No abstract

Low-temperature ozonation of cumene (1a) in acetone, methyl acetate, and tert-butyl methyl ether at -70 degrees C produced the corresponding hydrotrioxide, C(6)H(5)C(CH(3))(2)OOOH (2a), along with hydrogen trioxide, HOOOH. Ozonation of triphenylmethane (1b), however, produced only triphenylmethyl hydrotrioxide, (C(6)H(5))(3)COOOH (2b). These observations, together with the previously reported experimental evidence, seem to support the "radical" mechanism for the first step of the ozonation of the C-H bonds in hydrocarbons, i.e., the formation of the caged radical pair (R(**)OOOH), which allows both (a) collapse of the radical pair to ROOOH and (b) the abstraction of the hydrogen atom from alkyl radical R(*) by HOOO(*) to form HOOOH. The B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) (ZPE) calculations revealed that HOOO radicals are considerably stabilized by forming intermolecularly hydrogen-bonded complexes with acetone (BE = 8.55 kcal/mol) and dimethyl ether (7.04 kcal/mol). This type of interaction appears to be crucial for the relatively fast reactions (and the formation of the polyoxides in relatively high yields) in these solvents, as compared to the ozonations run in nonbasic solvents. However, HOOO radicals appear to be not stable enough to abstract hydrogen atoms outside the solvent cage, as indicated by the absence of HOOOH among the products in the ozonolysis of triphenylmethane. The decomposition of alkyl hydrotrioxides 2a and 2b involves a homolytic cleavage of the RO-OOH bond with subsequent "in cage" reactions of the corresponding radicals, while the decomposition of HOOOH is most likely predominantly a "pericyclic" process involving one or more molecules of water acting as a bifunctional catalyst to produce water and singlet oxygen (Delta(1)O(2)).

Low-temperature (-78 degrees C) ozonation of 1,2-diphenylhydrazine in various oxygen bases as solvents (acetone-d(6), methyl acetate, tert-butyl methyl ether) produced hydrogen trioxide (HOOOH), 1,2-diphenyldiazene, 1,2-diphenyldiazene-N-oxide, and hydrogen peroxide. Ozonation of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine produced besides HOOOH, 1,2-dimethyldiazene, 1,2-dimethyldiazene-N-oxide and hydrogen peroxide, also formic acid and nitromethane. Kinetic and activation parameters for the decomposition of the HOOOH produced in this way, and identified by (1)H, (2)H, and (17)O NMR spectroscopy, are in agreement with our previous proposal that water participates in this reaction as a bifunctional catalyst in a polar decomposition process to produce water and singlet oxygen (O(2), (1)delta(g)). The possibility that hydrogen peroxide is, besides water, also involved in the decomposition of hydrogen trioxide is also considered. The half-life of HOOOH at room temperature (20 degrees C) is 16 +/- 1 min in all solvents investigated. Using a variety of DFT methods (restricted, broken-symmetry unrestricted, self-interaction corrected) in connection with the B3LYP functional, a stepwise mechanism involving the hydrotrioxyl (HOOO(*)) radical is proposed for the ozonation of hydrazines (RNHNHR, R = H, Ph, Me) that involves the abstraction of the N-hydrogen atom by ozone to form a radical pair, RNNHR(*) (*)OOOH. The hydrotrioxyl radical can then either abstract the remaining N(H) hydrogen atom from the RNNHR(*) radical to form the corresponding diazene (RN=NR), or recombines with RNNHR(*) in a solvent cage to form the hydrotrioxide, RN(OOOH)NHR. The decomposition of these very labile hydrotrioxides involves the homolytic scission of the RO-OOH bond with subsequent "in cage" formation of the diazene-N-oxide and hydrogen peroxide. Although 1,2-diphenyldiazene is unreactive toward ozone under conditions investigated, 1,2-dimethyldiazene reacts with relative ease to yield 1,2-dimethyldiazene-N-oxide and singlet oxygen (O(2), (1)delta(g)). The subsequent reaction sequence between these two components to yield nitromethane as the final product is discussed. The formation of formic acid and nitromethane in the ozonolysis of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine is explained as being due to the abstraction of a methyl H atom of the CH(3)NNHCH(3)(*) radical by HOOO(*) in the solvent cage. The possible mechanism of the reaction of the initially formed formaldehyde methylhydrazone (and HOOOH) with ozone/oxygen mixtures to produce formic acid and nitromethane is also discussed.

Ozonation of various silanes and germanes produced the corresponding hydrotrioxides, R3SiOOOH and R3GeOOOH, which were characterized by 1H, 13C, 17O, and 29Si NMR, and by infrared spectroscopy in a two-pronged approach based on measured and calculated data. Ozone reacts with the E-H (E = Si, Ge) bond via a concerted 1,3-dipolar insertion mechanism, where, depending on the substituents and the environment (e.g., acetone-d6 solution), the H atom transfer precedes more and more E-O bond formation. The hydrotrioxides decompose in various solvents into the corresponding silanols/germanols, disiloxanes/digermoxanes, singlet oxygen (O2(1delta(g))), and dihydrogen trioxide (HOOOH), where catalytic amounts of water play an important role as is indicated by quantum chemical calculations. The formation of HOOOH as a decomposition product of organometallic hydrotrioxides in acetone-d6 represents a new and convenient method for the preparation of this simple, biochemically important polyoxide. By solvent variation, singlet oxygen (O2(1delta(g))) can be generated in high yield.