The reaction of aniline (AH2) with an oxidizing agent in acidic solution gives rise to the formation of a mixture of products containing, besides a variety of oligoanilines named as Aniline Black or Polyaniline, Mauvein as a deeply purple phenazine derivative. Although this Mauvein synthesis was developed by W.H. Perkin more than 150 years ago and has opened the era of industrial dyestuff chemistry, the detailed mechanism of this reaction has remained rather unclear until today. The elucidation of the mechanism of the Mauvein formation as an oxidative coupling process of AH2 is hindered by the fact that several different types of coupling reactions occur simultaneously. Among them the C,N-coupling reaction is the most important one and responsible for the formation of Polyaniline and Mauvein. It gives rise to the formation of, e. g. 2 different aniline dimers, 7 trimers and more than 20 tetramers including Mauvein as one representative of these tetramers. In the present study, the oxidative coupling of a mixture of AH2 and 4-amino-4`-(N-anilino)-diphenylamine (TaH2) as one of the aniline trimers was studied in more detail. The reaction leads to the formation of Mauvein in satisfactory yields and, after some manipulations, widely free of byproducts. By using simple aniline derivatives as co-reagents in the oxidative coupling with TaH2, the reaction can be extended to the synthesis of different Mauvein derivatives most of which have been unknown to date.
苯胺(AH2)与氧化剂在酸性溶液中反应,形成一系列寡聚苯胺的混合物,其中包括被称为苯胺黑或聚苯胺的各种寡聚苯胺,以及一种深紫色的苯并咪唑衍生物——紫红色素。虽然这种紫红色素的合成方法是由W.H. Perkin在150多年前开发的,开创了工业染料化学的时代,但是直到今天,这种反应的详细机理仍然不太清楚。苯并咪唑的形成机理是AH2的氧化偶联过程,但由于同时发生几种不同类型的偶联反应,因此阐明其机理受到阻碍。其中,C,N偶联反应是最重要的反应之一,负责聚合形成聚苯胺和苯并咪唑。它导致形成2种不同的苯胺二聚体、7种三聚体和20多种四聚体,其中包括苯并咪唑作为这些四聚体的代表之一。在本研究中,对AH2和4-氨基-4'-(N-苯胺基)-二苯胺(TaH2)的混合物进行了更详细的氧化偶联研究。该反应以令人满意的产率形成苯并咪唑,并且在一些操作后,几乎没有副产物。通过使用简单的苯胺衍生物作为共反应剂与TaH2进行氧化偶联,可以将反应扩展到合成不同的苯并咪唑衍生物,其中大多数迄今尚未知晓。