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C.M. Timperley et al. / Journal of Fluorine Chemistry 132 (2011) 541–547
4. Experimental details
4.7. Second-order rate constants (koxꢀ)
The carboxaldehydes featured in Schemes 2–9 have become
commercially available in recent years, so only procedures to the
oximes are described.
The reaction between aromatic aldoximes and sarin in aqueous
solution occurs by rate-controlling attack of the oxime anion at
the phosphorus centre with loss of HF, followed by rapid splitting
of the oxime phosphonate to give isopropyl methylphosphonic
acid. Second-order rate constants (koxꢀ) were derived using a
literature method [26] by measuring the rate of acid production in
KCl aq. (0.1 M) at 25 8C by continuous titration to constant pH with
sodium hydroxide. In the presence of a large excess of oxime, and
using equipment already described [26,27], the observed rate of
total acid-production was first order and proportional to the
oxime concentration and degree of ionisation (i) of the oxime
calculated from the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation, i.e. –
d[sarin]/dt = d[nH+]/dt = koxꢀ i[oxime][sarin] where n was the
number of moles of acid obtained per mole of sarin decomposed
(i.e. 2).
4.1. 2-Fluoropyridine-3-aldoxime (A)
A
solution of 2-fluoropyridine-3-carboxaldehyde (5.1 g,
40.8 mmol) in ethanol (10 ml) was added to hydroxylamine
hydrochloride (5.0 g, 71.9 mmol) in water (20 ml) basified with
2 M NaOH (5 ml). The mixture was heated under reflux for 15 min
and the product collected by filtration and sublimed (60 8C/
1 mmHg; 3.4 g, 60%). Mp 123 8C. Calcd. for C6H5FN2O: C, 51.4; H,
3.6; N, 20.0. Found: C, 51.1; H, 3.0; N, 19.8%.
4.2. 2-Fluoropyridine-6-aldoxime (B)
2-Fluoropyridine-6-carboxaldehyde (0.5 g, 4.0 mmol), hydrox-
ylamine hydrochloride (1.2 g, 17.3 mol) and 1 M NaOH (12 ml)
were heated under reflux for 20 min. The product that precipitated
upon cooling was collected by filtration and sublimed (60 8C/
1 mmHg, 0.4 g, 71%). Mp 153 8C. Calcd. for C6H5FN2O: C, 51.4; H,
3.6; N, 20.0. Found: C, 51.5; H, 3.6; N, 20.0%.
Acknowledgements
This paper is dedicated to the memory of Professor John Colin
Tatlow (1923–2008), a great ambassador for fluorine chemistry,
and a friend of many chemists. The authors thank the Ministry of
Defence UK for financial support. ßCrown Copyright 2011.
Published with permission of the Defence Science and Technology
Laboratory on behalf of the Controller of HMSO.
4.3. 3-Fluoropyridine-2-aldoxime (C)
3-Fluoropyridine-2-carboxaldehyde (0.7 g, 5.6 mmol) was
References
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C with difficulty using the technique
described in the previous section (0.3 g, 37%). Mp 85 8C. IR nmax
3070 (m), 2809 (m), 2789 (m), 1586 (m), 1495 (s), 1445 (s), 1318
(s), 1236 (m), 1152 (w), 1110 (w), 986 (m), 980 (m) and 803 (m)
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H, 3.6; N, 20.0%.
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