In aqueous solutions "4,6-dihydroxypyrimidine" and 6-methyluracil undergo rapid reaction with 2 molar equiv of bromine, to yield firstly their corresponding 5-bromo compounds, and secondly their 5,5-dibromo derivatives. Under acidic conditions, these latter compounds are acted upon by bromide ion to yield their monobromo derivatives and bromine. The liberated bromine is consumed in the presence of unreacted substrate to give a second equivalent of the 5-bromopyrimidinedione. The kinetics of debromination have been measured, and probable mechanisms for these processes are discussed with reference to previous studies on the dehalogenation of similar derivatives.In an earlier study' we concluded that in aqueous sulfuric acid solutions the bromination at the 5 position of 2pyrimidinone (1) proceeds by an addition-elimination mechanism 1 -2 -3, in which acid-catalyzed deprotonation of the 5 position of 2 is the rate-determining step.l Similar mechanisms appear to be operative in the bromination of other pyrimidines bearing oxo and/or amino substituents a t the 2 and/or 4 positions.2 For example, 1,3-dimethyluracil (4) adds "HOBr" to yield the adduct 5,2-4 which subsequently rearomatizes to the 5-bromouracil 6 by a slow acid-catalyzed dehydration.2 In the presence of bromine 5-bromo-1,3-dimethyluracil (6) forms the 5,5-dibromo derivative 7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7We now find that, in an analogous manner, 6-methyluracil ( 1 1) reacts rapidly with bromine to give, successively, 12, 13, and 14 (Scheme I).5 Similarly, the reaction of "4,6-dihydroxypyrimidine" (8) with bromine yields a 5,5-dibromo derivative 10 oia the 5-bromopyrimidine 9 (see Scheme 11). We attempted to follow the kinetics of the brominations 8 -9 -10, but obtained curious results. Subsequent experimentation revealed that these processes occur very rapidly, and that in fact the reaction we were following was the reverse reaction 10 -9. Similar behavior was exhibited by 6-methyluracil ( l l ) , and in this paper we report a kinetic study of the debrominations 10 -9 and 14 -13.
Results and DiscussionAlthough the major tautomeric component of "4,6-dihydroxypyrimidine" (8) in aqueous solutions is not known with certainty,6 a pmr study in DMSO-deID20 solutions Scheme I 0 0 0 Br 0 Br Me H 19 14 Scheme I1 0 0 0 Br HO" H X T HO bH + ':YjH 1 -Hi 8a 8 b 0 0 HO N 9a 9b