Rearrangement reactions of oxaziridines to nitrones. X-Ray crystal and molecular structure of N-t-butyl-α(o-hydroxyphenyl)nitrone

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Substituted N-benzylidene-t-butylamines are oxidized with m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid to oxaziridines which can rearrange to the corresponding nitrones when electron-donating groups are present in the phenyl ring. The oxaziridine-to-nitrone rearrangement, which has been considered as a ‘pseudo-abnormal’ reaction, can also be catalysed by Lewis acids, It has been found that the rearrangement of 2-t-butyl-3-(o-hydroxyphenyl)oxaziridine to the corresponding nitrone is of first order. The rearrangement has been investigated for different substituents in the phenyl ring, and in the case of 2-t-butyl-3-phenyloxaziridine substituted in the ortho position with electron-donating groups it has been found that the presence of protons or a Lewis acid is necessary. An X-ray structure of α-(o-hydroxyphenyl)-N-t-butylnitrone shows strong hydrogen bonding between the nitrone oxygen and the hydrogen in the hydroxy group. The oxaziridine-to-nitrone rearrangement is also analysed from a theoretical point of view using ab initio calculations. A Mulliken-population analysis of the C–O and N–O bonds in the oxaziridine ring for para-substituted 2-t-butyl-3-phenyloxaziridines shows a reduction of the C–O bond population when an electron-donating group is present in the para position of the phenyl ring compared with an electron-withdrawing group; the N–O bond populations show the reverse picture. A state-correlation diagram for the oxaziridine-to-nitrone rearrangement is also presented and the experimental and theoretical results support each other.