Reaction mechanisms alkenes

In this regard, Ando and co-workers [97, 116, 117] reported that sterically hindered olefins, affording remarkably stable dioxetanes [31, 132, 133], may be reliable molecules in the study of alkene reaction mechanisms. 

We can gam a general understanding of the mechanism of hydrogen halide addi tion to alkenes by extending some of the principles of reaction mechanisms introduced earlier In Section 5 12 we pointed out that carbocations are the conjugate acids of alkenes Therefore strong acids such as HCI HBr and HI can protonate the double bond of an alkene to form a carbocation... 

The regioselectivity and syn stereochemistry of hydroboration-oxidation coupled with a knowledge of the chemical properties of alkenes and boranes contribute to our under standing of the reaction mechanism... 

The study of the stereochemical course of organic reactions often leads to detailed insight into reaction mechanisms. Mechanistic postulates ftequently make distinctive predictions about the stereochemical outcome of the reaction. Throughout the chapters dealing with specific types of reactions, consideration will be given to the stereochemistry of a reaction and its relationship to the reaction mechanism. As an example, the bromination of alkenes can be cited. A very simple mechanism for bromination is given below ... 

The reaction mechanism has been confirmed by trapping of intermediates 13, 14 and 15. Because of the fact that neither a carbene nor a carbenium ion species is involved, generally good yields of non-rearranged alkenes 2 are obtained. Together with the easy preparation and use of tosylhydrazones, this explains well the importance of the Shapiro reaction as a synthetic method. 

Before beginning a detailed discussion of alkene reactions, let s review briefly some conclusions from the previous chapter. We said in Section 5.5 that alkenes behave as nucleophiles (Lewis bases) in polar reactions. The carbon-carbon double bond is electron-rich and can donate a pair of electrons to an electrophile (Lewis acid), for example, reaction of 2-methylpropene with HBr yields 2-bromo-2-methylpropane. A careful study of this and similar reactions by Christopher Ingold and others in the 1930s led to the generally accepted mechanism shown in Figure 6.7 for electrophilic addition reactions. 

How do we know that the carbocation mechanism for electrophilic addition reactions of alkenes is correct The answer is that we don t know it s correct at least we don t know with complete certainty. Although an incorrect reaction mechanism can be disproved by demonstrating that it doesn t account for observed data, a correct reaction mechanism can never be entirely proved. The best we can do is to show that a proposed mechanism is consistent with all known facts. If enough facts are accounted for, the mechanism is probably correct. 

Irans alkenes are converted into their cis isomers and vice versa on epoxi-dation followed by treatment of the epoxide with tviphenylphosphine. Propose a mechanism for the epoxide — alkene reaction. 

Although the actual reaction mechanism of hydrosilation is not very clear, it is very well established that the important variables include the catalyst type and concentration, structure of the olefinic compound, reaction temperature and the solvent. used 1,4, J). Chloroplatinic acid (H2PtCl6 6 H20) is the most frequently used catalyst, usually in the form of a solution in isopropyl alcohol mixed with a polar solvent, such as diglyme or tetrahydrofuran S2). Other catalysts include rhodium, palladium, ruthenium, nickel and cobalt complexes as well as various organic peroxides, UV and y radiation. The efficiency of the catalyst used usually depends on many factors, including ligands on the platinum, the type and nature of the silane (or siloxane) and the olefinic compound used. For example in the chloroplatinic acid catalyzed hydrosilation of olefinic compounds, the reactivity is often observed to be proportional to the electron density on the alkene. Steric hindrance usually decreases the rate of... 

There are two important ways of adding alkanes to alkenes—the thermal method and the acid-catalysis method." Both give chiefly mixtures, and neither is useful for the preparation of relatively pure compounds in reasonable yields. However, both are useful industrially. In the thermal method, the reactants are heated to high temperatures ( 500°C) at high pressures (150-300 atm) without a catalyst. As an example, propane and ethylene gave 55.5% isopentane, 7.3% hexanes, 10.1% heptanes, and 7.4% alkenes. The mechanism is undoubtedly of a free-radical type and can be illustrated by one possible sequence in the reaction between propane and ethylene ... 

The reaction is similar to the Diels-Alder (in action, not in scope), and if dienes are involved, the latter reaction may compete, though most alkenes react with a diene either entirely by 1,2 or entirely by 1,4 addition. Three mechanisms can be proposed analogous to those proposed for the Diels-Alder reaction. Mechanism... 

