Molecular rearrangements of five-membered ring heteromonocycles

On the Rearrangement in Dioxane/Water of (Z)-Arylhydrazones of 5-Amino-3-benzoyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole into (2-Aryl-5-phenyl-2H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)ureas: Substituent Effects on the Different Reaction Pathways

We have recently evidenced an interesting differential behavior in the reactivity in dioxane/water between the (Z)-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone (1a) and the (Z)-phenylhydrazone (1b) of 5-amino-3-benzoyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole. The former rearranges into the relevant triazole 2a only at pS+ > 4.5 while undergoing hydrolysis at high proton concentration (pS+ < 3.5); on the contrary, the latter rearranges into 2b in the whole pS+ range examined (0.1 < or = pS+ < or = 14.9). Thus, for a deeper understanding of these differences we have now collected kinetic data on the rearrangement in dioxane/water of a series of 3- or 4-substituted (Z)-phenylhydrazones (1c-l) of 5-amino-3-benzoyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole in a wide range of proton concentrations (pS+ 0.1-12.3) with the aim of gaining information about the effect of the substituent on the course of the reaction. All of the (Z)-arylhydrazones studied rearrange via three different reaction routes (specific-acid-catalyzed, uncatalyzed, and general-base-catalyzed), and the relevant results have been examined by means of free energy relationships.

Photochemistry of 1,2,4-Oxadiazoles. A DFT Study on Photoinduced Competitive Rearrangements of 3-Amino- and 3-N-Methylamino-5-perfluoroalkyl-1,2,4-oxadiazoles

The photoinduced competitive rearrangements of 5-perfluoroalkyl-3-amino(N-alkylamino)-1,2,4-oxadiazoles have been investigated by DFT calculations and UV-vis spectroscopy. The observed product selectivity depends on the number of hydrogen atoms present in the amino moiety and involves two or three possible routes: (i) ring contraction-ring expansion (RCRE), (ii) internal-cyclization isomerization (ICI), or (iii) C3-N2 migration-nucleophilic attack-cyclization (MNAC). UV absorption and fluorescence spectra of the reactants, and vertical excitation energy values, calculated by time dependent DFT, support the involvement of a neutral singlet excited state in the photoexcitation process. The values of the standard free energy of the most stable prototropic tautomers of reactant, products, proposed reaction intermediates, and deprotonated anionic transition states allowed us to rationalize the competition among the three rearrangements, in agreement with chemical trapping experiments, in terms of: (i) the evolution of the excited state toward three stable ground-state intermediates, (ii) tautomeric and deprotonation equilibria occurring in methanol solution for each intermediate, and (iii) relative stabilization of intermediates and transition states in the thermally driven section of the reaction.

Fluorinated heterocyclic compounds. An effective strategy for the synthesis of fluorinated Z-oximes of 3-perfluoroalkyl-6-phenyl-2h-1,2,4-triazin-5-ones via a ring-enlargement reaction of 3-benzoyl-5-perfluoroalkyl-1,2,4-oxadiazoles and hydrazine

The reaction of 3-benzoyl-5-perfluoroalkyl-1,2,4-oxadiazoles with hydrazine has been investigated, evidencing the possibility of competitive reaction paths. Nucleophilic addition of the hydrazine to the electrophilic C(5) of the 1,2,4-oxadiazole ring, followed by ring opening and ring closure with enlargement, leads with high yield and in very mild experimental conditions to the formation of Z-oximes of 3-perfluoroalkyl-6-phenyl-2H-1,2,4-triazin-5-ones (11a-c) as major products of the reaction. In turn, the hydrazine can attack the electrophilic carbonyl carbon giving 4-perfluoroacylamino-5-phenyl-2H-1,2,3-triazoles (13a-c) through the well-known Boulton-Katritzky rearrangement of the intermediate hydrazones.

Can the Absence of Solvation of Neutral Reagents by Ionic Liquids Be Responsible for the High Reactivity in Base-Assisted Intramolecular Nucleophilic Substitutions in These Solvents?

[reaction: see text] The kinetics of the rearrangement of the Z-phenylhydrazone of 3-benzoyl-5-phenyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole (1a) into the relevant 4-benzoylamino-2,5-diphenyl-1,2,3-triazole (2a) induced by amines have been studied in two room-temperature ionic liquids (IL-1, [BMIM][BF4] and IL-2, [BMIM][PF6]). The data collected show that the reaction occurs faster in ionic liquids than in other conventional solvents previously studied (both polar or apolar, protic or aprotic). Presumably, this could depend on their peculiar ability to minimize the strong substrate-solvent, amine-solvent and amine-amine interactions occurring in conventional solvents.

The first kinetic evidence for acid catalysis in a monocyclic rearrangement of heterocycles: conversion of the Z-phenylhydrazone of 5-amino-3-benzoyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole into N,5-diphenyl-2H-1,2,3-triazol-4-ylurea

The title reaction has been studied in dioxane/water in a large (0.1-14.9) pS+ range, evidencing, together with an uncatalyzed process at intermediate (3.5-8.0) pS+ values, the occurrence of a catalyzed pathway both in the acidic (pS+ 0.1-3.5) and in the basic region (pS+ 8.0-14.9): specific-acid catalysis and general-base catalysis, respectively, have been found to take place by means of kinetic investigations at different buffer concentrations. Mechanisms for the three pathways have been advanced on the grounds of structural features. In a comparison with previous data particular attention has been paid to the acid-catalyzed pathway, herein observed for the first time in an azole-to-azole interconversion. The mechanistic hypotheses seem well supported by ab initio calculations.

On the synthesis and reactivity of the Z-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone of 5-amino-3-benzoyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole

The synthesis of the title compound (4b) has been completed: its rearrangement (in dioxane/water; 1:1, v/v) into N-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)-5-phenyl-2H-1,2,3-triazol-4-ylurea (7) has been quantitatively studied in a wide reactivity (at 293 K, k(A) 10(-8) -4 s(-1)) and pS+ (4.5-14.1) range and compared with that of the Z-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone of 3-benzoyl-5-phenyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole (10), of the 3-(p-nitro)phenylureine of 5-phenyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole (13), and of N-(5-phenyl-1,2,4-oxadiazol-3-yl)-N'-p-nitrophenylformamidine (14). The results (reactivity, occurrence of specific or general base-catalysis, evidence for or absence of rate-limiting constants) have been well interpreted considering the structure of the side-chains involved and the stability of the final rings obtained in the rearrangements.