Bromination of alkenes

The reaction of bromine with (E)-stilbene (47) to give meso-stilbene dibromide (48) as the major product (Eq. 10.21) is another example of an electrophilic addition reaction of alkenes. The addition of bromine to many alkenes is a stereospecific reaction that proceeds by anti addition to the double bond. However, the addition of bromine to 47 is not stereospecific because small amounts of dl-stilbene dibromide (49) are also formed in this reaction. The formation of wreso-stilbene dibromide presumably occurs via the nucleophilic attack of bromide on the intermediate cyclic bromonium ion, 50. The possible interconversion of 50 and the acyclic carbocation 51 (Eq. 10.22) is one possible way to account for the presence of dl-stilbene dibromide in the product. 

The dibromides 48 and 49 are diastereomers and thus have different physical and chemical properties (Sec. 7.1). Indeed, their melting points differ by 100 °C. This makes it very easy to identify the major product of the bromination. 

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The study of the stereochemical course of organic reactions often leads to detailed insight into reaction mechanisms. Mechanistic postulates ftequently make distinctive predictions about the stereochemical outcome of the reaction. Throughout the chapters dealing with specific types of reactions, consideration will be given to the stereochemistry of a reaction and its relationship to the reaction mechanism. As an example, the bromination of alkenes can be cited. A very simple mechanism for bromination is given below ... 

The fact that the bromine concentration remains at veiy low levels is important to the success of the allylic halogenation process. The allylic bromination of alkenes must... 

The stereoselectivity of the radical addition can be explained in terms of a bridged structure similar to that involved in discussion of ionic bromination of alkenes ... 

Similar oxidation with bromine of alkenes having branched perfluoroalkyls in the allylic position gives bromohydrm regioisomcrs and a dibromo derivative [J5] (equation 27)... 

When the allylic cation reacts with Br to complete the electrophilic addition, reaction can occur either at Cl or at C3 because both carbons share the positive charge (Figure 14.4). Thus, a mixture of 1,2- and 1,4-addition products results. (Recall that a similar product mixture was seen for NBS bromination of alkenes in Section 10.4, a reaction that proceeds through an allylic radical.)... 

The mechanism of benzylic bromination is similar to that discussed in Section 10.4 for allylic bromination of alkenes. Abstraction of a benzylic hydrogen atom generates an intermediate benzylic radical, which reacts with Br2 to yield product and a Br- radical that cycles back into the reaction to carry on the chain. The Br2 necessary for reaction with the benzylic radical is produced by a concurrent reaction of HBr with NBS. 

As vicinal dibromides are usually made by bromination of alkenes, their utility for synthesis is limited, except for temporary masking of a double bond. Much more frequently it is desirable to convert a diol to an alkene, and several useful procedures have been developed. The reductive deoxygenation of diols via thiono carbonates was... 

To sum up, the rate retardation attributed to steric effects of bulky alkyl groups can arise from substituent-electrophile, substituent-substituent and substituent-solvent interactions in the first ionization step of the reaction and also from substituent-nucleophile interactions in the product-forming step. It is therefore not surprising that the usual structure-reactivity correlations or even simpler log/log relationships cannot satisfactorily describe the kinetic effects of alkyl groups in the electrophilic bromination of alkenes. 

An extended form of (39) has been used to analyse kinetic substituent effects on bromination of alkenes GRaC=CR()R) , where G is a conjugatively electron-donating group and R is alkyl (Bienvenue-Goetz and Dubois, 1981). 

Chapter 18 by C. Chiappe focuses on the mechanism of bromination of alkenes, exploring the role of solvent on the formation of cyclic bromonium ion versus P-bromocarbemium ion, as key intermediates. In Chapter 19, H. P. A. Mercier et al. discuss the utility of a novel class of noble-gas onium salts as oxidants for generation and isolation of various trihalomethyl cation salts. 

Based on the above mentioned kinetic and product investigations, several conclusions concerning the mechanism of electrophilic bromination of alkenes emerge ... 

Laboratory scale bromination of alkenes in homogeneous solution using an undivided cell is adaptable to the formation of epoxides, bromohydrins or dibromides depending on the conditions [64]. Epoxides are generated using an initially neutral solution and a low concentration of bromide ions. The reaction sequence is similar to that of Scheme 2.3. Formation of bromohydrins requires dilute hydrobromic acid as the supporting electrolyte. Dibromides are obtained using a concentrated solution of sodium bromide as electrolyte. 

Benzyltrimethylammonium tribromideb Selective bromination of alkenes and carbonyl compounds... 

More than six decades after the postulation of the cyclic bromonium ion intermediate in electrophilic bromination of alkenes important, new findings are still emerging.567 Updated general treatments of the halogenation of alkenes became available.568,569... 

Room-temperature ionic liquids may be used as green recyclable alternatives to chlorinated solvents for stereoselective halogenation.577 The bromination of alkenes and alkynes in [bmim][Br] is a/m -stereospecific, whereas that of 1,3-dienes gives selectively the 1,4-addition products. The reactions of arylacetylenes, however, are not selective when carried out in [bmim][PF6]. Tetraethylammonium trichloride, a stable crystalline solid may be used in the chlorination of alkenes and alkynes to afford the products with exclusive anti stereoselectivity.578 It has... 

When chlorination or bromination of alkenes is carried out in the gas phase at high temperature, addition to the double bond becomes less significant and substitution at the allylic position becomes the dominant reaction.153-155 In chlorination studied more thoroughly a small amount of oxygen and a liquid film enhance substitution, which is a radical process in the transformation of linear alkenes. Branched alkenes such as isobutylene behave exceptionally, since they yield allyl-substituted product even at low temperature. This reaction, however, is an ionic reaction.156 Despite the possibility of significant resonance stabilization of the allylic radical, the reactivity of different hydrogens in alkenes in allylic chlorination is very similar to that of alkanes. This is in accordance with the reactivity of benzylic hydrogens in chlorination. 

Figure 16. Selective bromination of alkenes in the presence of a zeolite.

A second general method involves the bromination of alkenes with jY-bromosuccinimide (the Wohl-Ziegler reaction). A radical-chain reaction takes place between A-bromosuccinimide (NBS) and alkenes, which com-... 

Although the stereochemistry of bromination of alkenes could result from a freely rotating carbocation and a cyclic bromonium ion competing with each... 

Another approach in the study of the mechanism and synthetic applications of bromination of alkenes and alkynes involves the use of crystalline bromine-amine complexes such as pyridine hydrobromide perbromide (PyHBts), pyridine dibromide (PyBn), and tetrabutylammonium tribromide (BiMNBn) which show stereochemical differences and improved selectivities for addition to alkenes and alkynes compared to Bn itself.81 The improved selectivity of bromination by PyHBn forms the basis for a synthetically useful procedure for selective monoprotection of the higher alkylated double bond in dienes by bromination (Scheme 42).80 The less-alkylated double bonds in dienes can be selectively monoprotected by tetrabromination followed by monodeprotection at the higher alkylated double bond by controlled-potential electrolysis (the reduction potential of vicinal dibromides is shifted to more anodic values with increasing alkylation Scheme 42).80 The question of which diastereotopic face in chiral allylic alcohols reacts with bromine has been probed by Midland and Halterman as part of a stereoselective synthesis of bromo epoxides (Scheme 43).82... 

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