The Mizoroki-Heck reaction is a metal catalysed transformation that involves the reaction of a non-functionalised olefin with an aryl or alkenyl group to yield a more substituted aUcene [11,12]. The reaction mechanism is described as a sequence of oxidative addition of the catalytic active species to an aryl halide, coordination of the alkene and migratory insertion, P-hydride elimination, and final reductive elimination of the hydride, facilitated by a base, to regenerate the active species and complete the catalytic cycle (Scheme 6.5). 

Kovacs, G., Ujaque, G. and Lledos, A. (2008) The Reaction Mechanism of the Hydroamination of Alkenes Catalyzed by Gold(I)-Phosphine The Role of the Counterion and the N-Nucleophile Substituents in the Proton-Transfer Step. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 130, 853-864. 

Addition of a proton occurs to give the more-substituted carbocation, so addition is regioselective and in accord with Markovnikov s rule. A more detailed discussion of the reaction mechanism is given in Section 6.2 of Part A. Owing to the strongly acidic and rather vigorous conditions required to effect hydration of most alkenes, these conditions are applicable only to molecules that have no acid-sensitive functional groups. The reaction is occasionally applied to the synthesis of tertiary alcohols. 

There are, however, serious problems that must be overcome in the application of this reaction to synthesis. The product is a new carbocation that can react further. Repetitive addition to alkene molecules leads to polymerization. Indeed, this is the mechanism of acid-catalyzed polymerization of alkenes. There is also the possibility of rearrangement. A key requirement for adapting the reaction of carbocations with alkenes to the synthesis of small molecules is control of the reactivity of the newly formed carbocation intermediate. Synthetically useful carbocation-alkene reactions require a suitable termination step. We have already encountered one successful strategy in the reaction of alkenyl and allylic silanes and stannanes with electrophilic carbon (see Chapter 9). In those reactions, the silyl or stannyl substituent is eliminated and a stable alkene is formed. The increased reactivity of the silyl- and stannyl-substituted alkenes is also favorable to the synthetic utility of carbocation-alkene reactions because the reactants are more nucleophilic than the product alkenes. 

The first step of the reaction is likely to be the protonation of ethylene to produce a carbocation that undergoes the direct addition of acetic acid to produce ethyl acetate. The successive addition of ethylene to the carbocation leading to the production of alkene oligomers is a likely side reaction Formation and accumulation of these oligomers could eventually deactivate the catalyst. Detailed studies for a better understanding of the complex reaction mechanism are in progress. 

Hydrosilylation turned out to be a unique method in organosilicone chemistry, but in some cases it suffers from severe side reactions. An explanation is provided by the generally accepted reaction mechanism known as "Chalk-Harrod mechanism" described elsewhere [7]. Included in this series of reaction steps is an insertion of olefmic ligands into a platinum-hydrogen bond. Since the metal may be bonded to either of the unsaturated carbon atoms and the reaction is also an equilibrium, alkenes may result which are in fact isomerized starting material. Isomeric silanes are to be expected as well (Eq. 1), along with 1-hexylsilane, which is by far, the main compound produced. 

A number of examples have been reported documenting the use of palladium phosphine complexes as catalysts. The dialkyl species [PtL2R2] (L2 = dmpe, dppe, (PMe3)2 R = Me, CH2SiMe3) catalyze the reaction of [PhNH3]+ with activated alkenes (acrylonitrile, methyl acrylate, acrolein).176 Unfunctionalized alkenes prove unreactive. The reaction mechanism is believed to proceed via protonation of Pt-R by the ammonium salt (generating PhNH2 in turn) and the subsequent release of alkane to afford a vacant coordination site on the metal. Coordination of alkene then allows access into route A of the mechanism shown in Scheme 34. Protonation is also... 

The electrochemistry of cobalt-salen complexes in the presence of alkyl halides has been studied thoroughly.252,263-266 The reaction mechanism is similar to that for the nickel complexes, with the intermediate formation of an alkylcobalt(III) complex. Co -salen reacts with 1,8-diiodo-octane to afford an alkyl-bridged bis[Co" (salen)] complex.267 Electrosynthetic applications of the cobalt-salen catalyst are homo- and heterocoupling reactions with mixtures of alkylchlorides and bromides,268 conversion of benzal chloride to stilbene with the intermediate formation of l,2-dichloro-l,2-diphenylethane,269 reductive coupling of bromoalkanes with an activated alkenes,270 or carboxylation of benzylic and allylic chlorides by C02.271,272 Efficient electroreduc-tive dimerization of benzyl bromide to bibenzyl is catalyzed by the dicobalt complex (15).273 The proposed mechanism involves an intermediate bis[alkylcobalt(III)] complex. 

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