Anti Additions

The term syn addition describes the stereochemistry of reactions such as this m which two atoms or groups add to the same face of a double bond When atoms or groups add to opposite faces of the double bond the process is called anti addition... 

The reaction of chlorine and bromine with cycloalkenes illustrates an important stereo chemical feature of halogen addition Anti addition is observed the two bromine atoms of Br2 or the two chlorines of CI2 add to opposite faces of the double bond... 

These observations must be taken into account when considering the mechanism of halogen addition They force the conclusion that a simple one step bond switching process of the following type cannot be correct A process of this type requires syn addi tion It IS not consistent with the anti addition that we actually see... 

Anti addition occurs The halogen and the hydroxyl group add to opposite faces of the double bond... 

Addition of halogens (Sections 6 14-6 16) Bromine and chlorine add to alkenes to form vicinal dihalides A cy clic halonium ion is an intermediate Stereospecific anti addition is observed... 

The reaction of thiocyanogen (N=CS—SC=N) with cis cyclooctene proceeds by anti addition... 

Construct a molecular model of the product formed by anti addition of Br2 to 1 2 dimethyl cyclohexene... 

Figures 7 13 and 7 14 depict the stereochemical relationships associated with anti addition of bromine to (E) and (Z) 2 butene respectively The trans alkene (E) 2 butene yields only meso 2 3 dibromobutane but the cis alkene (Z) 2 butene gives a racemic mixture of 2R 3R) and 2S 3S) 2 3 dibromobutane...

Overall the stereospecificity of this method is the same as that observed m per oxy acid oxidation of alkenes Substituents that are cis to each other m the alkene remain CIS m the epoxide This is because formation of the bromohydrm involves anti addition and the ensuing intramolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction takes place with mver Sion of configuration at the carbon that bears the halide leaving group... 

Entries 1 and 2 in Scheme 2.9 are typical of concerted syn addition to alkene double bonds. On treatment with peroxyacetic acid, the Z-alkene affords the cis-oxirane, whereas the -alkene affords only the iraws-oxirane. Similarly, addition of dibromocarbene to Z-2-butene yields exclusively l,l-dibromo-cw-2,3-dimethylcyclopropane, whereas only 1,1-dibromo-/ra 5-2,3-dimethylcyclopropane is formed from -2-butene. There are also numerous stereospecific anti additions. Entiy 3 shows the anti stereochemistry typical of bromination of simple alkenes. 

If the addition of Br to the alkene results in a bromonium ion, the anti stereochemistry can be readily eiqilained. Nucleophilic ring opening by bromide ion would occur by backside attack at carbon, with rupture of one of the C—Br bonds, giving overall anti addition. 

On the other hand, a freely rotating open carbocation would be expected to give both the syn and anti addition products. If the principal intermediate were an ion pair that collapsed faster than rotation about the C—C bond, syn addition could predominate. 

The stereochemistry of chlorination can be explained in similar terms. Chlorine would be expected to be a somewhat poorer bridging group than bromine because it is less polarizable and more resistant to becoming positively charged. Comparison of the data for bromination and chlorination of E- and Z-l-phenylpropene confirms this trend (see Table 6.2). Although anti addition is dominant in bromination, syn addition is slightly preferred... 

As in the case of hydrogen halide additions, this mode of attack should lead to anti addition. 

The three basic mechanisms that have been considered to be involved in electrophilic additions to alkynes are shown below. The first involves a discrete vinyl cation. In general, it can lead to either of the two stereoisomeric addition products. The second mechanism is a termolecular process which would be expected to lead to stereospecific anti addition. The... 

Reaction of 4-octyne with trifiuoroacetic acid in CH2CI2 containing 0.1-1.0A/Br leads mainly to Z-4-bromo-4-octene by an anti addition. The presence of Br greatly accelerates the reaction as compared to reaction with trifiuoroacetic acid alone, indicating the involvement of the Br in the rate-determining step. ... 

Octyne and 2-octyne also give >95% anti addition vinder these conditions. The reactions are formulated as concerted Ad S processes. 

