Photochemical nitration by tetranitromethane. Part XXXIII. Adduct formation in the photochemical reactions of 1,2,4,5- and 1,2,3,5-tetramethylbenzene

The photolysis of the charge-transfer complex of tetranitromethane and 1,2,4,5-tetramethylbenzene in dichloromethane or acetonitrile gives the epimeric 1,3,4,6-tetramethyl-3-nitro-6-trinitromethylcyclohexa-1,4-dienes 8 and 9, in addition to products of nuclear nitration 12 and side-chain modification 10, 11, and 13-18. Similar reactions of 1,2,3,5-tetramethylbenzene gave trans-1,3,5,6-tetramethyl-6-nitro-3-trinitromethylcyclohexa-1,4-diene 30 and two isomeric 'double' adducts 31 and 32, in addition to products of nuclear nitration 27 and side-chain modification 26, 28 and 29. The eliminative rearrangements of adducts 8 and 30 to give re-aromatized products in acetonitrile or [²H₃] acetonitrile and in [²H] chloroform are reported. The photolysis of the charge-transfer complexes of tetranitromethane with either 1,2,4,5-tetramethylbenzene or 1,2,3,5-tetramethylbenzene in 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropan-2-ol (HFP) gives a marked increase in the yields of ring-nitration products 12 or 27, respectively, reactions presumed to proceed via a nitrosation-oxidation sequence. Reaction of 1,2,4,5-tetramethylbenzene with excess nitrogen dioxide in HFP also results in extensive ring nitration to give 12 and 2,3,5,6-tetramethyl-1,4-dinitrobenzene (25); the latter compound is seen as arising via the 2,3,5,6-tetramethyl-1,4-dinitrosobenzene (34). Similar reaction of 1,2,3,5-tetramethylbenzene gives ring-nitration product 27 as the major product. X-Ray crystal structures are reported for 2,4,6-trimethyl-1-(2′,2′,2′-trinitroethyl)benzene (26) and trans-1,3,5,6-tetramethyl-6-nitro-3-trinitromethyl-cyclohexa-1,4-diene (30).