Voltammetric oxidation of Hantzsch 1,4-dihydropyridines in protic and aprotic media: relevance of the substitution on N position

A detailed investigation on the electrochemical oxidation of some Hantzsch 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives with the aim of study the influence of the hydrogen substituent on the N1 position of the heterocyclic ring have been carried out in protic and aprotic media. For this objective we have synthesized two series of compounds wherein the difference was the substituent (H or ethyl) on the N1-position of the heterocyclic ring. Voltammetry, UV-Vis spectroscopy, Controlled potential electrolysis, EPR, H-1 NMR and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques in order to obtain evidences for postulate oxidation mechanisms in both protic and aprotic media have been used. Compounds having the ethyl substituent in the N1 position follow an oxidation mechanism obeying the sequence ECE with the second step as the r.d.e. in both, protic and aprotic media, thus producing the corresponding ethyl substituted pyridinium cation. On the other hand compounds having H in the N1 position follow the same ECE sequence only at acidic media. At basic media, the mechanism consisted of a DISP1 scheme in which rate determining step (r.d.s.) is the uptake of the proton in the N1 position by the OH- ion of the media. In aprotic media both type of compounds follow the same ECEC mechanism with the second step as the r.d.s. but only the H-substituted compounds generates an anionic species that is more easily oxidized than the parent compounds