Oxoammonium salt oxidations (using 4-acetylamino-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxoammonium tetrafluoroborate) of alcohols containing a β-oxygen atom in the presence of pyridine yield dimeric esters, while in the presence of 2,6-lutidine the product is a simple aldehyde. The formation of a betaine between pyridine and an aldehyde is presented to explain this disparity in reactivity. The betaine is oxidized by the oxoammonium salt to give an N-acylpyridinium ion that serves as an acylating agent for ester formation. Steric effects deter the formation of such a betaine with 2,6-disubstituted pyridines. A series of alcohols containing a β-oxygen substituent were oxidized to aldehydes in the presence of 2,6-lutidine, and a short study of the relative reactivity of various alcohols is given. An overall mechanism for oxoammonium cation oxidations is suggested, premised on nucleophilic additions to the oxygen atom of the positively charged nitrogen-oxygen double bond. Possible mechanisms for both dimeric oxidations and simple oxidations are given.

The multigram preparation and characterization of a novel TEMPO-based oxoammonium salt, 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-(2,2,2-trifluoroacetamido)-1-oxopiperidinium tetrafluoroborate (5), and its corresponding nitroxide (4) are reported. The solubility profile of 5 in solvents commonly used for alcohol oxidations differs substantially from that of Bobbitt's salt, 4-acetamido-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-oxopiperidinium tetrafluoroborate (1). The rates of oxidation of a representative series of primary, secondary, and benzylic alcohols by 1 and 5 in acetonitrile solvent at room temperature have been determined, and oxoammonium salt 5 has been found to oxidize alcohols more rapidly than does 1. The rate of oxidation of meta- and para-substituted benzylic alcohols by either 1 or 5 displays a strong linear correlation to Hammett parameters (r > 0.99) with slopes (ρ) of -2.7 and -2.8, respectively, indicating that the rate-limiting step in the oxidations involves hydride abstraction from the carbinol carbon of the alcohol substrate.

This Concept highlights the discovery and developments in the oxidations of amines catalyzed by TEMPO (2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidinyl‐N‐oxyl) and related catalytic systems. The most important feature of these systems is that, with slight modifications in the reaction media, amines are selectively oxidized to either an imine or nitrile. Progress made toward the oxidation of various benzylic, allylic, and aliphatic amines, and possible reaction mechanism pathways are discussed.

The reaction of ketones with organolithium reagents generally proceeds by addition of the organometallic to the electrophilic carbon of the C═O group to give the lithium salt of a tertiary alcohol. The seemingly analogous reaction of thioketones with organolithiums is a fundamentally different process: such reactions typically afford a variety of products, and addition of the organolithium to carbon of the C═S group to give a thiol is a relatively unimportant component. Reactions of the stable thioketone, adamantantanethione (1), with several alkyllithiums (MeLi, n-BuLi and t-BuLi) in a variety of solvents have been studied in the first comprehensive investigation of the reactions of organolithiums with a representative alkyl-substituted thione. Reactions of 1 with n-BuLi or t-BuLi afforded 2-adamantanethiol (2) as the major product. In an effort to explain the marked difference in behavior of ketones and thioketones in reactions with organolithiums, transition states for both the addition and reduction reactions have been located at the B3LYP/6-311+G* level using acetone and thioacetone as model substrates. The transition states for the addition of dimeric MeLi to the C═O and C═S carbons of acetone and thioacetone were significantly different as a result of the small bond angles preferred by divalent sulfur, and this accounts for the much slower addition to a C═S carbon vis-à-vis a C═O group. Transition states for reduction of acetone and thioacetone by EtLi were similar, but the greater exothermicity of the reduction of the thioketone results in an earlier transition state and lower activation energy for this process than that for the reduction of a ketone. The possible role of radical-mediated processes in this chemistry is also discussed.

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The outcome of reactions of (E)-5-bromo-5-decene (1), a representative vinyl bromide, with t-BuLi or n-BuLi at 0 degrees C and room temperature, respectively, in a variety of solvent systems has been investigated. Vinyl bromide 1 does not react with t-BuLi in pure heptane; however, the presence of even small quantities of an ether in a predominantly heptane medium resulted in virtually complete consumption of 1 at 0 degrees C, resulting in nearly the same distribution of products, including 60-80% of (Z)-5-decenyllithium, regardless of the solvent composition. Vinyl bromide 1 reacts slowly with n-BuLi at room temperature in a variety of ether and heptane-ether mixtures to afford a mixture of products including significant quantities of recovered starting material. The results of these experiments demonstrate that lithium-bromine exchange between a vinyl bromide and either t-BuLi or n-BuLi at temperatures significantly above -78 degrees C is not an efficient method for the generation of a vinyllithium.

The Graduate Student Symposium Planning Committee (GSSPC) is a Division of Chemical Education (CHED) sponsored initiative designed to promote graduate student-led programming at American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meetings and to provide an opportunity for graduate students to network with professionals inside and outside the ACS on a topic of student interest. Described here are general suggestions offered by the University of Connecticut's GSSPC (incorporating the collective wisdom of several GSSPC's) that affords critical information for future graduate student groups that wish to serve as a GSSPC, such as the planning, organization, and execution of an ACS National Meeting symposium.

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