Selective reaction of benzyl alcohols with HI gas: Iodination, reduction, and indane ring formations

Chemical Transformations of Benzyl Alcohol Caused by Atomic Chlorine

Atomic chlorine present in the polluted troposphere can form potentially carcinogenic compounds as a result of a reaction with a natural product. This paper examines the stability of benzyl alcohol-a natural product commonly found in cosmetics-in interaction with atomic chlorine, which is becoming ever more present in the Earth's atmosphere as a result of its pollution. Research shows that atomic chlorine generated in the gas phase easily penetrates the liquid phase of benzyl alcohol, resulting in the formation of hydrochloric acid. The resulting HCl initiates further transformations of benzyl alcohol. Our study presents the amounts of the reaction products. The quantitative analysis was made using the GC method, and all the products were identified using the GC-MS method. The products include dichloromethyl benzene, 2-chlorobenzyl alcohol, and 3-chlorobenzyl alcohol, which are harmful, but are formed in very small amounts. The harmful substance occurring in a much higher amount is benzyl chloride-that is a product of acidification of benzyl alcohol by HCl.

Reactivity and Product Analysis of a Pair of Cumyloxyl and tert-Butoxyl Radicals Generated in Photolysis of tert-Butyl Cumyl Peroxide

Alkoxyl radicals play important roles in various fields of chemistry. Understanding their reactivity is essential to applying their chemistry for industrial and biological purposes. Hydrogen-atom transfer and C-C β-scission reactions have been reported from alkoxyl radicals. The ratios of these two processes were investigated using cumyloxyl (CumO^•) and tert-butoxyl radicals (t-BuO^•), respectively. However, the products generated from the pair of radicals have not been investigated in detail. In this study, CumO^• and t-BuO^• were simultaneously generated from the photolysis of tert-butyl cumyl peroxide to understand the chemical behavior of the pair of radicals by analyzing the products and their distribution. Electron paramagnetic resonance and/or transient absorption spectroscopy analyses of radicals, including CumO^• and t-BuO^•, provide more information about the radicals generated during the photolysis of tert-butyl cumyl peroxide. Furthermore, the photoproducts of (3-(tert-butylperoxy)pentane-3-yl)benzene demonstrated that the ether products were formed in in-cage reactions. The triplet-sensitized reaction induced by acetophenone, which is produced from CumO^•, clarified that the spin state did not affect the product distribution.

Selective Formation of Internal Olefinic Trimer of α-Methylstyrenes with HI Gas and Ketones

Reaction of α-methylstyrene in the presence of HI gas and methyl p-tolyl ketone selectively resulted in an internal olefinic trimer. We revealed that the ketones with the stabilization of the protonated state were efficient to give the corresponding trimers, whereas the other ketones gave the usual indane compound. From the investigation for the mechanistic path, we found that the trimer is a kinetic product and that indane is a thermodynamic product.