of the two positions ortho to nitrogen, only the 2-position is activated. The 5-position is sensitive to electrophilic reagents and resembles more closely the para position of a benzene ring. 

With respect to thiazole, the selenazole system displays a lesser nucleophilic reactivity in the 2-position and a greater electrophilic reactivity of the 5-position, but undergoes fission of the cycle more easily. 

Selenium heterocycles receive far less mention in the literature than do such homologs as oxazole, thiazole, or imidazole. In fact, preparative methods of selenium heterocycles are much more limited than for the other series, mainly because of manipulatory difficulties arising from the toxicity of selenium (hydrogen selenide is even more toxic) that can produce severe damage to the skin, lungs, kidneys, and eyes. Another source of difficulty is the reactivity of the heterocycle itself, which can easily undergo fission, depending on the reaction medium and the nature of the substituents. 

The first empirical and qualitative approach to the electronic structure of thiazole appeared in 1931 in a paper entitled Aspects of the chemistry of the thiazole group (115). In this historical review. Hunter showed the technical importance of the group, especially of the benzothiazole derivatives, and correlated the observed reactivity with the mobility of the electronic system. In 1943, Jensen et al. (116) explained the low value observed for the dipole moment of thiazole (1.64D in benzene) by the small contribution of the polar-limiting structures and thus by an essentially dienic character of the v system of thiazole. The first theoretical calculation of the electronic structure of thiazole. benzothiazole, and their methyl derivatives was performed by Pullman and Metzger using the Huckel method (5, 6, 8). 

Until the end of the forties, when the HMO method was first applied to thiazole, most of the experimental results concerning its chemical reactivity remained of a qualitative nature. Papers devoted to the subject... 

Despite its V excessive character (340), thiazole, just as pyridine, is resistant to electrophilic substitution. In both cases the ring nitrogen deactivates the heterocyclic nucleus toward electrophilic attack. Moreover, most electrophilic substitutions, which are performed in acidic medium, involve the protonated form of thiazole or some quaternary thiazolium derivatives, whose reactivity toward electrophiles is still lower than that of the free base. 

More quantitative results are available for the nitration of alkyl-thiazoles Dou et al. (373) determined the reactivity, relative to benzene, of the nitration site of various mono- and dialkylthiazole by competition experiments (Table 1-53). 

From these results it appears that the 5-position of thiazole is two to three more reactive than the 4-position, that methylation in the 2-position enhances the rate of nitration by a factor of 15 in the 5-position and of 8 in the 4-position, that this last factor is 10 and 14 for 2-Et and 2-t-Bu groups, respectively. Asato (374) and Dou (375) arrived at the same figure for the orientation of the nitration of 2-methyl and 2-propylthiazole Asato used nitronium fluoroborate and the dinitrogen tetroxide-boron trifluoride complex at room temperature, and Dou used sulfonitric acid at 70°C (Table T54). About the same proportion of 4-and 5-isomers was obtained in the nitration of 2-methoxythiazole by Friedmann (376). Recently, Katritzky et al. (377) presented the first kinetic studies of electrophilic substitution in thiazoles the nitration of thiazoles and thiazolones (Table 1-55). The reaction was followed spec-trophotometrically and performed at different acidities by varying the... 

Another quantitative approach to the reactivity of thiazole (381) in reactions involving a cationic transition state, though not exactly of the electrophilic substitution type, deserves to be mentioned here because of... 

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