Kinetic study of the hydrogen abstraction reaction of the benzotriazole-N-oxyl radical (BTNO) with H-donor substrates

The aminoxyl radical (> N-O-center dot) BTNO (benzotriazole-N-oxyl) has been generated by the oxidation of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT; > N-OH) with a Ce-IV salt in MeCN. BTNO presents a broad absorption band with gimel(max) 474 nm and is an element of 1840 M-1 cm(-1), and spontaneously decays with a first-order rate constant of 6.3 x 10(-3) s(-1) in MeCN at 25 degrees C. Characterization of BTNO radical by EPR, laser flash photolysis, and cyclic voltammetry is provided. The spontaneous decay of BTNO is strongly accelerated in the presence of H-donor substrates such as alkylarenes, benzyl and allyl alcohols, and alkanols, and rate constants of H-abstraction by BTNO from a number of substrates have been spectroscopically investigated at 25 degrees C. The kinetic isotope effect confirms the H-abstraction step as rate-determining. Activation parameters have been measured in the 15-40 degrees C range with selected substrates. A correlation between E. and BDE(C-H) (C-H bond dissociation energy) for a small series of H-donors has been obtained according to the Evans-Polanyi equation, giving alpha = 0.44. From this plot, the experimentally unavailable BDE(C-H) of benzyl alcohol can be extrapolated, as ca. 79 kcal/mol. With respect to the H-abstraction step, peculiar differences in the AS' parameter emerge between an alkylarene, ArC(H)R-2, and a benzyl alcohol, ArC(H)(OH)R. The data acquired on the H-abstraction reactivity of BTNO are compared with those recently reported for the aminoxyl radical PINO (phthalimide-N-oxyl), generated from N-hydroxyphthalimide (HPI). The higher reactivity of radical PINO is explained on the basis of the higher energy of the NO-H bond of HPI, as compared with that of HBT (88 vs ca. 85 kcal/mol, respectively), which is formed on H-abstraction from the RH substrate.