heterocyclic compound

Any of a class of organic compounds whose molecules contain one or more rings of atoms with at least one atom (the heteroatom) being an element other than carbon, most frequently oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur.

As in regular cyclic hydrocarbons, such heterocyclic rings may include single, double, or triple bonds or be aromatic (see covalent bond; aromatic compound), and the compound may contain one or more single rings or have fused rings (in which adjoining rings share two carbon atoms). Compounds having five-membered heterocyclic rings include chlorophyll, hemoglobin, indigo, tryptophan, and certain polymers. Those with six-membered heterocyclic rings include pyridine, pyridoxine (vitamin B₆; see vitamin B complex), vitamin E, quinine, and the pyran nucleus, which is found in sugars and the anthocyanin pigments. Nicotine and morphine have both five-and six-membered heterocyclic rings; some antibiotics (e.g., penicillin) have two different heteroatoms in their rings. Other important heterocyclic compounds are pyrimidines, which occur in barbiturates, and purines, which occur in caffeine and related compounds; pyrimidine and purine are the parent compounds of the nucleic acids.

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▪ chemistry

Introduction

also called  heterocycle 

 any of a major class of organic chemical compounds characterized by the fact that some or all of the atoms (atom) in their molecules (molecule) are joined in rings containing at least one atom of an element (chemical element) other than carbon (C). The cyclic part (from Greek kyklos, meaning “circle”) of heterocyclic indicates that at least one ring structure is present in such a compound, while the prefix hetero- (from Greek heteros, meaning “other” or “different”) refers to the noncarbon atoms, or heteroatoms, in the ring. In their general structure, heterocyclic compounds resemble cyclic organic compounds (organic compound) that incorporate only carbon atoms in the rings—for example, cyclopropane (with a three-carbon-atom ring) or benzene (with a six-carbon-atom ring)—but the presence of the heteroatoms gives heterocyclic compounds physical and chemical properties that are often quite distinct from those of their all-carbon-ring analogs.

      Heterocyclic compounds include many of the biochemical material essential to life. For example, nucleic acids (nucleic acid), the chemical substances that carry the genetic information controlling inheritance, consist of long chains of heterocyclic units held together by other types of materials. Many naturally occurring pigments (pigment), vitamins (vitamin), and antibiotics (antibiotic) are heterocyclic compounds, as are most hallucinogens (hallucinogen). Modern society is dependent on synthetic heterocycles for use as drugs (drug), pesticides (pesticide), dyes (dye), and plastics (plastic).

General aspects of heterocyclic compounds

      The most common heterocycles are those having five- or six-membered rings and containing heteroatoms of nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), or sulfur (S). The best known of the simple heterocyclic compounds are pyridine, pyrrole, furan, and thiophene. A molecule of pyridine contains a ring of six atoms—five carbon atoms and one nitrogen atom. Pyrrole, furan, and thiophene molecules each contain five-membered rings, composed of four atoms of carbon and one atom of nitrogen, oxygen, or sulfur, respectively.

      Pyridine and pyrrole are both nitrogen heterocycles—their molecules contain nitrogen atoms along with carbon atoms in the rings. The molecules of many biological materials consist in part of pyridine and pyrrole rings, and such materials yield small amounts of pyridine and pyrrole upon strong heating. In fact, both of these substances were discovered in the 1850s in an oily mixture formed by strong heating of bones (bone). Today, pyridine and pyrrole are prepared by synthetic reactions.Their chief commercial interest lies in their conversion to other substances, chiefly dyestuffs and drugs. Pyridine is used also as a solvent, a waterproofing agent, a rubber additive, an alcohol denaturant, and a dyeing adjunct.

      Furan is an oxygen-containing heterocycle employed primarily for conversion to other substances (including pyrrole). Furfural, a close chemical relative of furan, is obtained from oat hulls and corncobs and is used in the production of intermediates for nylon. thiophene, a sulfur heterocycle, resembles benzene in its chemical and physical properties. It is a frequent contaminant of the benzene obtained from natural sources and was first discovered during the purification of benzene. Like the other compounds, it is used primarily for conversion to other substances. Furan and thiophene were both discovered in the latter part of the 19th century.

      In general, the physical and chemical properties of heterocyclic compounds are best understood by comparing them with ordinary organic compounds that do not contain heteroatoms.

Comparison with carbocyclic compounds

      The molecules of organic chemical compounds are built up from a framework or backbone of carbon atoms to which are attached hydrogen (H), oxygen, or other heteroatoms. Carbon atoms have the unique property of being able to link with one another to form chains of atoms. When the ends of the chains are joined together into a ring, cyclic compounds result; such substances often are referred to as carbocyclic or alicyclic compounds. Substitution of one or more of the ring carbon atoms in the molecules of a carbocyclic compound with a heteroatom gives a heterocyclic compound.

      A typical carbocyclic compound is cyclopentane (C₅H₁₀), the molecular structure of which is indicated by the formula

      in which the chemical symbols represent atoms of the elements and the lines represent bonds (see covalent bond) between the atoms. For convenience such formulas are often written in simplified polygonal form, such as

      for cyclopentane, in which each corner of the polygon represents a carbon atom (it being understood that hydrogen atoms are joined to the carbon atoms as required).

      When one of the carbon atoms of cyclopentane is replaced with an atom of nitrogen, the compound pyrrolidine, a chemical relative of pyrrole, is produced. The structural formula of pyrrolidine is written:

      Other heterocyclic compounds can be envisioned similarly as derivatives of cyclopentane by substitution with other heteroatoms or of other carbocyclic compounds by substitution with nitrogen or other heteroatoms.

      The simplest organic compounds are the hydrocarbons (hydrocarbon), compounds of carbon and hydrogen only. Hydrocarbons are classified as saturated if all four possible bonds of every carbon atom are joined singly to another carbon atom or to a hydrogen atom. They are classified as unsaturated if they contain a double or triple bond between any two of the carbon atoms, and they are classed as aromatic (aromatic compound) if they contain at least one ring, all atoms of which are joined by alternating double and single bonds. Nonaromatic unsaturated compounds are highly reactive—that is, they readily undergo additions of atoms or groups of atoms to the carbon atoms of their double bonds, giving each carbon four substituents. Aromatic compounds, though having double bonds, are extremely stable and do not readily undergo the addition reactions characteristic of other unsaturated compounds. The stability and unreactivity of, for instance, a six-membered aromatic ring are associated with the presence of three pairs of electrons (electron), called pi (π) electrons, associated with the three double bonds of the ring. Together these electrons, constituting the so-called aromatic sextet, form an unusually stable structure associated with the aromatic ring as a whole rather than with the individual pairs of atoms.

      Heterocycles too may be classified as saturated, unsaturated, or aromatic. Thus, as shown in the following structural formulas, pyrrolidine is a saturated heterocyclic compound containing no double bond; 4,5-dihydrofuran is an unsaturated heterocyclic compound; and pyridine is a typical heterocyclic aromatic, or heteroaromatic, substance. In the two structural formulas given for pyridine, the first shows the double bonds, whereas the second represents the aromatic sextet with a circle.

