Aspects of the chemistry of 1,4-naphthoquinones. An investigation of nucleophilic substitution reactions of alkylamines and hydroxyalyklamines on 1,4 napthoquinones and the role of solvent on the position of substitution.

Abstract

Nucleophilic substitution reactions of alkylamines, cyclic alkylamines, and hydroxyalkylamines with 5-substituted-1,4-naphthoquinones have been studied. It has been found that the nature of the solvent employed in the reaction influences the position of mono-substitution at either the 2- or 3-position. Although both regioisomers were produced in all the reactions, protic polar solvents favoured the formation of the 3-regioisomer, whereas non-protic solvents favoured the formation of the 2-regioisomer. It has also been found that formation of 2,3-diaminoalkyl derivatives is normally unlikely. A series of hydroxyalkylamino-1,4-naphthoquinones were also synthesised. The collision-induced dissociation mass spectra of protonated hydroxyalkylamino-1,4- naphthoquinones showed fragmentation patterns which were dependent on the nature and length of the side chain and the presence and nature of the adjacent group on the 3-position on the 1,4-naphthoquinone ring. A total of 27 novel compounds were synthesised during the course of this research, the structures of which were confirmed via 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry (ESI), IR spectroscopy and high resolution mass spectrometry (HRESIMS and HREIMS).