Carbocations solvation

An activation energy of this magnitude would lead to an imobservably slow reaction at normal temperature. Carbocation formation in solution is feasible because of the solvation of the ions that are produced. 

It has been possible to obtain thermodynamic data for the ionization of alkyl chlorides by reaction with SbFs, a Lewis acid, in the nonnucleophilic solvent S02C1F. It has been foimd that the solvation energies of the carbocations in this medium are small and do not differ much from one another, making comparison of the nonisomeric systems possible. As long as subsequent reactions of the carbocation can be avoided, the thermodynamic characteristics of this reaction provide a measure of the relative ease of carbocation formation in solution. 

Figure 11.14 Solvation of a carbocation by water. The electron-rich oxygen atoms of solvent molecules orient around the positively charged carbocation and thereby stabilize it.

The Hammond postulate says that any factor stabilizing the intermediate carbocation should increase the rate of an S l reaction. Solvation of the carbocation—the interaction of the ion with solvent molecules—has just such an effect. Solvent molecules orient around the carbocation so that the electron-rich ends of the solvent dipoles face the positive charge (Figure 11.14), thereby lowering the energy of the ion and favoring its formation. 

It should be emphasized again that both the SN1 and the 5 2 reaction show solvent effects but that they do so for different reasons. SN2 reactions are disfavored in protic solvents because the ground-state energy oi the nucleophile is lowered by solvation. S l reactions are favored in protic solvents because the transition-state energy leading to carbocation intermediate is lowered by solvation. 

Carbocations are intermediates in several kinds of reactions. The more stable ones have been prepared in solution and in some cases even as solid salts, and X-ray crystallographic structures have been obtained in some cases. An isolable dioxa-stabilized pentadienylium ion was isolated and its structure was determined by h, C NMR, mass spectrometry (MS), and IR. A P-fluoro substituted 4-methoxy-phenethyl cation has been observed directly by laser flash photolysis. In solution, the carbocation may be free (this is more likely in polar solvents, in which it is solvated) or it may exist as an ion pair, which means that it is closely associated with a negative ion, called a counterion or gegenion. Ion pairs are more likely in nonpolar solvents. 

It is unlikely that free carbanions exist in solution. Like carbocations, they usually exist as either ion pairs or they are solvated. " Among experiments that demonstrated this was the treatment of PhCOCHMe with ethyl iodide, where was Li ", Na", or K" . The half-lives of the reaction were for Li, 31 x 10 Na, 0.39 X 10 and K, 0.0045 x 10 , demonstrating that the species involved were not identical. Similar results were obtained with Li, Na, and Cs triphenylmethides (PhsC M Where ion pairs are unimportant, carbanions are solvated. Cram " demonstrated solvation of carbanions in many solvents. There may be a difference in the structure of a carbanion depending on whether it is free (e.g., in the gas phase) or in solution. The negative charge may be more localized in solution in order to maximize the electrostatic attraction to the counterion. ... 

The first step is a slow ionization of the substrate and is the rate-determining step. The second is a rapid reaction between the intermediate carbocation and the nucleophile. The ionization is always assisted by the solvent, since the energy necessary to break the bond is largely recovered by solvation of R" " and of X. For example, the ionization of f-BuCl to f-Bu" and Cl" in the gas phase without a solvent requires ISOkcalmol" (630kJmol" ). In the absence of a solvent such a process simply would not take place, except at very high temperatures. In water, this... 

The SnI reactions do not proceed at bridgehead carbons in [2.2.1] bicyclic systems (p. 397) because planar carbocations cannot form at these carbons. However, carbanions not stabilized by resonance are probably not planar SeI reactions should readily occur with this type of substrate. This is the case. Indeed, the question of carbanion stracture is intimately tied into the problem of the stereochemistry of the SeI reaction. If a carbanion is planar, racemization should occur. If it is pyramidal and can hold its structure, the result should be retention of configuration. On the other hand, even a pyramidal carbanion will give racemization if it cannot hold its structure, that is, if there is pyramidal inversion as with amines (p. 129). Unfortunately, the only carbanions that can be studied easily are those stabilized by resonance, which makes them planar, as expected (p. 233). For simple alkyl carbanions, the main approach to determining structure has been to study the stereochemistry of SeI reactions rather than the other way around. What is found is almost always racemization. Whether this is caused by planar carbanions or by oscillating pyramidal carbanions is not known. In either case, racemization occurs whenever a carbanion is completely free or is symmetrically solvated. 