      This classification relates the chemistry of heterocycles directly with that of carbocyclic derivatives, which are usually better known. In general, synthetic methods and physical and chemical properties of the saturated and the partly unsaturated heterocyclic compounds closely resemble those for their acyclic (noncyclic, or open-chain) analogs. Thus, pyrrolidine may be considered as a cyclic secondary amine and has much in common with the corresponding acyclic amine, diethylamine, which is represented by the formula:

      Similarly, 4,5-dihydrofuran mirrors many of the properties of the corresponding unsaturated ether, ethyl vinyl (vinyl compound) ether, which has the formula:

nomenclature of heterocyclic compounds

      Naming heterocyclic compounds is complicated because of the existence of many common names in addition to the internationally agreed-upon systematic nomenclature. (A brief account of systematic nomenclature is given here; for more information, see below Major classes of heterocyclic compounds (heterocyclic compound).)

      The types of heteroatoms present in a ring are indicated by prefixes; in particular, oxa-, thia-, and aza- denote oxygen, sulfur, and nitrogen atoms, respectively. The numbers of heteroatoms of a particular kind are indicated by number prefixes joined to the heteroatom prefixes, as dioxa- and triaza-. The presence of different kinds of heteroatoms is indicated by combining the above prefixes, using the following order of preference: oxa- first, followed by thia- and then aza-.

      In addition, partially saturated rings are indicated by the prefixes dihydro-, tetrahydro-, and so on, according to the number of “extra” hydrogen atoms bonded to the ring atoms. The positions of heteroatoms, extra hydrogen atoms, and substituents are indicated by Arabic numerals, for which the numbering starts at an oxygen atom, if one is present, or at a sulfur or nitrogen atom and continues in such a way that the heteroatoms are assigned the lowest possible numbers. Other things being equal, numbering starts at a nitrogen atom that carries a substituent rather than at a multiply bonded nitrogen. In compounds with maximum unsaturation, if the double bonds can be arranged in more than one way, their positions are defined by indicating the nitrogen or carbon atoms that are not multiply bonded and that consequently carry an extra hydrogen atom (or substituent), as follows: 1H-, 2H-, and so on.

The nature of heteroaromaticity

      Aromaticity (aromatic compound) denotes the significant stabilization of a ring compound by a system of alternating single and double bonds—called a cyclic conjugated system—in which six π electrons generally participate. A nitrogen atom in a ring can carry a positive or a negative charge, or it can be in the neutral form. An oxygen or sulfur atom in a ring can either be in the neutral form or carry a positive charge. A fundamental distinction is usually made between (1) those heteroatoms that participate in a cyclic conjugated system by means of a lone, or unshared, pair of electrons that are in an orbital perpendicular to the plane of the ring and (2) those heteroatoms that do so because they are connected to another atom by means of a double bond.

      An example of an atom of the first type is the nitrogen atom in pyrrole, which is linked by single covalent bonds to two carbon atoms and one hydrogen atom. Nitrogen has an outermost shell of five electrons, three of which can enter into three covalent bonds with other atoms. After the bonds are formed, as in the case of pyrrole, there remains an unshared electron pair that can engage in cyclic conjugation. The aromatic sextet in pyrrole is made up of two electrons from each of the two carbon-carbon double bonds and the two electrons that compose the unshared electron pair of the nitrogen atom. As a consequence, there tends to be a net flow of electron density from the nitrogen atom to the carbon atoms as the nitrogen's electrons are drawn into the aromatic sextet. Alternatively, the pyrrole molecule may be described as a resonance (resonance, theory of) hybrid—that is, a molecule whose true structure can only be approximated by two or more different forms, called resonance forms.

      An example of a heteroatom of the second type is the nitrogen atom in pyridine, which is linked by covalent bonds to only two carbon atoms. Pyridine also has a π-electron sextet, but the nitrogen atom contributes only one electron to it, one additional electron being contributed by each of the five carbon atoms in the ring. In particular, the unshared electron pair of the nitrogen atom is not involved. Moreover, because nitrogen's attraction for electrons (its electronegativity) is greater than that of carbon, electrons tend to move toward the nitrogen atom rather than away from it, as in pyrrole.

      Quite generally, heteroatoms may be referred to as pyrrolelike or pyridine-like, depending on whether they fall into the first or second class described above. The pyrrolelike heteroatoms −NR− (R being hydrogen or a hydrocarbon group), −N⁻−, −O−, and −S− tend to donate electrons into the π-electron system, whereas the pyridine-like heteroatoms −N=, −N⁺R=, −O⁺=, and −S⁺= tend to attract the π electrons of a double bond.

      In six-membered heteroaromatic rings, the heteroatoms (usually nitrogen) are pyridine-like—for example, the compounds pyrimidine, which contains two nitrogen atoms, and 1,2,4-triazine, which contains three nitrogen atoms.

      Six-membered heteroaromatic compounds cannot normally contain pyrrolelike heteroatoms. Five-membered heteroaromatic rings, however, always contain one pyrrolelike nitrogen, oxygen, or sulfur atom, and they may also contain up to four pyridine-like heteroatoms, as in the compounds thiophene (with one sulfur atom), 1,2,4-oxadiazole (with one oxygen atom and two nitrogen atoms), and pentazole (with five nitrogen atoms).

      The quantitative measurement of aromaticity—and even its precise definition—has challenged chemists since German chemist August Kekule (Kekule von Stradonitz, August) formulated the ring structure for benzene in the mid-19th century. Various methods based on energetic, structural, and magnetic criteria have been widely used to measure the aromaticity of carbocyclic compounds. All of them, however, are difficult to apply quantitatively to heteroaromatic systems because of complications arising from the presence of heteroatoms.

      Chemical reactivity can provide a certain qualitative insight into aromaticity. The reactivity of an aromatic compound is affected by the extra stability of the conjugated system that it contains; the extra stability in turn determines the tendency of the compound to react by substitution of hydrogen—i.e., replacement of a singly bonded hydrogen atom with another singly bonded atom or group—rather than by addition of one or more atoms to the molecule via the breaking of a double bond (see substitution reaction; addition reaction). In terms of reactivity, therefore, the degree of aromaticity is measured by the relative tendency toward substitution rather than addition. By this criterion, pyridine is more aromatic than furan, but it is difficult to say just how much more aromatic.

Physical properties of heterocyclic compounds

      Physical properties are important as criteria for judging the purity of heterocycles just as for other organic compounds (organic compound). Organic compounds generally show great regularity in their physical properties, and heterocycles are no exception.

      The melting point was once a widely used criterion for purity, but it has been increasingly superseded by optical spectra, based on light absorption; mass spectra, based on relative masses of molecular fragments; and magnetic resonance spectra, based on nuclear properties (see spectroscopy). Nevertheless, knowledge of melting and boiling points is still helpful for judging the purity of a compound.

Melting and boiling points

       Boiling points (C) of saturated heterocycles and corresponding carbocycles Melting (in bold) and boiling points (C) of heteroaromatic compounds Boiling points (C) of saturated heterocycles and corresponding carbocycles Melting (in bold) and boiling points (C) of heteroaromatic compoundsThe boiling points (boiling point) of certain saturated heterocycles are listed in the first table and are compared with those of the corresponding cycloalkanes (rightmost column of the table). The melting points (melting point) or boiling points of common heteroaromatic compounds and their substituted derivatives are compared with those of benzene and its derivatives in the second table.

