Radical Arylation Reactions of 4, 6, 8-Trimethylazulene

The synthesis of 1- and 2-aryl-substituted (aryl = Ph, 4-NO₂? C₆H₄, and 4-MeO? C₆H₄) 4, 6, 8-trimethylazulenes ( 4 and 3 , respectively) in moderate yields by direct arylation of 4, 6, 8-trimethylazulene ( 8 ) with the corresponding arylhydrazines 13 in the presence of Cu^IIions in pyridine (see Scheme 4) as well as with 4-MeO? C₆H₄Pb(OAc)₃ ( 16 ) in CF₃COOH (see Scheme 5) is described. With 13 , also small amounts of 1, 2- and 1, 3-diarylated azulenes (see 14 and 15 , respectively, in Scheme 4) are formed. The 4-methoxyphenylation of 8 with 16 yielded also the 1, 1′-biazulene 17 in minor amounts (see Scheme 5). 4, 6, 8-Trimethyl-2-phenylazulene ( 3a ) was also obtained as the sole product in moderate yields by the reaction of sodium phenylclopentadienide ( 1a ) with 2, 4, 6-trimethylpyrylium tetrafluoroborate ( 2 ) in THF (Scheme 1). The attempted phenylation of 8 as well as of azulene ( 9 ) itself with N-nitroso-N-phenylacetamide ( 10 ) led only to the formation of the corresponding 1-(phenylazo)-substituted azulenes 12 and 11 , respectively (Scheme 3).