7t-bonding

TABLE 1-9. 7T-BOND ORDERS AND BOND LENGTHS IN ALL-VALENCE-ELECTRONS CALCLn..A-TIONS... 

Many of the reactions in which acetylene participates, as well as many properties of acetylene, can be understood in terms of the stmcture and bonding of acetylene. Acetylene is a linear molecule in which two of the atomic orbitals on the carbon are sp hybridized and two are involved in 7T bonds. The lengths and energies of the C—H O bonds and C=C<7 + 27t bonds are as follows ... 

The propylene double bond consists of a (7-bond formed by two ovedapping orbitals, and a 7t-bond formed above and below the plane by the side overlap of two p orbitals. The 7t-bond is responsible for many of the reactions that ate characteristic of alkenes. It serves as a source of electrons for electrophilic reactions such as addition reactions. Simple examples are the addition of hydrogen or a halogen, eg, chlorine ... 

There are probably several factors which contribute to determining the endo exo ratio in any specific case. These include steric effects, dipole-dipole interactions, and London dispersion forces. MO interpretations emphasize secondary orbital interactions between the It orbitals on the dienophile substituent(s) and the developing 7t bond between C-2 and C-3 of the diene. There are quite a few exceptions to the Alder rule, and in most cases the preference for the endo isomer is relatively modest. For example, whereas cyclopentadiene reacts with methyl acrylate in decalin solution to give mainly the endo adduct (75%), the ratio is solvent-sensitive and ranges up to 90% endo in methanol. When a methyl substituent is added to the dienophile (methyl methacrylate), the exo product predominates. ... 

The C-F bonds in 1 fluoroalkenes and fluorobenzenes also are very strong (Table 17), but alkene k bond strengths vary with the level of fluonnabon (Table 18) Both CHF=CF2 and CF2=Cp2 have significantly weaker 7t bonds than CH2= CH2, CH7=CHF, and CH2=Cp2, consistent with other data indicatuig that tn- and tetrafluonnation thermodynamically destabilize double bonds [75] The low n bond energy in Cp2=CF2 underlies its propensity to undergo thermal biradical [2-1-2] cycloaddibons [103] (see p 767 )... 

Figure 17.2 Schematic molecular orbital energy diagram for diatomic halogen molecules. (For F2 the order of the upper and 7T bonding MOs is inverted.).

HOMO of transition state for cis-trans isomerization in 2-butene shows distortion of the 7t bond. 

Another measure of distortion is the shape of the highest-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO). This corresponds to the 7t bond. Is the orbital relatively undistorted in the cis compounds (as in cis-2-butene)l Is it more distorted in trans-cycloheptene than in trans-cyclooctene Explain why distortion in the HOMO is likely to be energetically unfavorable. 

Is the stable cation that formed as a result of protonation of the more electron-rich end of the alkene Examine electrostatic potential maps for propene, 2-methylpropene and 2-methyl-2-butene. For each, can you tell whether one end of the 7t bond is more electron rich than the other end If so, does protonation on the more electron-rich end lead to the more stable carbocation ... 

Which addition is more favorable thermodynamically Assuming that the difference is entirely due to different 7t-bond energies, then which contains the stronger % bond, the alkyne or the alkene What flaws might there be in the basic assumption ... 

Figure 1.16 The structure of acetylene. The two sp-hybridized carbon atoms are joined by one sp-sp rr bond and two p-p 7t bonds.

The reaction begins with an attack on the electrophile, HBr, by the electrons of the nucleophilic tt bond. Two electrons from the 7t bond form a new u bond between the entering hydrogen and an alkene carbon, as shown by the curved arrow at the top of Figure 6.7. The carbocation intermediate that results is itself an electrophile, which can accept an electron pair from nucleophilic Br ion to form a C Brbond and yield a neutral addition product. 

The best way to understand how orbital symmetry affects pericyclic reactions is to look at some examples. Let s look first at a group of polyene rearrangements called electrocyclic reactions. An electrocyclic reaction is a pericyclic process that involves the cycli/ation of a conjugated polyene. One 7r bond is broken, the other 7t bonds change position, a new cr bond is formed, and a cyclic compound results. For example, a conjugated triene can be converted into a cyclohexa-diene, and a conjugated diene can be converted into a cyclobutene. 

The coadsorption of oxygen as well as of other electronegative additives on metal surfaces favors in general the 7t-bonded molecular state of ethylene, as the latter exhibits, compared to the di-o bonded state, a more pronounced electron donor character and a negligible backdonation of electron density from the metal surface. 

We encounter a different type of bond in a nitrogen molecule, N2. There is a single electron in each of the three 2p-orbitals on each atom (33). However, when we try to pair them and form three bonds, only one of the three orbitals on each atom can overlap end to end to form a (T-bond (Fig. 3.10). Two of the 2/7-orbitals on each atom (2px and 2py) are perpendicular to the internuclear axis, and each one contains an unpaired electron (Fig. 3.11, top). When the electrons in one of these p-orbitals on each N atom pair, the orbitals can overlap only in a side-by-side arrangement. This overlap results in a TT-bond, a bond in which the two electrons lie in two lobes, one on each side of the internuclear axis (Fig. 3.11, bottom). More formally, a 7T-bond has a single nodal plane containing the internuclear axis. Although a TT-bond has electron density on each side of the internuclear axis, it is only one bond, with the electron cloud in the form of two lobes, just as a p-orbital is one orbital with two lobes. In a molecule with two Tr-bonds, such as N2, the... 

The first class was found when the olefin substituents are highly conjugated with the double bond, the second class when there is no resonance between the substituents and the 7t-bond and the last class when the substituents are moderately conjugated with the double bond. 

Stabilization by a Nonadjacent n Bond. In contrast to the situation with carbocations (see pp. 408-411), there have been fewer reports of carbanions stabilized by interaction with a nonadjacent 7t bond. One that may be mentioned is 13, formed when optically active camphenilone (11) was treated with a strong base (potassium terf-butoxide). ° That 13 was truly formed was shown by the following facts (1) A proton was abstracted ordinary... 

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