Structures of oxidation products of 4,6-di-tert-butylpyrogallol

Oxidation of 4,6-di-tert-butylpyrogallol gave two dimeric products instead of the expected 4,6-di-tert-butyl-3-hydroxy-1,2-benzoquinone (2). It was established by X-ray diffraction analysis that the first product has the structure of tetra-tert-butyl-6, 10a-dihydroxy-1,2-dioxo-3,4a,7,9-1,2,4a, 10a-tetrahydrodibenzo-1,4-dioxine. From this it follows that compound 2 undergoes regio- and stereospecific dimerization according to the 2π+4π]-cycloaddition mechanism,viz, the hetero Diels—Alder reaction. The double intensities of the signals in the¹H NMR spectrum are indicative of a symmetrical structure of the second product, 2,6,4′, 6′-tetra-tert-butyl-4,4′-dihyroxy-3,5,3′,5′-tetraoxo-4,4′-bi(cyclohexene), which is a racemate of enantiomers formed upon recombination (r+r orl+l) of the intermediate of oxidation of pyrogallol, namely, of ther,l-stereogenic 3,5-di-tert-butyl-1-hydroxy-2,6-dioxocyclohex-3-enyl radical. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 1, pp. 139–146, January, 1999.