Carbenium ions addition reactions

In the case of the butene isomers, the addition will lead to different isooctyl cations, depending on the isomer and the type of carbenium ion. The reactions involving s-butyl ions are likely to be negligible for liquid acid catalysts and of minor importance for zeolites. 

The second is that the initiation consists of the addition to the monomer of some or all of the cationic species thus formed to give the growing carbenium ion (I) (reaction (8)). Even if the first part is proved, the second part must be tested separately, for it is possible, though at present it seems unlikely, that the cations in the initiator solution could generate cations from the monomer by reactions other than the addition reaction (8). For instance, they could generate an allylic cation (II) by abstracting H" (reaction (12)), or they could form a radical-cation (III) by abstracting an electron (reaction (13)), from the monomer ... 

However, there are also many systems in which the evidence indicates that the propagating species cannot be a carbenium ion. Such reactions have been termed pseudo-cationic and in these polymerisations the propagating species is believed to be an ester. The most thoroughly investigated systems comprise aromatic monomers (styrene, acenaphthylene [11]) and protonic acids (HC104) or iodine [11] as initiators. The simplest representation of the propagation is as the addition of the ester (stabilised by four styrene molecules) across the double-bond of the monomer [12] ... 

Fig. 3.54. Carbenium ion additions to isobutene as key steps in the cationic polymerization of isobutene. The dashed arrow corresponds to the overall reaction.

Carbenium ion additions to C=C double bonds are of greater preparative importance when they take place intramolecularly as ring closure reactions (see Figure 3.55). 

Chiral rhodium(II) oxazolidinones 5-7 were not as effective as Rh2(MEPY)4 for enantioseleetive intramolecular cyclopropanation, even though the sterie bulk of their chiral ligand attachments (COOMe versus /-Pr or C Ph) are similar. Significantly lower yields and lower enantiomeric excesses resulted from the decomposition of 11 catalyzed by either Rh2(4S-IPOX)4, Rh2(4S-BNOX)4, or Rh2(4R-BNOX)4 (Table 3). In addition, butenolide 12, the product from carbenium ion addition of the rhodium-stabilized carbenoid to the double bond followed by 1,2-hydrogen migration and dissociation of RI12L4 (Scheme II), was of considerable importance in reactions performed with 5-7 but was only a minor constituent ( 1%) from reactions catalyzed by Rh2(5S-MEPY)4. This difference can be attributed to the ability of the carboxylate substituents to stabilize the earboeation form of the intermediate metal carbene. 

Intermolecular additions of carbenium ions to olefins give polymers. Such a reaction is used in industry, for example, in the cationic polymerization of isobutene (Figure 3.43). One of the rare cases of an intermolecular carbenium ion addition to an olefin without polymer formation occurs in the industrial synthesis of isooctane (Figure 3.44). 

Fig. 3.44. Carbenium ion addition to isobutene as a partial step in the Ipatiev synthesis of isooctane. The upper line shows the overall reaction.

The similar order of magnitude of the reactivities of methyl-substituted 1,3-dienes (Table 4) which depended on the number but not on the position of the substituent was strong evidence that allyl cations serve as reaction intermediates in these reactions. The rate decrease with increase in the ring size of the cycloalkadienes was attributed to the increased deviation of the jr-system from planarity. The reactivities of 1,3-dienes deviated markedly from the roughly linear relationship between the rates of proton and carbenium ion additions to alkenes. These deviations were ascribed to abnonnally low reactivity of the conjugated jr-systems. although this interpretation was inconsistent with the similar behavior of alkenes and dienes in the structure-reactivity relationship for hydration . 

This section divides the carbenium ion olefin reactions into four parts (1) Carbenium ion addition to simple alkenes and alkyncs1 (2) Prins reaction and Prins cyclization2 (3) Carbenium ion olefin cyclization3 (4) Transannular carbenium ion olefin reactions of eight-, nine-, ten- and eleven-membered rings4. 

Other reactions, in which carbenium ion addition to an isocyanide is the key step, are the Passerini and Ugi reactions and reactions of similar type. These multicomponent transformations have recently been reviewed The Passerini reaction starts from an isocyanide, a carbonyl compound and a carboxylic acid. 

MarkownikofT s rule The rule states that in the addition of hydrogen halides to an ethyl-enic double bond, the halogen attaches itself to the carbon atom united to the smaller number of hydrogen atoms. The rule may generally be relied on to predict the major product of such an addition and may be easily understood by considering the relative stabilities of the alternative carbenium ions produced by protonation of the alkene in some cases some of the alternative compound is formed. The rule usually breaks down for hydrogen bromide addition reactions if traces of peroxides are present (anti-MarkownikofT addition). 

The Prins reaction often yields stereospecifically the and-addition product this observation is not rationalized by the above mechanism. Investigations of the sulfuric acid-catalyzed reaction of cyclohexene 8 with formaldehyde in acetic acid as solvent suggest that the carbenium ion species 7 is stabilized by a neighboring-group effect as shown in 9. The further reaction then proceeds from the face opposite to the coordinating OH-group " ... 

Since the double-bond configuration is established in the final elimination step from a /t-silicon-(or tin-) substituted carbenium ion in a conformation of lowest energy, often high E selectivity is observed. In reactions of allylstannanes, catalyzed by tin(TV) chloride or titanium(IV) chloride, occasionally a metal exchange occurs, followed by the pericyclic addition pathway leading to the iwti-diastereomers17 19. A more detailed discussion is given in Section D.1.3.3.3.5. 

In addition to the ratio of concentrations olefine/HA, the donor ability, or the nucleophilicity of the anion A- is a deciding factor for the manner in which the reaction continues. This anion is formed simultaneously with the carbenium ion. When the nucleophilicity of the anion is sufficiently high, as in the case of CP, Br-, I-, for instance, the reaction proceeds as an addition by the formation of a covalent bond between A- and the carbenium ion72). 

Kolbe electrolysis is a powerful method of generating radicals for synthetic applications. These radicals can combine to symmetrical dimers (chap 4), to unsymmetrical coupling products (chap 5), or can be added to double bonds (chap 6) (Eq. 1, path a). The reaction is performed in the laboratory and in the technical scale. Depending on the reaction conditions (electrode material, pH of the electrolyte, current density, additives) and structural parameters of the carboxylates, the intermediate radical can be further oxidized to a carbocation (Eq. 1, path b). The cation can rearrange, undergo fragmentation and subsequently solvolyse or eliminate to products. This path is frequently called non-Kolbe electrolysis. In this way radical and carbenium-ion derived products can be obtained from a wide variety of carboxylic acids. 

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. 

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