      Replacement of a two- carbon unit (two carbon and two hydrogen atoms, molecular weight equal to 26) by a single sulfur atom ( atomic weight 32) has little effect on the melting or boiling point. On the other hand, replacement of a two-carbon unit by an oxygen atom (atomic weight 16) lowers the boiling point by about 40 °C (72 °F), which is to be expected because of the decreased molecular weight of the furan compounds (lighter compounds being more volatile). Introduction of nitrogen atoms into the benzene ring is accompanied by less-regular changes. Replacement of a two-carbon unit by an imino (NH) group, or of a single carbon by a nitrogen atom, increases the boiling point. Furthermore, making these two changes simultaneously increases the boiling point even more, probably as the result of intermolecular association by hydrogen bonding (a weak form of attachment via certain types of hydrogen atoms; see chemical bonding) between the pyridine-like nitrogen atom and the imino group.

      The effects of substituent groups in heteroaromatic rings show considerable regularity. Methyl (methyl group) (CH₃) and ethyl (C₂H₅) groups attached to ring carbon atoms usually increase the boiling point by about 20–30 °C (36–54 °F) and 50–60 °C (90–108 °F), respectively, whereas a similar attachment to a ring nitrogen atom (e.g., pyrrole {long right arrow} 1-methylpyrrole) significantly decreases the boiling point because of decreased ease of intermolecular association by hydrogen bonding (the active hydrogen having been replaced by a hydrocarbon group). Heterocyclic carboxylic acids (carboxylic acid) and amides (amide) are all solids at room temperature. Carboxylic acids of heterocycles containing a ring nitrogen atom usually melt at higher temperatures than those containing ring oxygen or sulfur atoms, because of hydrogen bonding. Compounds containing both a ring nitrogen atom and a hydroxyl (OH) or amino (NH₂) group are usually relatively high-melting solids. Compounds containing chlorine (Cl) usually have boiling points similar to those of the corresponding ethyl-substituted compounds.

Ultraviolet, infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance, and mass spectra

      Spectroscopic studies of heterocyclic compounds, like those of other organic compounds, have became of great importance as means of identification of unknown materials, as criteria for purity, and as probes for investigating the electronic structures of molecules, thereby explaining and helping to predict their reactions. The ultraviolet spectrum of an organic compound (the pattern of its light absorption in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum) is characteristic of the π- electron system of the molecule—i.e., of the arrangement of double bonds within the structure. The ultraviolet spectra of heteroaromatic compounds show general similarity to those of benzenoid compounds (compounds with one or more benzene rings), and the effects of substituents can usually be rationalized in a similar way.

      The infrared (infrared radiation) spectrum of an organic compound, with its complexity of bands, provides an excellent “fingerprint” of the compound—far more characteristic than a melting point. It also can be used to identify certain common groups, such as carbonyl (carbonyl group) (C=O) and imino, as well as various heterocyclic ring systems.

       magnetic resonance spectra are indispensable today for studies in heterocyclic chemistry. proton resonance spectra, the most common type, yield information regarding the number of hydrogen atoms in the molecule, their chemical environment, and their relative orientation in space. Mass spectra are used to determine not only the complete molecular formula of the compound but also the molecular structure from the way the molecule fragments.

Synthesis (chemical synthesis) and modification of heterocyclic rings

      The important methods for synthesizing heterocyclic compounds can be classified under five headings. Three are ways of forming new heterocyclic rings from precursors containing either no rings (acyclic precursors) or one fewer ring than the desired product; one is a way of obtaining a heterocyclic ring from another heterocyclic ring or from a carbocyclic ring; and one involves the modification of substituents on an existing heterocyclic ring.

      In the formation of rings from acyclic precursors, the key step is frequently the formation of a carbon-heteroatom linkage (C−Z, in which Z represents an atom of nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, or a more unusual element). The actual ring closure, or cyclization, however, may involve the formation of a carbon-carbon bond. In any case, ring formation reactions are divided into three general categories according to whether the cyclization reaction occurs primarily as a result of nucleophilic or electrophilic attack or by way of a cyclic transition state.

Nucleophilic ring closure

      To prepare compounds containing one heteroatom, an open-chain hydrocarbon derivative containing two halogen element atoms—specifically, chlorine, bromine (Br), or iodine (I)—either as halides (in which the halogen atoms are attached directly to the hydrocarbon chain) or as acyl halides (in which the halogen atoms belong to derivatives of carboxylic acids) is reacted with the dihydro form of the heteroatom (ZH₂, or an equivalent reagent) to give nonaromatic heterocycles.

      Diketones also can react with dihydro Z compounds to give heterocycles. (A ketone is an organic compound that contains a carbonyl group, the carbon atom of which is linked to two other carbon atoms belonging to hydrocarbon groups. Diketones contain two such carbonyl groups.) Diketones with the carbonyl groups separated by two carbon atoms, for example, can be cyclized to form five-membered aromatic pyrroles (pyrrole), furans (furan), and thiophenes (thiophene). In the case of diketones whose carbonyl groups are separated by three carbons, six-membered rings may be formed.

      In each of these reactions the heteroatom Z acts as a nucleophile—an atom or a molecule that seeks a positively charged centre, such as a partly unprotected atomic nucleus (atom). The heteroatom attacks the positively charged carbon atom produced by electron withdrawal because of the presence of the halogen atom (in the first two reactions above) or of the oxygen atom (in the last reaction).

      Usually, such reactions proceed by means of intermediates in which only one of the two C−Z bonds has formed. In reactions involving halogens as halides, for instance, a compound such as HZ−CH₂−(CH₂)_n−CH₂Br may form first. This fact can be applied to heterocycle synthesis in that it is frequently possible to make such intermediate compounds by other routes; these intermediates then cyclize readily to form the desired ring. One procedure for pyridine synthesis, for example, involves a condensation reaction employing an intermediate with the carbon-nitrogen bond already formed.

      Heterocycles containing two adjacent nitrogen atoms, two oxygen atoms, or adjacent nitrogen and oxygen atoms also may be prepared from precursors by the use of hydrazine (N₂H₄), hydroxylamine (NH₂OH), or hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in place of the dihydro Z compound. Similarly, two adjacent heteroatoms can be introduced by employing one of the reagents in the reactions with diketones, discussed earlier in this section.

      When a compound containing two nonadjacent heteroatoms is desired, appropriate components can be put together, as in the synthesis of a pyrimidine. Ring synthesis reactions in which the heteroatom acts as a nucleophile can also employ precursors containing a ring, resulting in two-ring compounds. These reactions involve the use of ortho-disubstituted benzenes (ortho substituents being groups attached to adjacent carbon atoms in the benzene ring). The formation of quinoline and quinazoline rings (see below Major classes of heterocyclic compounds: Six-membered rings with one heteroatom (heterocyclic compound)) is an example of this reaction type.

