Acceptor orbitals

Chemical reactions can be studied at the single-molecule level by measuring the fluorescence lifetime of an excited state that can undergo reaction in competition with fluorescence. Reactions involving electron transfer (section C3.2) are among the most accessible via such teclmiques, and are particularly attractive candidates for study as a means of testing relationships between charge-transfer optical spectra and electron-transfer rates. If the physical parameters that detennine the reaction probability, such as overlap between the donor and acceptor orbitals. 

Molecular orbitals are useful tools for identifying reactive sites m a molecule For exam pie the positive charge m allyl cation is delocalized over the two terminal carbon atoms and both atoms can act as electron acceptors This is normally shown using two reso nance structures but a more compact way to see this is to look at the shape of the ion s LUMO (the LUMO is a molecule s electron acceptor orbital) Allyl cation s LUMO appears as four surfaces Two surfaces are positioned near each of the terminal carbon atoms and they identify allyl cation s electron acceptor sites... 

Frontier Orbitals and Chemical Reactivity. Chemical reactions typically involve movement of electrons from an electron donor (base, nucleophile, reducing agent) to an electron acceptor (acid, electrophile, oxidizing agent). This electron movement between molecules can also be thought of as electron movement between molecular orbitals, and the properties of these electron donor and electron acceptor orbitals provide considerable insight into chemical reactivity. 

The first step in constructing a molecular orbital picture of a chemical reaction is to decide which orbitals are most likely to serve as the electron donor and electron acceptor orbitals. It should be obvious that the electron donor orbital must be drawn from the set of occupied orbitals, and the electron acceptor orbital must be an unoccupied orbital, but there are many orbitals in each set to choose from. 

Orbital energy is usually the deciding factor. The chemical reactions that we observe are the ones that proceed quickly, and such reactions typically have small energy barriers. Therefore, chemical reactivity should be associated with the donor-acceptor orbital combination that requires the smallest energy input for electron movement. The best combination is typically the one involving the HOMO as the donor orbital and the LUMO as the acceptor orbital. The HOMO and LUMO are collectively referred to as the frontier orbitals , and most chemical reactions involve electron movement between them. 

Butyl cation acts as an electrophile, and the shape of its electron-acceptor orbital (the lowest-unoccupied orbital or LUMO) should determine the direction of Br addition. Display the LUMO of each cation conformer. Is attack on one side of preferred over the other Explain. 

The molecule below has four stereoisomeric forms exoO exoCH2Br, exoO endoCH2Br, and so on. Examine electrostatic potential maps of the four ions and identify the most nucleophilic (electron-rich) atom in each. Examine the electron-acceptor orbital (the lowest-unoccuped molecular orbital or LUMO) in each and identify electrophilic sites that are in close proximity to the nucleophilic. Which isomers can undergo an intramolecular E2 reaction Draw the expected 8 2 and E2 products. Which isomers should not readily undergo intramolecular reactions Why are these inert ... 

HOMO of the potassium enolate of ethyl acetoacetate is the electron-acceptor orbital and reveals most nucleophilic sites. 

Now, examine the orbital on cyclohexanone lithium enolate most able to donate electrons. This is the highest-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO). Identify where the best HOMO-electrophile overlap can occur. Is this also the most electron-rich site An electrophile will choose the best HOMO overlap site if it is not strongly affected by electrostatic effects, and if it contains a good electron-acceptor orbital (this is the lowest-unoccupied molecular orbital or LUMO). Examine the LUMO of methyl iodide and trimethylsilyl chloride. Is backside overlap likely to be successful for each The LUMO energies of methyl iodide and trimethylsilyl chloride are 0.11 and 0.21 au, respectively. Assuming that the lower the LUMO energy the more effective the interaction, which reaction, methylation or silylation, appears to be guided by favorable orbital interactions Explain. 

The introduction of heteroatoms into the hydrocarbon diradicals is a frequently applied strategy to tune the spin preference and relative stabilities of diradicals. The heteroatoms may change the energies of donor or acceptor orbitals, and consequently affect the donor-acceptor interaction involved in the cyclic orbital interaction. Take 2-oxopropane-l,3-diyl, or so-called oxyallyl (OXA, 18) as an example [29]. It is a hetero analog of TMM, as shown in Fig. 14. The replacement of CH with oxygen in the central fl unit leads to a decrease in energies of Jt and k orbitals. This may enhance the orbital interaction through one path (denoted by bold lines) and weaken that via the other (denoted by wavy lines) relative to the continuous cyclic orbital interaction in the parent species 1 (Fig. 14). As a result, the p-Jt -q... 

In studies of photochemically induced CT, the energy of the donor and acceptor orbitals are close or higher in energy than the bridge states, and occupation of the bridge is understandable. In contrast, our electrochemical measurements employ redox active intercalators with reduction potentials... 

Fig. 3. Top n and

Bismuth phosphine complexes represent a substantial component of the established phosphine complexes of heavier p-block elements, and an excellent overview has presented an important bonding model for these systems (7). The observed structures are considered as trigonal-pyramidal BiX3 units with three secondary trans bonds. If the acceptor orbitals are the Bi-X trans arrangement is expected, as the relationship between the trans X-Bi-P bond distances. The shortest Bi-P distance [2.7614(2) vs 2.866(3) A] is trans to the longer Bi-Br distance [3.403(1) vs 2.9916(1) A], as the only arrangement that will allow the phosphine ligands to occupy trans... 

Figure 1.3 The two-electron stabilizing interaction between a filled donor orbital (pi<(]) and an unfilled acceptor orbital corresponding to perturbation...

At still smaller distances, lithium becomes weakly anionic and the Li F bond ionicity again increases, but with opposite polarity (Li- 54-). This can be readily understood from the shapes of unfilled acceptor AOs. At short distances, the (2p)f orbital becomes an increasingly poor acceptor, because favorable overlap with one lobe is increasingly canceled out by unfavorable overlap with the opposite lobe, as shown in Fig. 2.6(b). Under these circumstances, the unfilled (2s)n orbital becomes the best available acceptor orbital, and electron flow is actually reversed toward Li. However, these changes occur far inside the repulsive inner wall of the potential, so their effects will not be considered further here. 

However, perturbation-theoretic expressions such as Eqs. (1.24) and (2.7) are problematic in the degenerate case when donor and acceptor orbitals have equal energies.7 In this case we can directly formulate the interaction of orbitals a and b (with equal energies e A = b = e. and / ab = <a. F b ) in terms of a limiting variational model with 2x2 secular determinant... 

The first three entries of Table 3.14 correspond to formation of conventional pi and sigma NBOs. The fourth (hn— hCT, occurring in complementary pairs) corresponds to formation of asymmetric nu bonds Cv, y), as previously discussed in Section 3.2.6 for N2+. (The fifth [hn — hn 1 ] cannot occur in the present series, because hn is never an unfilled acceptor orbital [if hn is occupied] in neutral homonuclear diatomics.)... 

---