Alkynes react when heated with trifluoroacetic acid to give addition products. Mixtures of syn and anti addition products are obtained. Similar addition reactions occur with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid. These reactions are analogous to acid-catalyzed hydration and proceed through a vinyl cation intermediate. 

For alkyl-substituted alkynes, there is a difference in stereochemistry between mono-and disubstituted derivatives. The former give syn addition whereas the latter react by anti addition. The disubstituted (internal) compounds are considerably ( 100 times) more reactive than the monosubstituted (terminal) ones. This result suggests that the transition state of the rate-determining step is stabilized by both of the alkyl substituents and points to a bridged intermediate. This would be consistent with the overall stereochemistry of the reaction for internal alkynes. 

The stereochemistry of addition is usually anti for alkyl-substituted alkynes, whereas die addition to aryl-substituted compounds is not stereospecific. This suggests a termo-iecular mechanism in the alkyl case, as opposed to an aryl-stabilized vinyl cation mtermediate in the aryl case. Aryl-substituted alkynes can be shifted toward anti addition by including bromide salts in the reaction medium. Under these conditions, a species preceding the vinyl cation must be intercepted by bromide ion. This species can be presented as a complex of molecular bromine with the alkyne. An overall mechanistic summary is shown in the following scheme. 

This scheme represents an alkyne-bromine complex as an intermediate in all alkyne brominations. This is analogous to the case of alkenes. The complex may dissociate to a inyl cation when the cation is sufficiently stable, as is the case when there is an aryl substituent. It may collapse to a bridged bromonium ion or undergo reaction with a nucleophile. The latta is the dominant reaction for alkyl-substituted alkynes and leads to stereospecific anti addition. Reactions proceeding through vinyl cations are expected to be nonstereospecific. 

When indene (4) is brominated in carbon tetrachloride, it gives some syn addition ( 15%), but indenone (5) gives only anti addition under the same conditions. 

In the bromination of styrene, a po-+ plot is noticeably curved. If the extremes of the curves are taken to represent straight lines, the curve can be resolved into two Hammett relationships with p = —2.8 for electron-attracting substituents and p = —4.4 for electron-releasing substituents. When the corresponding -methylstyrenes are examined, a similarly curved ap plot is obtained. Furthermore, the stereospecificity of the reaction in the case of the -methylstyrenes varies with the aryl substituents. The reaction is a stereoespecific anti addition for strongly electron-attracting substituents but becomes only weakly stereoselective for electron-releasing substituents, e.g., 63% anti, 37% syn, forp-methoxy. Discuss the possible mechanistic basis for the Hammett plot curvature and its relationship to the stereochemical results. 

The stereochemistry of radical addition of hydrogen bromide to alkenes has been studied with both acyclic and cyclic alkenes. Anti addition is favored.This is contrary to what would be expected if the s[p- carbon of the radical were rapidly rotating or inverting with respect to the remainder of the molecule ... 

The reactions of bromine with E- or Z-1 -fluoropropene under ionic conditions result in stereospecific anti additions to yield the 15,26 and 1R,25 products, respectively [ftl] (equation 4)... 

Gas-phase UV photolysis of tetrafluorodiphosphine in the presence of hexa-fluoro-2-butyne gives equal quantities of the products of syn and anti addition to the triple bond [21] (equation 15). 

Thermal insertion reactions of dihydndobis(T) - cyclopentadienyl)molybdenum with tnfluoromethylacetylene give exclusively syn addition At —40 °C, hexafluoro-2-butyne inserts to the Mo-H bond to give anti addition [40] equation 30)... 

It IS likely that the syn selectivity exhibited in cycloadditions of fluoroallene IS due to electrostatic interactions [23 25] As in the case of difluoroallene the reactions of fluoroallene with diazoalkanes and nitrile oxides are facile, but such reactions, other than that shown in equation 18, are neither regio nor stereospeutic [23, 25] Indeed, the addition of phenylnitrile oxide to fluoroallene occurs with preferential anti addition for both regioisomenc products (equation 20)... 

---