Electrophilic ring closure

      Heterocyclic ring-forming reactions in which the heteroatom acts as an electrophile—an electron-seeking atom or molecule—are rare, because nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur atoms are themselves electron-rich centres that act generally as nucleophiles. Nevertheless, electrophilic ring closure reactions are known in which a heterocyclic ring is formed by a reaction in which a carbon atom of the future ring acts as an electrophile. Usually such reactions involve ring closure onto an existing benzene ring (or other aromatic system), an electron-rich system that is generally subject to attack by electrophilic reagents. An example of ring closures of this type is the formation of quinoline from aniline and acrolein, a dehydration product of glycerol. The initial heterocyclic product of the reaction is dihydroquinoline, which must be dehydrogenated (must undergo removal of two hydrogen atoms) to give the fully aromatic product, quinoline itself.

Ring closure by way of cyclic transition states

      A most important method for the synthesis of carbocyclic six-membered rings is the Diels-Alder diene reaction, named for its Nobel Prize-winning discoverers, the German chemists Otto Diels (Diels, Otto Paul Hermann) and Kurt Alder (Alder, Kurt). In this reaction, illustrated below, a diene—a compound with two double bonds—reacts with a dienophile (a diene-seeking reagent), which contains a pair of carbon atoms linked by a double or triple bond. The product is a cyclohexene, a compound with a six-membered ring containing a double bond.

      

      Heterocycles likewise can be synthesized by the Diels-Alder reaction, in which the dienophile contains a pair of heteroatoms such as nitrogen linked by multiple bonds.

      Of even greater use, however, is a related method called the Huisgen dipolar cycloaddition reaction. This reaction is an important means of preparing many types of five-membered rings, especially those containing several heteroatoms. Pyrazoles (pyrazole), isoxazoles (see below Major classes of heterocyclic compounds: Five- and six-membered rings with two or more heteroatoms (heterocyclic compound)), and many less-common heterocycles can be synthesized by this method.

Conversion of one heterocyclic ring into another

      Although there are many reactions of theoretical importance in which one heterocyclic ring is converted into another, few are of practical use. The preparation of pyridine from tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol and ammonia (see below Major classes of heterocyclic compounds: Six-membered rings with one heteroatom (heterocyclic compound)) and the conversion of pyrylium salts into pyridinium salts are good examples of such transformations. In addition, ring-atom rearrangement, or “shuffling,” can be brought about with light (see photochemical reaction) in five- and six-membered heteroaromatic compounds, and ring contraction by extrusion of an atom or a group can occur under certain conditions.

Modification of an existing ring

      Dehydrogenation of saturated or partially saturated heterocyclic rings to thermodynamically more-stable heteroaromatic compounds by heating with sulfur or by treatment with a palladium catalyst is analogous to similar reactions involving carbocyclic compounds. The hydrogenation of (addition of hydrogen to) heteroaromatic rings is, by contrast, usually more difficult, for the heteroatoms tend to poison the catalyst. Finally, the modification of substituents on heterocyclic rings is of highest importance in synthesis, and reactions by which substituents may be altered are among the most useful in heterocyclic chemistry.

Major classes of heterocyclic compounds

      The major classes of heterocycles containing the common heteroatoms— nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur—are reviewed in order of increasing ring size, with compounds containing other heteroatoms left to a final section. Classification by ring size is convenient because heterocyclic rings of a given size have many common features. For heterocyclic (as for carbocyclic) rings, certain broad generalizations can be made. Three- and four-membered rings, because of their small size, are geometrically strained and thus readily opened; they are also readily formed. Such heterocycles are well-known reactive intermediates. Five- and six-membered rings are readily formed and are very stable; their sizes also allow the development of aromatic character. Seven-membered rings and larger are stable but less readily formed and relatively less well investigated.

Three-membered rings

      The three-membered ring heterocycles containing single atoms of nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur—aziridine, oxirane (or ethylene oxide), and thiirane, respectively—and their derivatives can all be prepared by nucleophilic reactions, of the type shown. Thus, aziridine is formed by heating β-aminoethyl hydrogen sulfate with a base (in this case Y is −OSO₃H).

      A reaction of this type is involved in the pharmacological action of nitrogen mustards, which were among the first anticancer drugs developed (see drug: Cancer chemotherapy (drug)). Intramolecular ring closure, as in the case of the anticancer agent mechlorethamine, produces an intermediate aziridinium ion, the biologically active agent, which attacks rapidly proliferating cells (cell) such as cancer cells by inhibiting replication of their DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). Nitrogen mustards linked to steroids (steroid) also have been used as anticancer agents.

      Commercially, oxirane and (to a lesser extent) aziridine are important bulk industrial chemicals. Oxirane is prepared on a large scale by the direct reaction of ethylene with oxygen.

      The chemical reaction that is the most characteristic of these three-membered rings is susceptibility to attack by nucleophilic reagents to open the ring, as shown by:

      The first step shown is the reverse of the formation reaction shown at the top of this section. As indicated, a second molecule of the three-membered ring may react with the first product. Further reaction leads to long chainlike molecules (polymers (polymer)) of the type C₂H₅O(CH₂CH₂Z)_nCH₂CH₂ZH. Polymers and copolymers of oxirane and aziridine are useful plastics (plastic).

      The oxirane ring can also be opened by hydrolysis—i.e., the breaking of a bond accompanied by the addition of the elements of water (H and OH), which is similar to the first step of the ring-opening reaction illustrated above. The result of this reaction is ethylene glycol (HOCH₂CH₂OH), which serves as antifreeze in cooling and heating systems, in brake fluid, and as a solvent in the paints and plastics industries.

      In medicine, aziridine derivatives are used for the treatment of cancer and in research as affinity probes (labeled chemicals that react selectively with biological molecules of interest) for detection and assay studies. The mitomycin family of antitumour antibiotics (antibiotic) is the most well-known class of natural products containing the aziridine ring.

      Naturally occurring compounds containing one or more oxirane rings are abundant. These molecules include insect juvenile hormones (hormone), pheromones (pheromone), and products of marine organisms. Often they are biologically active and have promising therapeutic applications. For example, the fungal product (−)-ovalicin, which contains two oxirane rings, has potential for inhibiting development of solid tumours (tumour) by cutting off their blood supply. An important synthetic oxirane having one ring is fosfomycin, used as an antibacterial drug, particularly in treating urinary tract infections (renal system disease).

      Molecules containing thiirane rings are more bactericidal than those containing oxirane rings, and some thiirane derivatives have found application as tuberculostats (drugs that inhibit the growth of tuberculosis-causing bacteria), whereas thiirane 1 oxides have been reported to be insecticides (insecticide), molluscicides, or herbicides (herbicide).

      Although aziridine, oxirane, and thiirane are saturated heterocycles, they are much more reactive than the corresponding open-chain amines (amine), ethers (ether), or sulfides (sulfide) because of the strain inherent in the three-membered ring. This behaviour reflects the comparable enhanced reactivity of the related three-membered carbocyclic compound cyclopropane.

      Since 1950, five different classes of three-membered ring compounds with two heteroatoms have been discovered. They are derivatives of the parent ring systems diaziridine (containing N−N), oxaziridine (O−N), thiaziridine (S−N), dioxirane (O−O), and dithiirane (S−S). The oxathiirane system has no reported stable representatives in its class.

      Except for diaziridine systems, which are used in the manufacture of plastic films and foamed plastics, as propellants (propellant) and fuel stabilizers, and in the synthesis of anticancer drugs and psychopharmaceuticals, these compounds currently have limited practical importance, but they offer interesting possibilities for future applications.

