Alkyl cations

The mechanism of the reaction is generally considered to proceed by way of carbonhim ions (alkyl cations) which attack the aromatic nucleus ... 

My work on long-lived (persistent) carbocations dates back to the late 1950s at Dow and resulted in the first direct observation of alkyl cations. Subsequently, a wide spectrum of carbocations as long-lived species was studied using antimony pentafluoride as an extremely strong Lewis acid and later using other highly acidic (superacidic) systems. 

Until this time alkyl cations were considered only transient species. Their existence had been indirectly inferred from kinetic and stereochemical studies, but no reliable spectroscopic or other physical measurements of simple alkyl cations in solution or in the solid state were obtained. 

It was not fully realized until my breakthrough using superacids (vide infra) that, to suppress the deprotonation of alkyl cations to olefins and the subsequent formation of complex mixtures by reactions of olefins with alkyl cations, such as alkylation, oligomerization, polymerization, and cyclization, acids much stronger than those known and used in the past were needed. 

Finding snch acids (called snperacids ) turned out to be the key to obtaining stable, long-lived alkyl cations and, in general, carbocations. If any deprotonation were still to take place, the formed alkyl cation (a strong Lewis acid) would immediately react with the formed olefin (a good TT-base), leading to the mentioned complex reactions. 

This breakthrough was first reported in 1962 and was followed by further studies that led to methods for preparing varied long-lived alkyl cations in solution. 

Our studies also included IR spectroscopic investigation of the observed ions (Fig. 6.2). John Evans, who was at the time a spectroscopist at the Midland Dow laboratories, offered his cooperation and was able to obtain and analyze the vibrational spectra of our alkyl cations. It is rewarding that, some 30 years later, FT-IR spectra obtained by Denis Sunko and his colleagues in Zagreb with low-temperature matrix-deposition techniques and Schleyer s calculations of the spectra showed good agreement with our early work, considering that our work was... 

The results of aetivatioii of aeyl cations led to our study of other carboxonium ions. Carboxonium ions are highly stabilized compared to alkyl cations. As their name indicates, they have both carbocationic and oxonium ion nature. 

Evidence from a variety of sources however indicates that alkenyl cations (also called vinylic cations) are much less stable than simple alkyl cations and their involve ment m these additions has been questioned Eor example although electrophilic addi tion of hydrogen halides to alkynes occurs more slowly than the corresponding additions... 

A substantial body of evidence indicates that allylic carbocations are more stable than simple alkyl cations For example the rate of solvolysis of a chlonde that is both tertiary and allylic is much faster than that of a typical tertiary alkyl chloride... 

Nitrolysis may also proceed without giving rise to alcohol in accordance with Eq (2), Nevertheless, a nitric ester is formed by the possible action of the N03— ion on a free alkyl cation ... 

In exceptional circumstances the acylium ion (or the polarised complex) can decompose to give an alkyl cation so that alkylation accompanies acylation. This occurs in the aluminium chloride-catalysed reaction of pivaloyl chloride which gives acylation with reactive aromatics such as anisole, but with less reactive aromatics such as benzene, the acylium ion has time to decompose, viz. 

II. Reactivity and Stabilization of Tertiary Alkyl Cations in. Reactivity and Stabilization of Secondary Alkyl Cations. ... 

In previous studies (Hogeveen, 1970) the reactivity of long-lived carbonium ions towards molecular hydrogen has been investigated and interesting differences between secondary and tertiary alkyl cations have been observed. Tliis reaction is too slow, however, to be extended to other types of carbonium ions. The reactivity of carbonium ions towards carbon monoxide is much higher (about six powers of ten) than towards molecular hydrogen, which enabled us to determine not only the rate of reaction (3) for some tertiary and secondary alkyl cations, but also the rate of carbonylation of more stabilized carbonium ions. 

Calculation of the second-order rate constant of carbonylation, kg, and the equilibrium constant, K = [t-C4H9CO+]/[t-C4H ][CO] = A c/fcD> requires knowledge of the concentration of CO. The constant a in Henry s law Pco = [CO] was determined to be 5-3 litre mole atm in HF—SbFs (equimolar) and 53 litre mole atm in FHSOs—SbFs (equimolar) at 20°C. From the ratio [t-C4HBCO+]/[t-C4HJ"] at a known CO pressure, values for k and K were obtained. The data are listed in Table 1, which includes the values for the rate and equilibrium constants of two other tertiary alkyl cations, namely the t-pentyl and the t-adamantyl ions (Hogeveen et al., 1970). 

The equilibrium constant K is the same for R =t-C4HJ and t-CsHi. As also the rate constants of carbonylation and decarbonylation are about equal for these two ions, it is concluded that both the thermodynamics and the kinetics of the carbonylation reaction are independent of the structure of R+, if R+ is an acyclic tertiary alkyl cation. This agrees with former findings (Brouwer, 1968) on the relative stabilities of such ions. 

In discussing the elFect of structure on the stabilization of alkyl cations on the basis of the carbonylation-decarbonylation equilibrium constants, it is assumed that—to a first approximation—the stabilization of the alkyloxocarbonium ions does not depend on the structure of the alkyl group. The stabilization of the positive charge in the alkyloxocarbonium ion is mainly due to the resonance RC = 0 <-> RC = 0+, and the elFect of R on this stabilization is only of minor importance. It has been shown by Brouwer (1968a) that even in the case of (tertiary) alkylcarbonium ions, which would be much more sensitive to variation of R attached to the electron-deficient centre, the stabilization is practically independent of the structure of the alkyl groups. Another argument is found in the fact that the equilibrium concentrations of isomeric alkyloxocarbonium ions differ by at most a factor of 2-3 from each other (Section III). Therefore, the value of K provides a quantitative measure of the stabilization of an alkyl cation. In the case of R = t-adamantyl this equilibrium constant is 30 times larger than when R = t-butyl or t-pentyl, which means that the non-planar t-adamantyl ion is RT In 30= 2-1 kcal... 

