N-Nitrosotolazoline: Decomposition Studies of a Typical N-Nitrosoimidazoline

N-Nitrosotolazoline (N-nitroso-2-benzylimidazoline), a N-nitrosated drug typical of N-nitrosoimidazolines, reacts readily with aqueous acid, nitrous acid, or N-acetylcysteine to produce highly electrophilic diazonium ions capable of alkylating cellular nucleophiles. The kinetics and mechanism of the acidic hydrolytic decomposition of N-nitrosotolazoline have been determined in mineral acids and buffers. The mechanism of decomposition in acidic buffer is proposed to involve the rapid reversible protonation of the imino nitrogen atom followed by slow general base-catalyzed addition of H2O to the 2-carbon of the imidazoline ring to give a tetrahedral intermediate, which is also a α-hydroxynitrosamine. Rapid decomposition of this species gives rise to the diazonium from which the products are derived by nucleophilic attack, elimination, and rearrangement. The proposed mechanism is supported by the observations of general acid catalysis, a negligible deuterium solvent kinetic isotope effect (k H/k D = 1.15) and ΔS ⧧ = −34 eu. In phosphate buffer at 30 °C, the half-lives of N-nitrosotolazoline range from 5 min at pH 3.5 to 4 h at pH 6. The main reaction product of the hydrolytic decomposition is N-(2-hydroxyethyl)phenylacetamide. This and other products are consistent with the formation of a reactive diazonium ion intermediate. N-Nitrosotolazoline nitrosates 50 times more rapidly than tolazoline and results in a set of products derived from reactive diazonium ions but different from those produced from the hydrolytic decomposition of the substrate. N-Acetylcysteine increases the decomposition rate of N-nitrosotolazoline by 25 times at pH 7 and results in both N-denitrosation and induced decomposition to produce electrophiles. These data suggest that N-nitrosotolazoline shares the chemical properties of many known direct-acting mutagens and carcinogens.