And electrophilic addition to alkenes

The mechanisms of dehalogenations have been reviewed by Miller and in a series of papers , the stereoselectivity of the dehalogenation of the stilbene dibromides with a wide variety of reagents has been discussed. The meso-stilbene dibromide always eliminates to give the thermodynamically more stable alkene, namely tra 5-stilbene which is product of apparent a t/-elimina-tion. However, the J/-stilbene dibromide gives both cis- and rm i-stilbenes, and the ratio of these products can provide useful mechanistic information. One-electron reductants, such as chromous ion, give rise to intermediate radical formation in which rotation about the Ca-Cg bond allows thermodynamic control of the reaction. Two-electron reductants, such as iodide ion in dimethyl formamide, induce highly stereoselective a i-elimination. In protic solvents, carbonium ion intermediates were proposed to explain the trend towards thermodynamic control. Miller has proposed a reaction mechanism which embraces elimination, substitution, and electrophilic addition to alkenes. 

PROBLEM 4.11 Electrophilic aromatic substitutions to benzene and electrophilic additions to alkenes both involve a slow first step and a fast second step. Using Figure 4.5 as a guide, draw a reaction energy diagram for the reaction shown in eqs. 4.14 and 4.15. 

When formulating a mechanism for the reaction of alkynes with hydrogen halides we could propose a process analogous to that of electrophilic addition to alkenes m which the first step is formation of a carbocation and is rate determining The second step according to such a mechanism would be nucleophilic capture of the carbocation by a halide ion... 

Aikene chemistry is dominated by electrophilic addition reactions. When HX reacts with an unsymmetrically substituted aikene, Markovnikov s rule predicts that the H will add to the carbon having fewer alky) substituents and the X group will add to the carbon having more alkyl substituents. Electrophilic additions to alkenes take place through carbocation intermediates formed by reaction of the nucleophilic aikene tt bond with electrophilic H+. Carbocation stability follows the order... 

For a summary and detailed discussion of the stereochemistry of electrophilic additions to alkenes and alkynes see R. C. Fahey, in Topics in Stereochemistry, Vol. 3,... 

The synthesis of a-substituted phosphonates 89, via the electrophilic addition of phosphorylated C-radicals 88 (generated by reaction of BujSnH to the readily accessible a-phosphoryl sulfides (or selenides)) and electrophilic addition to electron rich alkenes, has been described [57] (Scheme 26). A large excess of alkene is necessary to minimize the competitive formation of the undesired compound 90 resulting from direct reduction of the initial radical 88. The ratio 89/90 has been measured for each example. The synthesis of the a-mono- or a,a-di-substituted (R or phosphonates 89 shows that the free radical approach... 

Although the reaction of ketones and other carbonyl compounds with electrophiles such as bromine leads to substitution rather than addition, the mechanism of the reaction is closely related to electrophilic additions to alkenes. An enol, enolate, or enolate equivalent derived from the carbonyl compound is the nucleophile, and the electrophilic attack by the halogen is analogous to that on alkenes. The reaction is completed by restoration of the carbonyl bond, rather than by addition of a nucleophile. The acid- and base-catalyzed halogenation of ketones, which is discussed briefly in Section 6.4 of Part A, provide the most-studied examples of the reaction from a mechanistic perspective. 

Once the tertiary cations have been formed, they can undergo electrophilic addition to alkene molecules (Reaction (4)). The addition is exothermic and contributes most of all the reaction steps to the overall heat of reaction. It has been proposed (24) that instead of the alkenes, the corresponding esters are added to the carbenium ions, restoring the acid in this way (Reaction (5)). The products of both potential steps are the same. 

The electrophilic addition to alkenes is one of the occasions when the direction of the curl matters and can convey formation of different products. Although the product shown is correct, the curly arrow is wrong. 

Addition reactions occur in compounds having n electrons in carbon-carbon double (alkenes) or triple bonds (alkynes) or carbon-oxygen double bonds (aldehydes and ketones). Addition reactions are of two types electrophilic addition to alkenes and alkynes, and nucleophilic addition to aldehydes and ketones. In an addition reaction, the product contains all of the elements of the two reacting species. 

The most important method of preparation involves oxidation, or epoxidation, of an alkene with a peroxycarboxylic acid, RC03H. This reaction achieves suprafacial addition of oxygen across the double bond, and is a type of electrophilic addition to alkenes (see Exercise 15-53) ... 

For additional examples and a discussion of the mechanism of electrophilic addition to alkenes with palladium salts, see Volume 4, Chapter 3.4. 

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