Four-membered rings

      Azetidine, oxetane, and thietane—four-membered rings containing, respectively, one nitrogen, oxygen, or sulfur atom—are prepared by nucleophilic displacement reactions similar to those used to prepare the corresponding three-membered rings.

      (In the reaction above, Y is usually Cl, Br, or SO₃H.) With four-membered rings, however, the reactions proceed less readily than do the analogous reactions for three-membered rings. The ring-opening reactions of four-membered heterocycles resemble qualitatively those of the corresponding three-membered rings, but they occur rather less readily.

      The most important heterocycles with four-membered rings are two related series of antibiotics, the penicillins (penicillin) and the cephalosporins (cephalosporin). Both series contain the azetidinone ring (the suffix -one indicating an oxygen atom linked with a double bond to a ring carbon atom). Another common name for the azetidinone ring is the β-lactam ring, which lends its name to the β-lactam antibiotics, the class to which the penicillins and cephalosporins belong. The chemistry of azetidinones was explored thoroughly during the intensive research into penicillin structure and synthesis that took place during World War II. A practical synthesis of penicillin was not achieved, however, until 1959.

      Numerous oxetanes, the synthetic analogs of the antiviral natural product oxetanocin, are under investigation as antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antiviral agents. Oxetanones, whose ring structure is analogous to that of the azetidinones except that the heteroatom is oxygen, are widely applied in polymer manufacturing and in agriculture as herbicides, fungicides, and bactericides. The parent thietane was found in shale oil, whereas its odoriferous derivatives function as scent markers for minks (mink), ferrets (ferret), and European polecats (polecat). Thietanes are used in the production of polymers, as bactericides and fungicides in paint, and as iron corrosion inhibitors.

Five-membered rings with one heteroatom

  The parent aromatic compounds of this family— pyrrole, furan, and thiophene—have the structures shown.

      The saturated derivatives are called pyrrolidine, tetrahydrofuran, and thiophane, respectively. The bicyclic compounds made of a pyrrole, furan, or thiophene ring fused to a benzene ring are called indole (or isoindole), benzofuran, and benzothiophene, respectively.

      As mentioned in the introductory section, the nitrogen heterocycle pyrrole occurs in bone oil, in which it is formed by the decomposition of proteins (protein) upon strong heating. Pyrrole rings are found in the amino acids proline and hydroxyproline, which are components of many proteins and which are present in particularly high concentrations in collagen, the structural protein of bones (bone), tendons (tendon), ligaments (ligament), and skin.

      Pyrrole derivatives are widespread in the living world. Pyrrole compounds are found among the alkaloids (alkaloid), a large class of alkaline organic nitrogen compounds produced primarily by plants (plant). nicotine is the best-known pyrrole-containing alkaloid. The heme group of the oxygen-carrying protein hemoglobin and of related compounds such as myoglobin; the chlorophylls (chlorophyll), which are the light-gathering pigments of green plants and other photosynthetic (photosynthesis) organisms; and 12 (vitamin B12) are all formed from four pyrrole units joined in a larger ring system known as a porphyrin, such as that of chlorophyll b, shown below.

      The bile pigments are formed by decomposition of the porphyrin ring and contain a chain of four pyrrole rings. bilirubin, for example, the brownish yellow pigment that gives feces its characteristic colour, is the end product of the breakdown of heme from destroyed red blood cells (erythrocyte).

      The phthalocyanines are a group of synthetic pigments that contain four isoindole units linked together in a large ring. A typical member of the family is phthalocyanine blue (Monastral Fast Blue).

      Numerous compounds produced in plants or animals contain one or more indole units in their molecular structure. The important vat dye indigo, which contains two indole units, has been used for thousands of years and was formerly obtained from plants, but it is now synthesized on a large scale.

      The closely related Tyrian purple, a dye obtained from species of snail and used in classical times, is 6,6′-dibromoindigo (with bromine atoms bonded to the numbered carbons in the structure above).

       tryptophan, an indole-containing essential amino acid found in most proteins, is used by the body to make several important substances, including the neurotransmitter serotonin and the B-complex vitamin niacin (see below Six-membered rings with one heteroatom (heterocyclic compound)). Skatole, a degradation product of tryptophan that retains the indole unit, contributes much of the strong odour of mammalian feces. Indole-3- acetic acid (heteroauxin or β-indolylacetic acid) is a plant-growth regulator and the most important member of the auxin family of plant hormones (see hormone: The hormones of plants (hormone)). The structures of these compounds are:

      Probably the best-known indole-containing compounds are the indole alkaloids, which have been isolated from plants representing more than 30 families. The mushroom hallucinogens psilocin and psilocybin, the ergot fungus alkaloids, the drugs reserpine and yohimbine, and the poison strychnine all belong to this group.

      The simplest member of the furan family of oxygen heterocycles, furan itself, is converted industrially by hydrogenation to tetrahydrofuran. Tetrahydrofuran is used as a solvent and for the production of adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine, the raw materials for nylon-6,6, the most common form of nylon. Other furan derivatives of industrial importance are maleic anhydride and phthalic anhydride, which are constituents of resins (resin) and plastics (plastic). These compounds are prepared in bulk by the oxidation of benzene and naphthalene, respectively, as shown (V₂O₅ is a vanadium catalyst).

      All carbohydrates (carbohydrate), the biochemical family that includes the sugars (sugar) and starches (starch), are composed of one or more simple sugar ( monosaccharide) units. These sugars are polyhydroxy aldehydes (aldehyde) or polyhydroxy ketones (ketone) that in aqueous solution exist as equilibrium mixtures of their open-chain and cyclized forms. Frequently the cyclized form of the sugar is a five-membered tetrahydrofuran ring called a furanose, as shown below for fructose, or fruit sugar, as a cyclized isomer (called a fructofuranose).

      Other important examples of tetrahydrofuran ring systems are the sugars ribose and deoxyribose, which are present in furanose form in, respectively, RNA and DNA, the heredity-controlling components of all living organisms.

      Dehydration of certain carbohydrates yields furan derivatives. Of great commercial importance is the conversion of a carbohydrate in corncobs, oat husks, and other agricultural waste into furan-2-aldehyde, or furfural, which is used extensively as a solvent, in the manufacture of plastics, and in the preparation of other furan derivatives. Many other furan derivatives occur naturally, including vitamin C. The structures of furfural and vitamin C are:

      The sulfur heterocycle thiophene and related compounds are found in coal tar and crude petroleum. The most important biologically occurring thiophene derivative is the B-complex vitamin biotin.

Six-membered rings with one heteroatom

      The nomenclature used for the various monocyclic nitrogen-containing six-membered ring compounds is given below. Positions on the ring are shown for pyridine, Arabic numerals being preferred to Greek letters, although both systems are used. The pyridones are aromatic compounds (aromatic compound) because of contributions to the resonance (resonance, theory of) hybrid from charged resonance forms such as that shown for 4-pyridone.