Fig. 1. Free-enthalpy diagram of the carbonylation-decarbonylation of tertiary alkyl cations at 20 0 in FHSOa—SbFs (concentrations expressed in mole litre ). Underlined numbers directly from experimental data.

This difference in stabilization isreflectedinboththerateof carboiiylation and decarbonylation (Table 1). The free-enthalpy profiles for the car-bonylation of tertiary alkyl cations are shown in Fig. 1. 

As mentioned in the Introduction, rearrangements of the intermediate alkyl cation in the Koch synthesis may compete with the carbonylation. Under the kinetically controlled conditions prevailing in the Koch synthesis of carboxylic acids, the rearrangements occur only from a less stable to a more stable carbonium ion, e.g. from a secondary to a tertiary ion. The reverse rearrangements—from a more stable to a less stable... 

The salient points in this diagram are (i) the rate-determining step in the interconversion 55 6 is the bond-making (or bond-breaking) between the secondary C+ and CO (ii) the rate of carbonylation of the secondary pentyl ion 10 (and presumably also of other secondary acyclic alkyl cations) in FHSO3—SbFs has a free-enthalpy of activation of about... 

If R is a tertiary and RJ a secondary alkyl cation, equation (15) can-be simplified to... 

The value for K was determined to be 10 litre mole at 20°C, which is of the same order of magnitude as those for tertiary alkyl cations ((0-07 — 2) X 10 litre mole . Section II) and dramatically different from those for secondary alkyl cations (about 10 ° litre mole , calculated from Figs. 2 and 3). These data show that the 2-norbomyl ion is only 1-6 kcal mole less stabilized than, for example, the tertiary butyl cation and about 8 kcal mole" more stabilized than secondary alkyl cations. Another thermodynamic argument for the high stability of the 2-norbornyl ion in solution is found in the work of Amett and Larsen (1968)... 

In Sections II and III it was shown that secondary and tertiary alkyl cations can be formed by decarbonylation of the corresponding oxo-carbonium ions. This has been found impossible in the case of primary alkyl cations (Hogeveen and Roobeek, 1970) the oxocarbonium ions 13 and 14 were unchanged after one hour at 100°C k < 1-3 x 10 sec ), whereas ion 15 is fragmented by a j3-fission under these circumstances ... 

The simplest primary alkyl cations, CHJ and C2H, are formed from methane and ethane, respectively, by SbPs—PHSO3 (Olah and Schlosberg, 1968 Olah et al., 1969) and by SbPs (Lukas and Kramer, 1971). In these cases, intermolecular electrophilic substitution of these ions at the precursor alkanes leads to oligocondensation products, e.g. tertiary butyl and hexyl ions. In the presence of carbon monoxide it has been found possible to intercept the intermediate CHJ and C2H quantitatively as oxocarbonium ions (Hogeveen et al., 1969 Hogeveen and Roobeek, 1972). The competition between the reactions of the ethyl cation with ethane and carbon monoxide, respectively, is illustrated by the following equations ... 

Although a value for the rate constant of carbonylation of primary alkyl cations has so far not been obtained experimentally, it can be shown that the reaction must be diffusion-controlled. The difference in stabilization between secondary and tertiary alkyl cations in solution (9 + 1 kcal mole Section III, C) shows up as a difference in rate of carbonylation of a factor of 10 (Section III, A). As the difference in stabilization between primary and secondary alkyl cations is certainly larger than that between secondary and tertiary alkyl cations (various estimates have been summarized by Brouwer and Hogeveen, 1972), the rate constant of carbonylation of primary alkyl cations— and even more so for the methyl cation—will exceed that of secondary alkyl cations by more than a factor of 10, so that k> 10 litre mole sec, which means that the reaction is diffusion controlled. 

It should be emphasized that, in contrast to the cases of secondary alkyl cations (Olah et al., 1964 Saunders et al., 1968) and tertiary alkyl cations (Olah et al., 1964 Brouwer and Mackor, 1964), the evidence for the existence of primary alkyl cations as distinct species has been only indirect, because they have escaped direct spectroscopic observation so far. 

In contrast to the results of the reaction of tertiary and secondary alkyl cations with carbon monoxide (Figs. 1-5), which were obtained under thermodynamically controlled conditions, the results of the carbonylation with the vinyl cations were obtained under kinetically controlled conditions. This presents a difficulty in explaining the occurrence of the 1,2-CH3 shift in the reaction 16->-17, because it involves a strong increase in energy. The exclusive formation of the Z-stereoisomer 18 on carbonylation of the 1,2-dimethylvinyl cation 16 is remarkable, but does not allow an unambiguous conclusion about the detailed structure— linear 19 or bent 20—of the vinyl cation. A non-classical structure 21 can be disregarded, however, because the attack... 

Kinetic data on the carbonylation of vinyl cations have not been obtained so far, but it is likely to be a diffusion-controlled reaction as in the case of primary alkyl cations (Section IV, A). 

In Sections II and III the quantitative aspects have been summarized of the reversible carbonylation of secondary and tertiary alkyl cations as studied under thermodynamically controlled conditions. In Section IV the results have been reviewed of the irreversible carbonylation of the much less stable primary alkyl and vinyl cations as studied under kinetically controlled conditions. No kinetic details had been obtained in the latter case owing to the short-hved character of the ions. 

The kinetic results of these reactions are summarized in Table 2, in which the data for alkyl cations are included for comparison. 

---