Acetylenes carbon atom reactivity with

At the ends of the polymer chains and at the ends of the short oligomer units (see for example the trimer molecule of Table 1) a bond defect structure is expected. For the acetylene structure of the polymer chain this is a carbene —C— with two free valence electrons and in the case of the butatriene structure this is a radical carbon atom —C= with one free valence electron. In both rases there is a reactive chain end, which allows reaction of the chain with the neighbouring monomer molecules. These reactive structures and a possible nonreactive structure are listed in Table 1 as examples of the trimer molecules. 

The THT and SMe2 adducts have structures of the type (18-B-V). Their chemistry has been extensively studied and it is summarized in Fig. 18-B-7. The diverse, and in some cases unique, reactivity of these compounds includes substitution with preservation of the geometry or with conversion to (MX4)2(/t-X)2 species, oxidative-addition,53 cluster formation, splitting of C—N bonds,54 and above all coupling of the molecules with triply bonded carbon atom.55 They catalytically trimerize and polymerize terminal acetylenes, and dimerize nitriles and isonitriles with incorporation of the new ligand into the complex. Another remarkable reaction of M2C16L3 is the metathesis of M=M and N=N bonds into two M=N bonds upon reaction with azobenzene. 

The first of these formulae seems less suitable than the second for these war gases, which like the mono- and di-halogenated derivatives of acetylene (see p. 45), have properties more in keeping with the presence of a divalent carbon atom. It may be concluded that it is the presence of this divalent carbon atom rather than that of the nitrogen atom which accounts for the toxicity of this radicle. The bivalent carbon atom has in fact great chemical reactivity and is the point of attack in all chemical and biochemical reactions. 

Since most of the dienophiles considered are substituted ethylenes, we can take ethylene as a reference to discuss the variations in local reactivity induced by chemical substitution. Ethylene (29) presents a local electrophilicity value tok = 0.37eV at the equivalent carbon atoms Cl and C2. Note that acetylene (32), having equivalent Fukui functions for both electrophilic and nucleophilic attacks, presents a lower electrophilicity pattern as compared with that of ethylene (tok = 0.27 eV at the equivalent carbon centres of structure 29). 

As this chapter is concerned with the properties of the carbon-carbon triple bond, we will mainly discuss ring-closure reactions which make use of the special reactivity of acetylenic systems — either at the sp-hybridized carbon atoms or at the propargylic centers. It is obvious, however, that virtually all ring-closure reactions can be employed to close a ring with a triple bond. Earlier reviews have dealt with these possibilities in quite some detail [1-3]. 

It seems that the homo-Diels-Alder reactions proceed markedly more rapidly than the Diels-Alder reactions since the primary [4-1-2] adducts carmot be detected spectroscopically. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that all 1 -alkynes react regiospecifically in the initial [4-1-2]-cycloaddition process. This addition proceeds in such a way that, independent of the polarity situation of the acetylene, the carbon atom bearing the substituent is positioned in the immediate vicinity of the phosphorus atom of the phosphirane increment. This suggests that steric factors are responsible for the direction of the addition. This is further supported by the observation that 11a does not participate in cycloaddition reactions with any disubstituted triple bond system, except for cyclooctyne, which possesses the necessary reactivity for a cycloaddition on account for the cisoid-dis-... 

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