Alkene reactions

Toluene, an aLkylben2ene, has the chemistry typical of each example of this type of compound. However, the typical aromatic ring or alkene reactions are affected by the presence of the other group as a substituent. Except for hydrogenation and oxidation, the most important reactions involve either electrophilic substitution in the aromatic ring or free-radical substitution on the methyl group. Addition reactions to the double bonds of the ring and disproportionation of two toluene molecules to yield one molecule of benzene and one molecule of xylene also occur. 

C-Alkylations may be discussed under the headings of alkene reactions and A/-alkyl rearrangements. The isopropylation of benzene and naphthalene are two important examples of alkylation with alkenes (see Alkylation). Manufacture of j butylaniline, by heating /V-butylaniline with 2inc chloride, typifies the rearrangement reaction appropriate to and higher alkyl derivatives. 

Experiments show that both alkenes and ketones undergo acid-catalyzed reactions. Alkene reactions usually require use of a very strong acid, H2SO4 or HX, while ketone reactions occur under milder conditions. This suggests that ketones are stronger bases, and that their conjugate acids enjoy special stabilization. 

Carbon-carbon double bonds are present in most organic and biological molecules, so a good understanding of their behavior is needed. In this chapter, we ll look at some consequences of alkene stereoisomerism and then focus on the broadest and most general class of alkene reactions, the electrophilic addition reaction. 

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. 

Although benzene is clearly unsaturatcd, it is much more stable than typical alkenes and fails to undergo the usual alkene reactions. Cyclohexene, for instance, reacts rapidly with Br2 and gives the addition product 1,2-dibromo-cyclohexane, but benzene reacts only slowly with Br2 and gives the substitution product CgH Br. As a result of this substitution, the cyclic conjugation of the benzene ring is retained. 

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. 

Chapter 7, Alkenes Reactions and Synthesis—Alkene epoxidation has been moved to Section 7.8, and Section 7.11 on the biological addition of radicals to alkenes has been substantially expanded. 

Of course, even in the case of acyclic alkenes reaction enthalpy is not exactly zero, and therefore the product distribution is never completely statistically determined. Table V gives equilibrium data for the metathesis of some lower alkenes, where deviations of the reaction enthalpy from zero are relatively large. In this table the ratio of the contributions of the reaction enthalpy and the reaction entropy to the free enthalpy of the reaction, expressed as AHr/TASr, is given together with the equilibrium distribution. It can be seen that for the metathesis of the lower linear alkenes the equilibrium distribution is determined predominantly by the reaction entropy, whereas in the case of the lower branched alkenes the reaction enthalpy dominates. If the reaction enthalpy deviates substantially from zero, the influence of the temperature on the equilibrium distribution will be considerable, since the high temperature limit will always be a 2 1 1 distribution. Typical examples of the influence of the temperature are given in Tables VI and VII. 

The application of RPR in the detection and quantification of species formed by spin-trapping the products of radical-monomer reactions is described in Section 3.5.2.1, The application of time-resolved F.PR spectroscopy to study intermolecular radical-alkene reactions in solution is mentioned in Section 3.5.1. 

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 reactions of transition metals with small alkenes were also studied,45-47 94-96,98,102 103,105 and it was found that many metals from the second and third rows react with alkenes, including ethene. The measured reaction rates typically increased as the hydrocarbon was changed from ethene to propene, but levelled off for larger alkenes.94 Among the first-row metals, only Ni reacted with ethene, but several of the other metals reacted with larger alkenes.94 The observed trend in reactivity for alkene reactions was 2nd > 3rd > 1st, similar to what was observed for the M + N2O reactions (see Fig. 5). This trend was explained in both cases by the pattern of electronic states in each row, as discussed above. 

The preparation and immediate use of manganese(III) azide species generated slowly in situ by refluxing manganese(III) acetate and sodium azide in acetic acid in presence of alkene reaction substrates to prepare 1,2-diazidoalkanes avoids the need to isolate manganese(III) azide which has a high probability of explosive instability [1]. The (II) azide is known [20260-90-6], isolable, detonable and has been patented as a power source for lasers [2],... 

Acyclic S-S dications 51 and 52 also give 1,2-disulfonium salts 90 in reactions with olefins.79 Formation of a mixture of diastereomers is observed in the case of 1,2-disubstituted alkenes. Reaction with conjugated dienes leads exclusively to the product of 1,4-addition 89 as mixtures of E- and Z-products whose ratio depends on steric factors (Scheme 34).79... 

Adeniji, S.A., Kerr, J.A., Williams, M.R. (1981) Rate constants for ozone-alkene reactions under atmospheric conditions. Int. J. Chem. Kinet. 13, 209-217. 

Grosjean, D., Grosjean, E., Williams, II, E.L. (1994) Atmospheric chemistry of olefins A product study of the ozone — alkene reaction with cyclohexane added to scavenge OH. Environ. Sci. Technol. 26, 186-196. 

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