Acridine is an organic compound and a nitrogen heterocycle with the formula C13H9N. Acridines are substituted derivatives of the parent ring. It is a planar molecule that is structurally related to anthracene with one of the central CH groups replaced by nitrogen. Like the related molecules pyridine and quinoline, acridine is mildly basic. It is an almost colorless solid, which crystallizes in needles. There are few commercial applications of acridines; at one time acridine dyes were popular, but they are now relegated to niche applications, such as with acridine orange. The name is a reference to the acrid odour and acrid skin-irritating effect of the compound.
Isolation and syntheses
Carl Gräbe and
Heinrich Caro first isolated acridine in 1870 from
coal tar.
Acridine is separated from coal tar by extracting with dilute
sulfuric acid. Addition of potassium dichromate to this solution
acridine bichromate. The bichromate is decomposed using
ammonia.
Acridine and its derivatives can be prepared by many synthetic processes. In the Bernthsen acridine synthesis, diphenylamine is condensed with in the presence of zinc chloride. When formic acid is the carboxylic acid, the reaction yields the parent acridine. With the higher larger carboxylic acids, the derivatives substituted at the meso position carbon atom are generated.
Other older methods for the organic synthesis of acridines include condensing diphenylamine with chloroform in the presence of aluminium chloride, by passing the vapours of orthoaminodiphenylmethane over heated litharge, by heating salicylaldehyde with aniline and zinc chloride or by distilling acridone (9-position a carbonyl group) over zinc dust.
In enzymology, an acridone synthase () is an enzyme that catalysis the chemical reaction
- 3 malonyl-CoA + N-methylanthraniloyl-CoA 4 CoA + 1,3-dihydroxy- N-methylacridone + 3 CO2
Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are malonyl-CoA and N-methylanthraniloyl-CoA, whereas its three products are coenzyme A, 1,3-dihydroxy- N-methylacridone, and carbon dioxide.
Reactions
Acridine displays the reactions expected of an unsaturated
N-heterocycle. It undergoes
N-alkylation with
to form alkyl acridinium iodides, which are readily transformed by the action of alkaline potassium ferricyanide to
N-alkyl
.
Basicity
Acridine and its homologues are weakly basic. Acridine is a photobase which has a ground state
pKa of 5.1, similar to that of
pyridine, and an excited state p
Ka of 10.6.
[Joseph R. Lakowicz. Principles of Fluorescence Spectroscopy 3rd edition. Springer (2006). . Chapter 7. page 260.] It also shares properties with
quinoline.
Reduction and oxidation
Acridines can be reduced to the 9,10-dihydroacridines, sometimes called leucoacridines. Reaction with potassium cyanide gives the 9-cyano-9,10-dehydro derivative. On oxidation with potassium permanganate, it yields acridinic acid (C
9H
5N(CO
2H)
2) otherwise known as
quinoline-1,2-dicarboxylic acid.
Acridine is easily oxidized by peroxymonosulfuric acid to the acridine
amine oxide. The carbon 9-position of acridine is activated for addition reactions.
[G. Collin, H. Höke,"Acridine" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry 2012, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim.]
Applications
Several
and drugs feature the acridine skeleton.
Many acridines, such as
proflavine, also have
antiseptic properties. Acridine and related derivatives (such as
amsacrine) bind to
DNA and
RNA due to their abilities to intercalate.
Acridine orange (3,6-dimethylaminoacridine) is a
nucleic acid-selective metachromatic stain useful for cell cycle determination.
Dyes
At one time acridine dyes were commercially significant, but they are now uncommon because they are not
Lightfastness. Acridine dyes are prepared by condensation of 1,3-diaminobenzene derivatives. Illustrative is the reaction of 2,4-diaminotoluene with acetaldehyde:
9-Phenylacridine is the parent base of chrysaniline or 3,6-diamino-9-phenylacridine, which is the chief constituent of the dyestuff phosphine (not to be confused with phosphine gas), a byproduct in the manufacture of rosaniline. Chrysaniline forms red-coloured salts, which dye silk and wool in a fine yellow; and the solutions of the salts are characterized by their fine yellowish-green fluorescence. Chrysaniline was synthesized by O. Fischer and G. Koerner by condensing o-nitrobenzaldehyde with aniline, the resulting o-nitro- p-diaminotriphenylmethane being reduced to the corresponding o-amino compound, which on oxidation yields chrysaniline.
Benzoflavin, an isomer of chrysaniline, is also a dyestuff, and has been prepared by K. Oehler from m-phenylenediamine and benzaldehyde. These substances condense to form tetraaminotriphenylmethane, which, on heating with acids, loses ammonia and yields 3,6-diamino-9,10-dihydrophenylacridine, from which benzoflavin is obtained by oxidation. It is a yellow powder, soluble in hot water.
Molecular biology
Acridine is known to induce small insertions or deletions in nucleotide sequences, resulting in frameshift mutations.
This compound was useful to identify the triplet nature of the
Genetic code.
Structure
As established by X-ray crystallography, acridine has been obtained in eight polymorphs. All feature very similar planar molecules with nearly identical bond lengths and bond distances.
Safety
Acridine is a skin irritant. Its (rats, oral) is 2,000 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg (mice, oral).
See also
Literature
External links
-
Synthesis of acridone in Organic Syntheses 19:6; Coll. Vol. 2:15 [2] from o-chlorobenzoic acid and aniline in a Goldberg reaction.
-
Synthesis of 9-aminoacridine in Organic Syntheses 22:5; Coll. Vol. 3:53. [3] from N-phenylanthranilic acid.