      Mono-, di-, and trimethylpyridines—that is, pyridines with one, two, or three attached methyl groups (methyl group), respectively—are called picolines, lutidines, and collidines, respectively, with the position of the methyl groups denoted by numbers—e.g., 2,4,6-collidine. Pyridine-2-, -3-, and -4-carboxylic acids (carboxylic acid) also have widely used trivial names: picolinic, nicotinic (derived from nicotine, of which it is an oxidation product), and isonicotinic acid, respectively. Pyridine itself and the picolines, lutidines, and collidines occur in coal tar and bone oil. Pyridine derivatives are also of great biological importance. For example, nicotinic acid is more commonly known as the B-complex vitamin niacin; a nutritionally equivalent form of niacin is nicotinamide, or niacinamide. Pyridoxine is another member of the B complex, 6 (vitamin B6). The structures of pyridoxine and nicotinamide are:

      Two coenzymes involved in many important metabolic reactions in living cells, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD, also called coenzyme I) and nicotine adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP, coenzyme II), are derived from nicotinamide, and the coenzyme pyridoxal phosphate (codecarboxylase) is a physiologically active form of pyridoxine. Many alkaloids (alkaloid) contain a pyridine or piperidine ring structure, among them nicotine (mentioned in the previous section for its pyrrole ring) and piperine (one of the sharp-tasting constituents of white and black pepper (black pepper), from the plant species Piper nigrum), with the structures shown.

      Pyridine, which once was extracted commercially from coal tar but now is prepared catalytically from tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol and ammonia, is an important solvent and intermediate used to make other compounds. Vinylpyridines such as

      

      are important monomer building blocks for plastics, and fully saturated pyridine, piperidine, is used in rubber processing and as a chemical raw material.

      Pharmaceutically important pyridines include the tuberculostat isoniazid (isonicotinic acid hydrazide), the anti- AIDS-virus drug nevirapine, the vasodilator nicorandil, used for treating angina (angina pectoris), the urinary-tract analgesic phenazopyridine, and the anti-inflammatory sulfa drug. 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl) piperidine (PCP, phencyclidine (PCP)) was originally used as an anesthetic, but its powerful hallucinogenic properties have led to abuse. Diquat, paraquat, clopyralid, and diflufenican are well-known pyridine derivatives used as herbicides (herbicide).

      Shown in the structural formulas below are two isomeric benzopyridines (upper pair) and two isomeric dibenzopyridines (lower pair), with their common names and accepted numberings. All four compounds and some of their alkyl derivatives have been obtained from coal tar. Each of them is also the parent substance of a class of alkaloids. Of these, the quinolines (quinoline) (e.g., quinine and other derivatives, still obtained from the Cinchona tree (Cinchona)) and the isoquinoline (e.g., morphine) groups are particularly well-known.

      Quinoline itself can be used to manufacture nicotinic acid and other compounds such as drugs (drug) and dyes (dye). The production of synthetic quinoline far exceeds that from coal tar. Morphine, codeine, and thebaine—all containing partially reduced isoquinoline rings—are alkaloids of the opium poppy and have been used for many centuries as hypnotics and analgesics. The semisynthetic derivative of morphine, heroin, is an even more powerful hypnotic and a highly addictive drug.

      Important synthetic derivatives of the benzo- and dibenzopyridines include cyanine dyes (cyanine dye), used as sensitizers in silver halide photographic emulsions, and quinophthalone dyes, applied in plastics, polymer textiles (textile), paper, cosmetics (cosmetic), transfer-printing processes, electronic photography (photography, technology of), and laser dyes. Other derivatives are useful bacteria-staining agents for microscopy (microscope), antiseptics (antiseptic) such as the coal-tar dye acriflavine, antimalarial agents such as mepacrine (quinacrine) and chloroquine, antibacterial agents such as ciprofloxacin, trypanocides (drugs that destroy trypanosomes, which are parasitic protozoans (protozoan) responsible for Chagas disease (Chagas' disease), sleeping sickness, and other serious infectious illnesses) such as ethidium bromide, and the reagent oxine (8-hydroxyquinoline or 8-quinolinol), used in analytical chemistry.

      Positively charged ions (cations (cation)) of pyrylium and thiopyrylium are the parent six-membered, aromatic, monocyclic oxygen and sulfur compounds of their respective groups.

      An uncharged aromatic (completely conjugated) six-membered ring containing an oxygen or sulfur atom is possible only if the ring contains a carbonyl group (i.e., a ring carbon atom linked by a double bond to an oxygen atom not in the ring), as in the pyrones.

      The pyrans (pyran) contain extra hydrogen atoms, the position of which is indicated in structural diagrams by a number followed by an H. Certain sugars—a typical example is the monosaccharide glucose—are called pyranoses because they contain six-membered tetrahydropyran rings, with the structure:

      Pyrone derivatives are present in natural products. Kojic acid, for example, is an antibiotic derived by action of certain molds (mold) on starches or sugars. The steroid bufotalin and its poisonous ester bufotoxin are obtained from the skin glands of toads (toad) (genus Bufo; see steroid: Structural relationships of the principal categories of steroids (steroid)).

      The benzopyrylium cation is the parent of a large number of natural products. Chroman, or 3,4-dihydro-2H-1-benzopyran, is itself not found in nature, but the chroman unit is present in many natural products. vitamin E (α-tocopherol), a substituted chroman, is found in plant oils and the leaves of green vegetables, whereas coumarin, or 2H-1-benzopyran-2-one, used in perfumes and flavourings, and its derivative dicoumarin (dicumarol, or discoumarol), a blood anticoagulant, are products of living organisms.

      The flavylium cation is the parent of the anthocyanidines, substances that in chemical combination with sugars form the anthocyanin pigments, the common red and blue colouring matters of flowers (flower) and fruits (fruit). The colour range from yellow to reddish orange is provided by anthoxanthins, which constitute a subgroup of flavonoids (flavonoid). The latter are derivatives of flavone (2-phenyl-4-pyrone) in which one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced by hydroxy or methoxy groups. The flavylium ion has the structure:

(For more information about biological pigments and coloration, see coloration.)

Five- and six-membered rings with two or more heteroatoms

 The names and numbering systems for the five-membered heteroaromatic rings with two heteroatoms are:

      Few pyrazoles occur naturally; the compounds of this class are usually prepared by the reaction of hydrazines (hydrazine) with 1,3-diketones. Many synthetic pyrazole compounds are of importance as dyes (dye) and medicinals. Among them are the fever-reducing analgesic aminopyrine, the anti-inflammatory drug phenylbutazone, used in treating arthritis, the yellow food colour and fibre dye tartrazine, and a series of dyes used as sensitizing agents in colour photography.

      Imidazoles (imidazole) are most important biologically; histidine, for example, is an essential amino acid of particular importance in enzyme reactions. A breakdown product of histidine, called histamine, has a variety of functions in different organisms; in the human body it plays a crucial role in the immune response, including allergic (allergy) reactions—hence the importance of antihistamine drugs. Histidine and histamine have the structures:

      Among other naturally occurring compounds with an imidazole nucleus are hydantoin, which is found in beet sap, and allantoin, which is related to the metabolic product uric acid. Hydantoin derivatives, in particular phenytoin, are important antiepileptic drugs. The imidazole ring is also present in the B vitamin biotin (mentioned above for its thiophene unit; see above Five-membered rings with one heteroatom (heterocyclic compound)).

      The antibiotic cycloserine, produced by a bacterium (bacteria), is one of the few naturally occurring isoxazoles. A synthetic isoxazole, hymexazol, has found practical use as soil and seed fungicide.

