Catalytic effect of hydroxyl-containing compounds at the propagation step of the chain reaction of thiophenol with quinone imines

Hydroxyl-containing compounds (water, methanol, and phenol) act as efficient catalysts of the chain reactions of thiophenol with quinone imines at their propagation steps as it was found previously for thiols. The results of quantum chemical analysis of isomerization of a radical adduct into phenoxyl radical or corresponding aromatic aminyl radical are considered. The adduct was formed at the rate limiting step of the chain propagation by thiyl radical addition to quinone imine. Enthalpies and activation energies for mono- and bimolecular isomerization of the adduct with participation of hydroxyl-containing compounds were computed and matched. For comparison, analogous reactions with participation of thiols (hydrogen sulfide, metahnthiol and thiophenol) were also studied. In both the cases, the catalytic effect is caused by transforming the four-membered cyclic transition state of the monomolecular isomerization reaction into the energetically favorable six-membered transition state by the O—H or S—H groups of the indicated compounds. This considerably reduces the activation energy.