title: Hydrogen-atom transfer reactions from ortho-alkoxy-substituted phenols: an experimental approach.
abstract: The role of intramolecular hydrogen bonding (HB) on the bond-dissociation enthalpy (BDE) of the phenolic O-H and on the kinetics of H-atom transfer to peroxyl radicals (k(inh)) of several 2-alkoxyphenols was experimentally quantified by the EPR equilibration technique and by inhibited autoxidation studies. These compounds can be regarded as useful models for studying the H-atom abstraction from 2-OR phenols, such as many lignans, reduced coenzyme Q and curcumin. The effects of the various substituents on the BDE(O-H) of 2-methoxy, 2-methoxy-4-methyl, 2,4-dimethoxyphenols versus phenol were measured in benzene solution as -1.8; -3.7; -5.4 kcal mol(-1), respectively. In the case of polymethoxyphenols, significant deviations from the BDE(O-H) values predicted by the additive effects of the substituents were found. The logarithms of the k(inh) constants in cumene were inversely related to the BDE(O-H) values, obeying a linear Evans-Polanyi plot with the same slope of other substituted phenols and a y-axis intercept slightly smaller than that of 2,6-dimethyl phenols. In the cases of phenols having the 2-OR substituent included in a five-membered condensed ring (i.e, compounds 9-11), both conformational isomers in which the OH group points toward or away from the oxygen in position 2 were detected by FTIR spectroscopy and the intramolecular HB strength was thus estimated. The contribution to the BDE(O-H) of the ortho-OR substituent in 9, corrected for intramolecular HB formation, was calculated as -5.6 kcal mol(-1). The similar behaviour of cyclic and non-cyclic ortho-alkoxy derivatives clearly showed that the preferred conformation of the OMe group in ortho-methoxyphenoxyl radicals is that in which the methyl group points away from the phenoxyl oxygen, in contrast to the geometries predicted by DFT calculations.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica Organica A. Mangini, Università di Bologna, Via S. Giacomo 11, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Riccardo.amorati@unibo.it
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amorati
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Menichetti
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mileo
authors.forename: Gian Franco
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Pedulli
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Viglianisi