      Thiazoles (thiazole) are of great biological importance. This ring system occurs in thiamin (thiamine, vitamin B₁), the bacitracin and penicillin antibiotics (from a bacterium and a mold, respectively), and in numerous synthetic drugs, dyes, and industrial chemicals. Synthetic drugs belonging to the thiazole family include the antimicrobial agents (antimicrobial agent) sulfathiazole and acinitrazole, the antidepressant pramipexole, and the antiasthmatic drug cinalukast. Sulfathiazole has the structure:

      

      Other thiazole compounds include rhodanine, the dye rhodanine red derived from it, and the yellow dye primuline.

      Most bicyclic systems derived from these five-membered rings are named systematically—that is, by use of the prefix benz- or benzo- to indicate the presence of the benzene ring. Benzimidazole, for example, is the name for the compound:

      A benzimidazole unit occurs in 12 (vitamin B12). Benzothiazole derivatives are used for accelerating the vulcanization of rubber (2-mercaptobenzothiazole), as herbicides (herbicide) (benazolin, mefenacet), and as fungicides and antihelminthic drugs (thiabendazole).

      The three monocyclic diazines—six-membered ring compounds with two nitrogen heteroatoms—are named and numbered as shown.

      The pyridazine derivative maleic hydrazide is a herbicide, and some pyrazines (pyrazine) occur naturally—the antibiotic aspergillic acid, for example. The structures of the aforementioned compounds are:

      The pyrazine ring is a component of many polycyclic compounds of biological or industrial significance. Important members of the pyrazine family include pteridines, alloxazines, and phenazines, which are discussed below in this section.

      Biologically and pharmacologically, however, the most important diazines are the pyrimidines (pyrimidine). uracil, thymine, and cytosine, for example, with the structures shown, are three of the five nucleotide bases that constitute the genetic code in DNA and RNA.

      The vitamin thiamin contains a pyrimidine ring (in addition to the five-membered thiazole ring mentioned above), and synthetic barbiturates (barbiturate) such as amobarbital (amylobarbitone) are widely used drugs.

      Various oxazine and thiazine derivatives are known, but monocyclic thiazines are as yet of little importance. The parent tetrahydro-1,4-oxazine, commonly called morpholine, is produced on a large scale for use as a solvent, corrosion inhibitor, and fungicide. The morpholine ring is also present in the sedative-hypnotic drug trimetozine and in some fungicides such as tridemorph and fenpropimorph. The structural formula for morpholine is:

      The benzodiazines are polycyclic compounds containing one or more benzene rings fused to a diazine ring. Many have common names—e.g., cinnoline, quinazoline, and phenazine.

      Five other polycyclic systems in this general family are of significance, their names, structures, and numbering systems being:

      Quinoxaline alkaloids (alkaloid) exist, and there are some phenazine natural products. Phenazine dyes are used for fabrics (for example, indanthrones and anthraquinone vat dyes; see anthraquinone dye) and for inks (ink) and printer toners (nigrosines). The first synthetic phenazine dye, mauve (Tyrian purple) (aniline purple), is historically important; its structure is:

      The phenoxazine system is a chromophoric (colour-imparting) part of the molecular structures of the naturally occurring actinomycin antibiotics, which are yellow-red in colour. Many polycyclic compounds containing a phenoxazine ring are used as biological stains, fabric dyes, and light-emitting materials in dye lasers (e.g., cresyl violet and nile blue).

       phenothiazine has been used as a worming agent for livestock and as an insecticide. Drugs of the phenothiazine type include the antipsychotic agents chlorpromazine and thioridazine, the long-acting antihistamine promethazine, and ethopropazine, used in treatment of parkinsonism. A large group of dyes have the phenothiazine structure, including methylene blue, a substance widely used as a biological stain and an oxidation-reduction (oxidation–reduction reaction) indicator. The structure of methylene blue is:

      Biologically, the purines (purine) and pteridines are the most important polycyclic diazines. Purine itself is not common, but the purine structure is present in many natural substances. Two purine nucleotide bases, adenine and guanine, occur together with the pyrimidine bases in DNA and RNA mentioned above.

      Other natural purines include the alkaloids xanthine and caffeine (found in tea, coffee, and cocoa), the alkaloid theobromine (found in cocoa), and uric acid. The structures of caffeine, theobromine, and uric acid are:

      Adenosine monophosphate, diphosphate, and triphosphate (AMP, ADP, and ATP (adenosine triphosphate), respectively) are important participants in energy processes in the living cell. Each of the compounds is composed of the nucleotide base adenine linked to the sugar ribose, which in turn is linked to a linear “tail” of one, two, or three phosphate groups, respectively, as shown.

      The biological significance of pteridine compounds (from Greek pteron, “wing”) has become apparent since the first known members of the group were discovered as pigments of butterfly wings. One example is the yellow pigment 2-amino-4,6-pteridinedione (xanthopterin).

       folic acid, also a pteridine, is a B-complex vitamin and an important growth factor.

      

       riboflavin, or vitamin B₂, is a derivative of alloxazine.

Rings with seven or more members

      As the size of the ring increases, the range of compounds that can be obtained by varying the number, type, and location of the heteroatoms increases enormously. Nevertheless, the chemistry of heterocyclic compounds with rings seven-membered or larger is much less developed than that of five- and six-membered ring heterocycles, although these compounds are usually stable and some of them have found practical application. Of the seven-membered ring compounds, one-heteroatom heterocycles—azepines, oxepines, and thiepines—and their derivatives are the most comprehensively studied.

      The increase in ring size constrains these compounds to be nonplanar in order to lessen the ring strain. Nonplanarity, however, affects aromaticity, so these heterocycles react as cyclic polyenes (compounds with noninteracting, alternating single and double bonds). Azepine and oxepine rings are important constituents of numerous naturally occurring alkaloids and metabolic products of marine organisms. The azepine derivative caprolactam is produced commercially in bulk for use as an intermediate in the manufacture of nylon-6 and in production of films, coatings, and synthetic leather. Seven-membered heterocycles with one or two nitrogen atoms in the ring are structural units of widely used psychopharmaceuticals such as imipramine (trade name Prazepine)—the first of the tricyclic antidepressants—and the tranquilizer diazepam (trade name Valium).

      Of the larger ring heterocycles, the most important are the crown ethers (ether), which contain one or more heterocyclic rings comprising 12 or more ring atoms and involving a number of various heteroatoms, usually nitrogen, oxygen, or sulfur. The heteroatoms are usually separated by two-carbon or three-carbon units ( ethylene or propylene units, respectively). The first crown ether, dibenzo-18-crown-6, was synthesized in 1960.

      The first number in a crown ether name indicates the total number of atoms involved in the macrocycle (i.e., the large ring), while the second indicates the number of heteroatoms in that ring. The remarkable feature of crown ethers, which stimulated the explosive development of their chemistry, is their ability to selectively bind the ions (ion) of metal elements (e.g., potassium and sodium) and whole organic molecules inside their cavities, the selectivity for a particular ion or molecule being directly related to the size of the macrocycle. Because of this feature, crown ethers have found wide application as ion transporters, as materials for ion-selective electrodes (electrode) used in environmental testing for various metal ions, as sensitizers in photography, in medical diagnostics, and for the separation of radioactive isotopes (radioactive isotope).

