With Electrophiles

Thermolysis of aryl azides in acetic anhydride gives AT,0-diacetyl-o-aminophenols plus some triplet-derived products. Yields are good for azides bearing methyl or halo substituents, but nitrophenyl azides do not undergo this reaction  

It should be noted that in none of these decompositions in acetic anhydride and benzoyl chloride was a 1,2-nitrogen movement found, as is the case for analogous nucleophilic attack. Further support for an azirine intermediate and the first observation of a 1,2 movement of nitrogen comes from Senda s work. Photolysis of a 6-azidouracil (63) in acetyl chloride-tetrahydrofuran gives a 5-amino-6-chlorouracil (64). The formation of this product may be 

If azirine and aziridine intermediates are indeed involved in these reactions it is surprising that azepines have not been isolated, especially on photolysis in acetyl chloride, as azepines with electron-withdrawing substituents on nitrogen are known to be stabilized relative to N-H azepines/ Photolysis of suitable aryl azides in acetyl chloride at low temperature might permit the isolation of the product of kinetic control (azepine) rather than the thermodynamic control product which predominates at room temperature. 

Heating 6-azido-l,3-dimethyluracil with alkyl halides in dimethylfor-mamide containing potassium carbonate yields l-alkyl-4,6-dimethyl-t -triazolo(4,5-d)pyrimidin-5,7(4, 6//)-diones  

Intramolecular cyclization reactions of arylnitrenes by aromatic substitution (singlet), C-H aliphatic insertion, and attack on ortho nitrogen functions are usually very much more facile than their intermolecular counterparts. 

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Addition ofGrignard reagents to 1,1-difluoroethylene yields an acetylide anion which can be subsequently trapped with electrophiles. 

The use of Brown s equation (logiQ kjkf, = p+cr+) with electrophilic substitutions in general has been fully discussed and reference will be made later to its treatment of particular substituents in nitrations. 

M.o. theory has had limited success in dealing with electrophilic substitution in the azoles. The performances of 7r-electron densities as indices of reactivity depends very markedly on the assumptions made in calculating them. - Localisation energies have been calculated for pyrazole and pyrazolium, and also an attempt has been made to take into account the electrostatic energy involved in bringing the electrophile up to the point of attack the model predicts correctly the orientation of nitration in pyrazolium. ... 

The reaction of cumulenic anions with electrophiles in principle may give two products ... 

The pyridine-like nitrogen of the 2H-pyrrol-2-yiidene unit tends to withdraw electrons from the conjugated system and deactivates it in reactions with electrophiles. The add-catalyzed condensations described above for pyrroles and dipyrromethanes therefore do not occur with dipyrromethenes. Vilsmeier formylation, for example, is only successful with pyrroles and dipyrromethanes but not with dipyrromethenes. 

TT-Allylpalladium chloride (36) reacts with the nucleophiles, generating Pd(0). whereas tr-allylnickel chloride (37) and allylmagnesium bromide (38) reacts with electrophiles (carbonyl), generating Ni(II) and Mg(II). Therefore, it is understandable that the Grignard reaction cannot be carried out with a catalytic amount of Mg, whereas the catalytic reaction is possible with the regeneration of an active Pd(0) catalyst, Pd is a noble metal and Pd(0) is more stable than Pd(II). The carbon-metal bonds of some transition metals such as Ni and Co react with nucleophiles and their reactions can be carried out catalytic ally, but not always. In this respect, Pd is very unique. 

Application of 7r-allylpalladium chemistry to organic synthesis has made remarkable progress[l]. As deseribed in Chapter 3, Seetion 3, Tt-allylpalladium complexes react with soft carbon nucleophiles such as maionates, /3-keto esters, and enamines in DMSO to form earbon-carbon bonds[2, 3], The characteristie feature of this reaction is that whereas organometallic reagents are eonsidered to be nucleophilic and react with electrophiles, typieally earbonyl eompounds, Tt-allylpalladium complexes are electrophilie and reaet with nucleophiles such as active methylene compounds, and Pd(0) is formed after the reaction. 

Alkylation can also be accomplished with electrophilic alkenes. There is a dichotomy between basic and acidic conditions. Under basic conditions, where the indole anion is the reactive nucleophile, A-alkylation occurs. Under acidic conditions C-alkylation is observed. The reaction of indole with 4-vinylpyri-dine is an interesting illustration. Good yields of the 3-alkylation product are obtained in refluxing acetic acid[18] whereas if the reaction is done in ethanol containing sodium ethoxide 1-alkylation occurs[19]. Table 11.2 gives some examples of 3-alkylation using electrophilic alkenes. 

Pyrano[3,4-b]indol-3-ones are the most useful equivalents of the indol-2,3-quinodimethane synthon which are currently available for synthetic application. These compounds can be synthesized readily from indole-3-acetic acids and carboxylic anhydrides[5,6]. On heating with electrophilic alkenes or alkynes, adducts are formed which undergo decarboxylation to 1,2-dihydro-carbazoles or carbazoles, respectively. 

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). 

