Addition reactions—continued electrophilic

In Chapter 11 we continue our focus on organic molecules with electron-rich functional groups by examining alkynes, compounds that contain a carbon-carbon triple bond. Like alkenes, alkynes are nucleophiles with easily broken n bonds, and as such, they undergo addition reactions with electrophilic reagents. 

One characteristic of an aromatic system derived from carbocyclic species is that the ring should be planar. For all the species in Table XVII (except 4114 ), the planarity of the ring has been demonstrated. Moreover, as was pointed out in Chapter 7, this planarity is retained in transition metal complexes derived from these species, where all the annular carbon atoms are involved in bonding to the transition metal. It would therefore be anticipated that, in their complexes, the ligands would continue to show chemical properties characteristic of aromatic compounds, especially the property of undergoing substitution, rather than addition reactions, with electrophiles. 

Heterocyclic carbanions stabilized by ylid formation, or by resonance that places the negative charge on a heteroatom, are specifically excluded. In addition, heterocyclic systems that do not depend on additional stabilization factors for their initial deprotonation, continued existence, or subsequent reaction with electrophilic substrates are discussed in less detail. 

The selective oxidation of C—H bonds in alkanes under mild conditions continues to attract interest from researchers. A new procedure based upon mild generation of perfluoroalkyl radicals from their corresponding anhydrides with either H2O2, m-CPBA, AIBN, or PbEt4 has been described. Oxidation of ethane under the reported conditions furnishes propionic acid and other fluorinated products.79 While some previously reported methods have involved metal-mediated functionalization of alkanes using trifluoroacetic acid/anhydride as solvent, these latter results indicate that the solvent itself without metal catalysis can react as an oxidant. As a consequence, results of these metal-mediated reactions should be treated with caution. The absolute rate constants for H-abstraction from BU3 SnH by perfluorinated w-alkyl radicals have been measured and the trends were found to be qualitatively similar to that of their addition reactions to alkenes.80 a,a-Difluorinated radicals were found to have enhanced reactivities and this was explained as being due to their pyramidal nature while multifluorinated radicals were more reactive still, owing to their electrophilic nature.80... 

The addition reactions take place at a carbon-carbon multiple bond, or carbon-hetero atom multiple bond. Because of this peculiarity, the addition reactions are not common as the first step in pyrolysis. The generation of double bonds during pyrolysis can, however, continue with addition reactions. The additions can be electrophilic, nucleophilic, involving free radicals, with a cyclic mechanism, or additions to conjugated systems such as Diels-Alder reaction. This type of reaction may explain, for example, the formation of benzene (or other aromatic hydrocarbons) following the radicalic elimination during the pyrolysis of alkanes. In these reactions, after the first step with the formation of unsaturated hydrocarbons, a Diels-Alder reaction may occur, followed by further hydrogen elimination ... 

AS you continue your study of organic chemistry, you will notice that the concept of having delocalized electrons is invoked frequently to explain the behavior of organic compounds. For example, in Chapter 8 you will see that having delocalized electrons causes certain dienes to form products that would not be expected on the basis of what you have learned about electrophilic addition reactions in Chapters 3-6. Electron delocalization is such an important concept that this entire chapter is devoted to it. 

As the text continues to develop the chemistry of aldehydes and ketones, you will now see how the carbon adjacent to a carbonyl group can become nucleophilic. First, reactions of these new nucleophiles with common electrophiles like luiloalkiines will be covered alkylation reactions. More important arc reactions of the nucleophilic a-carbons of one carbonyl compound with electrophilic carbonyl carbons of another. They are generically termed carbonyl condensation reactions. You see them here for aldehydes and ketones the aldol condensation. (In a later chapter you will be introduced to the analogous reaction of carboxylic esters the Claisen condensation.) The products of aldol condensations are a, j3-un.saturatcd aldehydes and ketones, which contain additional sites of electrophilic and potential nucleophilic character. 

Pd2(dba)3. As a rule, catalytically active complexes of Pd(0) are derived from Pd(II) in situ. The catalytic cycle is basically similar to that of the Ni-catalyzed Kumada reaction . It involves the conversion of Pd(0) to Pd(II), begins with the oxidative addition of the electrophilic reagent R—X to Pd(0), continues with transmetalation of R from the tin to the palladium compound, and closes with the reductive elimination of R—R from the palladium complex [Eq. (22)] [88]. 

Isoprene can be polymerized in the laboratory by a radical chain mechanism. As shown in the following equations, the odd electron of the initially produced radical is delocalized onto both C-2 and C-4 by resonance. Either of these carbons may add to another isoprene monomer to continue the chain reaction. If C-2 adds, the process is called 1,2-addition if C-4 adds, the process is called 1,4-addition. (This is similar to the addition of electrophiles to conjugated dienes discussed in Section 11.13 and the addition of nucleophiles to a,/8-unsaturated carbonyl compounds described in Section 18.10.)... 

Winstein et al. [45] first presented evidence for the concept that different types of electrophilic species, each with distinct reactivities, may participate in reactions involving cationic intermediates. As shown in Eq. (36), Winstein et al. proposed that four species are in equilibrium, including covalent electrophiles, contact ion pairs, solvent-separated ion pairs, and free ions. In addition, ion pairs may aggregate in more concentrated solutions- According to this concept, electrophilic species do not react with a continuous spectrum of charge separation, but rather in well-quantified minima in the potential energy diagram. 

We expect the reactions complementary to equations (1) and (2), namely electrophilic attacks, to be faster for alkenes than for alkynes. Thus, reactivity ratios (/-ii and rj2) for corresponding alkynes and alkenes (PhC CH, PhCH=CH and BuC CH, BuCH=CH2) in radical copolymerizations favour the alkene over the alkyne . Electrophilic additions of Br, CI2, ArSCl and H3O+ to alkenes are usually much faster than those to alkynes . However, A (C=C)/A (C=C) can vary from 10 to < 1 for the different electrophilic processes and by 10 for one process (Br2 addition) when the solvent is changed from HjO to HOAc . This unexpected trend in reactivity continues undiminished in the rates of acid-catalysed hydration... 

---