      Although crown ethers are not found in nature, some larger ring heterocycles that possess similar pronounced binding abilities exist as natural products. An example is the porphyrins (porphyrin), which are widely distributed as biological pigments—e.g., the magnesium-binding chlorophylls (chlorophyll) and the iron-binding heme groups of hemoglobin and myoglobin (see above Five-membered rings with one heteroatom (heterocyclic compound); see also chelate).

Rings with uncommon heteroatoms

      In addition to the nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur atoms commonly found in heterocycles, a large number of other elements form such rings—of greater or lesser stability. Such compounds are as yet of little practical importance. Some of the main classes are described below according to the elements they contain.

Halogens, selenium, and tellurium

      Cyclic chloronium, bromonium, and iodonium ions—ions of the halogen (halogen element) elements chlorine, bromine, and iodine, respectively—have been prepared. Of these, only the iodine derivative has much stability.

      Many heterocycles containing selenium (Se) atoms are known. Selenium shows much similarity in behaviour to sulfur; hence, selenophene, with the structure shown, resembles thiophene quite closely.

      Carbon-selenium and selenium-selenium bonds are considerably weaker than the corresponding carbon-sulfur and sulfur-sulfur bonds; consequently, the reactions of selenium compounds tend to involve the heteroatom.

       tellurium (Te) heterocycles are rarer and even less stable than selenium heterocycles. One of the first such compounds, prepared in 1971, is dibenzotellurophene.

      Five-membered selenium heterocycles, such as selenophene-6 (featuring both selenophene and pyridine rings) and benzoselenophenes (selenium analogs of benzothiophenes; see above Five-membered rings with one heteroatom (heterocyclic compound)), play an important role as antioxidants (antioxidant) in living organisms. Antioxidants reduce damage done to cells by free radicals (radical), highly reactive molecules that are released during normal metabolic processes. Because free radicals can also be produced by exposure to ionizing radiation, these natural selenium compounds constitute potential radioprotective agents. The enhanced toxicity of the majority of selenium compounds compared with their sulfur analogs, however, significantly restricts the medical applications of these compounds.

      In industry, selenium heterocycles are used almost exclusively in the preparation of “organic metals”—organic materials that have high electrical conductivity, much like metals.

Phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth

       phosphorus (P), arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), and bismuth (Bi), which are all members of group Va of the periodic table (periodic law) of elements (see nitrogen group element), form a closely related group of heterocycles. There is, however, little similarity between their properties and those of the corresponding derivatives of nitrogen, a member of the same group. Although phosphorus-containing heterocycles have long been known, the heterocyclic chemistry of arsenic, antimony, and bismuth has made significant progress only in recent years because of the decreased stability of heterocycles involving a heavy element. Parent five-membered heterocycles with arsenic, antimony, or bismuth have yet to be isolated, and six-membered bismuth heterocycles are unknown. Because of this instability, those antimony and bismuth compounds that have been synthesized have found little practical application.

      Although many organophosphorus compounds are used in medicine or as insecticides and herbicides, they include few phosphorus-containing heterocycles. Two phosphorus heterocycles of practical importance are the anticancer drug cyclophosphamide and the insect chemosterilant apholate; the latter compound also contains six three-membered aziridine rings. The arsenic heterocycle 10,10′-oxybisphenoxarsine is used as a fungicidal and bactericidal additive to plastics (plastic).

Silicon, germanium, tin, and lead

      Although silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), tin (Sn), and lead (Pb) fall in the same periodic group (IVa) as carbon (see carbon group elements (carbon group element)), they demonstrate much lesser ability to form stable chains or double bonds. Nevertheless, chemists know of many saturated, unsaturated, and even aromatic heterocycles that incorporate one or more atoms of these elements into their ring systems. The traditional method for preparing various such compounds is based on coupling of the halogen derivatives of the type R₂MCl₂, in which M is silicon, germanium, tin, or lead and R is halogen or a hydrocarbon chain, with organomagnesium or organolithium reagents.

      All four of these elements tend to form stronger bonds with nitrogen and, especially, with oxygen than with carbon. Alternating replacement of all the carbon in carbocyclic compounds with silicon and oxygen results in silicates, which are inorganic analogs of organic heterocycles.

Boron

      A large variety of heterocycles with five-, six-, or seven-membered rings containing boron (B) have been prepared and studied. Several saturated boron heterocycles were found to be more stable than their open-chain analogs, suggesting that the boron-containing cyclic structure itself favours stability. One of the best-known saturated heterocyclic boranes (borane), widely used in organic chemistry as a reducing agent, is 9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane (9-BBN).

      A boron atom and a nitrogen atom together contain the same number of electrons (electron) as two carbon atoms. Not surprisingly, a boron-nitrogen unit can replace a carbon-carbon unit in benzenoid compounds to give stable heteroaromatics. A good example is 9-aza-10-boraphenanthrene, which incorporates a boron and a nitrogen atom linked by a double bond in one of its rings.

      The exhaustive substitution of all two-carbon units in a cyclohexane ring or a benzene ring with alternating boron-nitrogen units produces borazine (shown below) or borazole, respectively; the latter is often referred to as inorganic benzene.

      

Alan Roy Katritzky Olga V. Denisko

Additional Reading

Introductory works

General textbooks of heterocyclic chemistry include Thomas L. Gilchrist, Heterocyclic Chemistry, 3rd ed. (1997); and John A. Joule and K. Mills, Heterocyclic Chemistry at a Glance (2007), which emphasize the basic principles of synthesis and the reactivity of heterocycles; and R.R. Gupta, M. Kumar, and V. Gupta, Heterocyclic Chemistry, 3 vol. (1998), which discusses representatives of each type of heterocyclic compound; and Alexander F. Pozharskii, Anatoly T. Soldatenkov, and Alan R. Katritzky, Heterocycles in Life and Society (1997), which outlines the practical importance of heterocyclic compounds, especially their application in various areas of technology, medicine, and agriculture.

Detailed works

Alan R. Katritzky and Charles W. Rees (eds.), Comprehensive Heterocyclic Chemistry, 8 vol. (1984); and Alan R. Katritzky, Charles W. Rees, and E.F.V. Scriven (eds.), Comprehensive Heterocyclic Chemistry II, 12 vol. (1996), present a detailed account of fundamental heterocyclic chemistry. This abundant material is summarized and generalized in Alan R. Katritzky and Alexander F. Pozharskii, Handbook of Heterocyclic Chemistry, 2nd ed. (2000). Further information about heterocyclic chemistry is provided in Theophil Eicher and Siegried Hauptmann, The Chemistry of Heterocycles: Structure, Reactions, Syntheses, and Applications, trans. by Hans Schuschitzky, 2nd ed. rev. and enlarged (2003; originally published in German, 1994).

Ongoing works

Alan R. Katritzky (ed.), Advances in Heterocyclic Chemistry, 94 vol. (1963– ); and Edward C. Taylor (ed.), The Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds, 2nd ed., 60 vol. (1970– ), are continuing series of reviews. A series, Progress in Heterocyclic Chemistry, 19 vol. (1989– ), chronicles annual developments in the field.Alan Roy Katritzky Olga V. Denisko

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