When unsubstituted, C-5 reacts with electrophilic reagents. Thus phosphorus pentachloride chlorinates the ring (36, 235). A hydroxy group in the 2-position activates the ring towards this reaction. 4-Methylthiazole does not react with bromine in chloroform (201, 236), whereas under the same conditions the 2-hydroxy analog reacts (55. 237-239. 557). Activation of C-5 works also for sulfonation (201. 236), nitration (201. 236. 237), Friede 1-Crafts reactions (201, 236, 237, 240-242), and acylation (243). However, iodination fails (201. 236). and the Gatterman or Reimer-Tieman reactions yield only small amounts of 4-methyl-5-carboxy-A-4-thiazoline-2-one. Recent kinetic investigations show that 2-thiazolones are nitrated via a free base mechanism. A 2-oxo substituent increases the rate of nitration at the 5-position by a factor of 9 log... 

In the case of substituted aryl radicals, the results may be slightly different, depending on the polarity of the radicals. With electrophilic radicals the overall reactivity of the thiazole nucleus will decrease and the percentage of 5-substituted isomer (electron-rich position) will increase, in comparison with phenyl radicals. The results are indicated in Table III-28. 

The Lewis bases that react with electrophiles are called nucleophiles ( nucleus seek ers ) They have an unshared electron pair that they can use m covalent bond formation The nucleophile m Step 3 of Figure 4 6 is chloride ion... 

The double bond m the alkenyl side chain undergoes addition reactions that are typical of alkenes when treated with electrophilic reagents... 

So far we ve been concerned only with electrophilic substitution of benzene Two impor tant questions arise when we turn to substitution on rings that already bear at least one substituent... 

Section 12 1 On reaction with electrophilic reagents compounds that contain a ben zene ring undergo electrophilic aromatic substitution Table 12 1 m Section 12 1 and Table 12 3 m this summary give examples... 

Nitration (Section 12 3) Replacement of a hydrogen by an —NO2 group The term is usually used in connection with electrophilic aromatic substitution... 

Complex Formation. AH four Cg aromatic isomers have a strong tendency to form several different types of complexes. Complexes with electrophilic agents ate utilized in xylene separation. The formation of the HE-BF —MX complex is the basis of the Mitsubishi Gas—Chemical Company (MGCC) commercial process for MX recovery, discussed herein. Equimolar complexes of MX and HBr (mp — 77°C) and EB and HBr (mp — 103°C) have been reported (32,33). Similatly, HCl complexes undergo rapid formation and decomposition at —80°C (34). 

Hydantoins can react with electrophiles at both nitrogen atoms and at C-5. The electrophilic carbonyl groups can be attacked by nucleophiles, leading to hydrolysis of the ring or to partial or total reduction of the carbonyl system. Other reactions are possible, including photochemical cleavage of the ring. 

In contrast to reaction of ozone with nucleophilic haUde and hypohaUte ions, reaction of ozone with electrophilic hypohalous acids is very slow. 

The PMBs, when treated with electrophilic reagents, show much higher reaction rates than the five lower molecular weight homologues (benzene, toluene, (9-, m- and -xylene), because the benzene nucleus is highly activated by the attached methyl groups (Table 2). The PMBs have reaction rates for electrophilic substitution ranging from 7.6 times faster (sulfonylation of durene) to ca 607,000 times faster (nuclear chlorination of durene) than benzene. With rare exception, the PMBs react faster than toluene and the three isomeric dimethylbenzenes (xylenes). 

Electrophilic Attack at Nitrogen. The lone pair on pyridiae (1) = 5.22) reacts with electrophiles under mild conditions, with protonic... 

Although less researched than the 2-position, modifications at the 6-position of intact penems have been reported. Generation of the dianion of the penem (52, R = CH ) using a strong base such as / -butyUithium or lithium diisopropylamide, followed by reaction with electrophiles yields 6-substituted 2-methylpenems in moderate yield (128). The enhanced acidity of the 6-proton in the bromopenem (88) [114409-16-4] h.a.s been exploited to prepare the... 

The iacreased chemical stabiUty of the 6-deoxytetracyclines allows chemical modification with retention of biological activity electrophilic substitutions have been carried out at C-7 and C-9 under strongly acidic conditions (46—53). Reactions of 6-deoxy-6-demethyltetracycline [808-26-4] (16), C21H22N2O7, with electrophiles, such as nitrate ion (49), bromomium ion (46,47) (from N-bromosuccinimide), or N-hydroxymethylphthalimide (53), yielded 7-substituted tetracyclines. In the case of the nitration reaction, both the 7- and 9-nitro isomers (17, X = NO2, Y = H) and (17, X = H, Y = NO2) were obtained. 

The electron-rich carbon—carbon double bond reacts with reagents that are deficient in electrons, eg, with electrophilic reagents in electrophilic addition (6,7), free radicals in free-radical addition (8,9), and under acidic conditions with another butylene (cation) in dimerization. 

Fig. 5. Nonoxidative cyanine syntheses. Reactions of the methylene base from (14) with electrophilic reagents.

Like other aromatic compounds, aromatic ethers can undergo substitution in the aromatic ring with electrophilic reagents, eg, nitration, halogenation, and sulfonation. They also undergo Eriedel-Crafts (qv) alkylation and acylation. 

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