Electron transfer reactions. Reaction of dibenzobarrelenes with potassium

Abstract

The results of our studies on potassium-induced transformations of several bridgehead-substituted dibenzobarrelenes are presented. The dibenzobarrelenes 1b,c,e,f having methyl, hydroxymethyl, methoxy and phenyl groups, respectively, at the bridgehead position and the bridgehead-dimethyl derivative 1g give, on treatment with potassium in THF, the corresponding anthracenes 8b,c,e-g, dihydrodibenzobarreneses 6b,c,e-g and benzoic acid (5). The dibenzobarrelenes 1b,g give, in addition to 8b,g, 6b,g and 5, the corresponding mono-debenzoylated products 7b,g, whereas the methoxy derivative 1e gives both anthraquinone (9) and an enol derivaiive 11, besides 8e, 6e and 5. In contrast, the reaction of the hydroxy derivative 1d with potassium in THF gives a mixture of 5, anthracene (8a), the anthrone 10 and the anthrol 12. To assess the role of oxygen in these reactions, if any, the reactions of some representative substrates such as 1b,d,e with potassium in THF, saturated with oxygen and with potassium superoxide have been studied. Cyclic voltammetric studies have been carried out to measuee the reduction potentials for both one electron and two electron processes, leading to the generation of the corresponding radical anions and dianion intermediates. The radical anions of 1b-g have also been generated pulse radiolytically in methanol and their spectra show absorption maxima in the regions 310-390 and 400-450 nm.