Benzene electron donor-acceptor complexes

Solid state excitation of electron donor-acceptor complexes of various diaryl-acetylenes and dichlorobenzoquinone in either the acceptor or the 1 2 complex absorption bands induces [2+2] cycloaddition and produces identical mixtures of the quinone methides. Evidence is presented for the participation of an ion-radical pair as the reactive intermediate in both cases. Irradiation of an appropriately substituted o-hydroxybenzyl alcohol precursor generates the corresponding o-quinone methide which is reported to undergo an efficient [4+2] cycloaddition to form the hexahydrocannabinol system. Time-resolved studies confirm the intermediacy of the o-quinone methide and show its lifetime to be > 2 ms. Laser photolysis of 1,2-bis(phenoxymethyl)benzene, l,2-bis[(phenylthio)-methyl]benzene, and l,2-bis[(phenylseleno)methyl]benzene occurs by a two-photon process to produce o-quinodimethane which will cycloadd to various dienophiles including maleic anhydride, dimethyl maleate, dimethyl fumarate, fumaronitrile and dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate. ... 

A simple chemical example may serve to show the utility of PCA as a dimension reduction method both for the display of multidimensional data and for model building. The example we give here is a chemical model system for the characterization of the intermolecular forces involved in electron-donor-acceptor complexes, also called charge-transfer complexes, which has been described previously. ° Creation of this model involved the measurement of complex formation constants between monosubstituted benzenes and the... 

Among oxo-metals, osmium tetroxide is a particularly intriguing oxidant since it is known to oxidize various types of alkenes rapidly, but it nonetheless eschews the electron-rich aromatic hydrocarbons like benzene and naphthalene (Criegee et al., 1942 Schroder, 1980). Such selectivities do not obviously derive from differences in the donor properties of the hydrocarbons since the oxidation (ionization) potentials of arenes are actually less than those of alkenes. The similarity in the electronic interactions of arenes and alkenes towards osmium tetroxide relates to the series of electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complexes formed with both types of hydrocarbons (26). Common to both arenes and alkenes is the immediate appearance of similar colours that are diagnostic of charge-transfer absorp-... 

The nitrosonium cation bears a formal relationship to the well-studied halogens (i.e. X2 = I2, Br2, and Cl2), with both classes of structurally simple diatomic electron acceptors forming an extensive series of intermolecular electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complexes that show well-defined charge-transfer absorption bands in the UV-visible spectral region. Mulliken (1952a,b 1964 Mulliken and Person, 1969) originally identified the three possible nonbonded structures of the halogen complexes as in Chart 7, and the subsequent X-ray studies established the axial form II to be extant in the crystals of the benzene complexes with Cl2 and Br2 (Hassel and Stromme, 1958, 1959). In these 1 1 molecular complexes, the closest approach of the... 

In addition to the supporting self-citations [742,6,457,330], there was much early support for the formation of donor-acceptor complexes. Radke and Praus-nitz [743] interpreted the extensive loadings of phenols even at very low concentrations, in comparison with lower uptakes of several aliphatic adsorbates, as evidence for specific interaction with the activated carbon surface. Barton and Harrison [744] studied the effect of graphite outgassing temperature on the heat of immersion of benzene and attributed a shallow minimum at ca. 800°C to the effect of CO desorption, thus implicitly supporting the donor-acceptor complex proposal in terms of a reduction in the interaction between the partial charge on the carbonyl carbon atom and the 7t-electron cloud of the benzene molecule. ... 

Addendum. Benzene taught us about vibronically allowed, electronically forbidden transitions about the role of symmetry in spectroscopy about superexcited states a orbitals coming before some tt orbitals about donor-acceptor complexes ... Quantum chemistry and molecular spectroscopy would be pover without this molecule. But let us let Kekule dream his eternal dream... 

Regioselectivity is also critical in the acylation of electron-rich heterocycles other than substituted benzenes. High regioselectivity (94 6 C-4 versus C-2 acylation) observed in the AICI3 promoted intramolecular acylation of 28 a 3-(indol-3-yl)propionyl chloride analogue, to adduct 29, a precursor in the synthesis of Uhle s ketone 30. A donor-acceptor complex between AICI3 and chloroacetyl chloride was proposed to drive the acylation reaction. A sodium methoxide mediated cleavage of the A-BOC moiety of 29 completed the synthesis of 30 in 95% yield. 

The charge-tranter concept of Mulliken was introduced to account for a type of molecular complex formation in which a new electronic absorption band, attributable to neither of the isolated interactants, is observed. The iodine (solute)— benzene (solvent) system studied by Benesi and Hildebrand shows such behavior. Let D represent an interactant capable of functioning as an electron donor and A an interactant that can serve as an electron acceptor. The ground state of the 1 1 complex of D and A is described by the wave function i [Pg.394]

The X-ray structure of the dibromine complex with toluene (measured at 123 K) is more complicated, and shows multiple crystallographically independent donor/acceptor moieties [68]. Most important, however, is the fact that in all cases the acceptor shows an over-the-rim location that is similar to that in the benzene complex. In both systems, the acceptor is shifted by 1.4 A from the main symmetry axis, the shortest Br C distances of 3.1 A being significantly less than the sum of the van der Waals radii of 3.55 A [20]. Furthermore, the calculated hapticity in the benzene/Br2 complex (x] = 1.52) is midway between the over-atom (rj = 1.0) and over-bond (rj = 2.0) coordination. In the toluene complex, the latter varies from rj = 1.70 to 1.86 (in four non-equivalent coordination modes) and thus lies closer to the over-bond coordination model. Moreover, the over-bond bromine is remarkably shifted toward the ortho- and para-carbons that correspond to the positions of highest electron density (and lead to the transition states for electrophilic aromatic bromination [12]). Such an experimental location of bromine is in good agreement with the results of high level theoretical... 

As a 3-step mechanism, the electron-transfer paradigm provides a pair of discrete intermediates [D, A] and D+, A for the prior organization and the activation, respectively, of the donor and the acceptor. The quantitative evaluation of these intermediates would allow the overall second-order reaction (k2) to be determined. Although the presence of [D, A] does not necessarily imply its transformation to D+, A-, a large number and variety of donor/ acceptor couples showing transient charge-transfer absorptions associated with [D, A] have now been identified. In each case, the product can be predicted from the expected behavior of the individual ion radicals D+ and A-. Consider for example, the labile 1 1 benzene complex with bromine that has been isolated at low temperatures and characterized crystallographically (Chart 9).256... 

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