1999 R.U. Lemieux Award Lecture Adventures with azo-, azoxy-, and hydrazoarenes: from the Wallach to the benzidine rearrangement. Molecular electronics
Bibliographic record
Abstract
The author's studies with aromatic azo-, azoxy-, and hydrazo-dye molecules, comprising kinetic and equilibrium investigations, as well as synthesis of novel molecules having photogenic properties, are described under the following highlights: A. Wallach rearrangement and cognate studies with azoxyarenes (1) Elucidation of the mechanism of the Wallach rearrangement of azoxybenzene through the kinetic observation of a two-proton process which, together with a pKa study, was interpreted on the basis of formation of a deoxygenated, dicationic, symmetrical species as a key, short-lived reaction intermediate. (2) The proposal of a general acid-catalyzed pathway in concentrated sulfuric acid (catalysis by H2SO4 and H3SO+4. (3) Elucidation of the consecutive sulfonations of reaction products of azoxybenzene in the 100% H2SO4 region, and the diprotonation equilibria for p-hydroxyazobenzene, thus shedding light on past reaction pathway and product studies. (4) The observation of a novel reaction pathway for 2,4,6,2',4',6'-hexamethy lazoxybenzene. (5) The observation of a dichotomy of reaction pathways for α- and β-2-phenylazoxynaphthalenes: reaction via the dicationic intermediate and via quinoid intermediate species; comprising two isomeric compounds reacting by different pathways to give the same product. (6) Identification and structure proof of α- and β-isomers observed for the first time in the peracid oxidation of phenylazopyridine. (7) Observation of a rate constant ratio of 22 000 in the rearrangement of these α- and β-isomers, and the proposal of differential barriers for transition states leading to a tricationic intermediate. B. Benzidine rearrangement and cognate studies (8) Observation of the acid-catalyzed hydroxylation of phenylazopyridine to p-hydroxyphenylazopyridine and the proposal of an SNAr mechanism with formation of an intermediate hydrazo species in the reaction. (9) First study of benzidine type rearrangement-disproportionation of phenylhydrazopyridine in acid media. (10) Proposal of a A [Formula: see text] B [Formula: see text] C [Formula: see text] D type reaction profile for the consecutive hydroxylation[Formula: see text]disproportionation processes of phenylazopyridine in aq H2SO4. (11) Proposal of 10-π and 14π-electron electrocyclic processes in the benzidine type rearrangement-disproportionation of phenylhydrazopyridine. (12) Identification and structural elucidation of a dimer formed from phenylazopyridine as a minor product and proposal of a reaction mechanism. C. Facile acid-catalyzed demethylation via SNAr/A-SE2 mechanisms and studies of tautomerism (13) Observation of an abnormally facile acid-catalyzed cleavage (demethylation) of 4-methoxyphenylazopyridine via an SNAr mechanism. (14) Observation of two reaction pathways, SNAr and A-SE2, for the consecutive demethylations of 3,4-dimethoxyphenylazopyridine, with rate constant ratio of 7 000:1 favoring the SNAr process. (15) Quantitation of the tautomeric and protonation equilibria of 4-hydroxyphenylazopyridine, produced in (13). D. A new solvent polarity scale, molecular switches, and molecular electronics (16) Establishment of a π*azo solvent polarity scale based on solvatochromism of a series of azomerocyanine molecules ("Buncel's dye"). (17) Some glimpses are presented of current forays into molecular electronics, as emanating from the above studies: (a) spiropyran (SP) <> merocyanine (MC) thermo- and photochromic "molecular switch" systems; (b) synthesis and characterization of azo-functionalized star-burst dendrimers with photoswitchable properties and potential applications in optical data storage systems, holographic gratings, and drug delivery systems as host molecules.Key words: Wallach rearrangement, benzidine disproportionation, azoarenes, azoxyarenes, dendrimers, hydrazoarenes, dendrimers, solvatochromism, photochromism, thermochromism, spiropyran-merocyanine molecular switch.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.040 | 0.013 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".