The oxidation potential of carbanions, ox> or the reduction potential of carbocations, red> could be a practical scale of stability as defined by (3). These potentials can be measured by voltammetry, although the scale is subject to assumptions regarding elimination of the diffusional potential and solvation effects. 

The possible formation of a delocalised benzyl type carbocation (16) results in much lower (70%) ANTI stereoselectivity than with trans 2-butene (5 =100% ANTI stereoselectivity, p. 180), where no such delocalisation is possible. It is also found that increasing the polarity, and ion-solvating ability, of the solvent also stabilises the carbocation, relative to the bromium ion, intermediate with consequent decrease in ANTI stereoselectivity. Thus addition of bromine to 1,2-diphenylethene (stilbene) was found to proceed 90-100% ANTI in solvents of low dielectric constant, but =50% ANTI only in a solvent with e = 35. 

The factors that promote unimolecular, as opposed to bimolecular (E2), elimination are very much the same as those that promote SN1 with respect to Sw2, namely (a) an alkyl group in the substrate that can give rise to a relatively stable carbocation, and (b) a good ionising, ion-solvating medium. Thus (a) is reflected in the fact that with halides, increasing El elimination occurs along the series,... 

Solvation stabilizes the transition state leading to the intermediate carbocation and halide ion more it does the reactants => the free energy of activation is lower. 

The observed value of kjkp for partitioning of the simple tertiary carbocation [1+] is smaller than that expected if the nucleophilic addition of solvent were to occur by rate-determining chemical bond formation. This is probably because solvent addition is limited by the rate constant for reorganization of the solvation shell that surrounds the carbocation. 

The reactions of the vinylcarbenes 7 and 15 with methanol clearly involve delocalized intermediates. However, the product distributions deviate from those of free (solvated) allyl cations. Competition of the various reaction paths outlined in Scheme 5 could be invoked to explain the results. On the other hand, the effect of charge delocalization in allylic systems may be partially offset by ion pairing. Proton transfer from alcohols to carbenes will give rise to carbocation-alkoxide ion pairs that is, the counterion will be closer to the carbene-derived carbon than to any other site. Unless the paired ions are rapidly separated by solvent molecules, collapse of the ion pair will mimic a concerted O-H insertion reaction. 

Alkenes are scavengers that are able to differentiate between carbenes (cycloaddition) and carbocations (electrophilic addition). The reactions of phenyl-carbene (117) with equimolar mixtures of methanol and alkenes afforded phenylcyclopropanes (120) and benzyl methyl ether (121) as the major products (Scheme 24).51 Electrophilic addition of the benzyl cation (118) to alkenes, leading to 122 and 123 by way of 119, was a minor route (ca. 6%). Isobutene and enol ethers gave similar results. The overall contribution of 118 must be more than 6% as (part of) the ether 121 also originates from 118. Alcohols and enol ethers react with diarylcarbenium ions at about the same rates (ca. 109 M-1 s-1), somewhat faster than alkenes (ca. 108 M-1 s-1).52 By extrapolation, diffusion-controlled rates and indiscriminate reactions are expected for the free (solvated) benzyl cation (118). In support of this notion, the product distributions in Scheme 24 only respond slightly to the nature of the n bond (alkene vs. enol ether). The formation of free benzyl cations from phenylcarbene and methanol is thus estimated to be in the range of 10-15%. However, the major route to the benzyl ether 121, whether by ion-pair collapse or by way of an ylide, cannot be identified. 

Quantum yields for the formation of 141 from 138 in TFE-MeCN were estimated by transient absorption actinometry (Table l).62 The data refer to solvated carbocations (141) since ion pairs (140) are too short-lived for detection on the ns time scale. The modest to poor yields of 141 could be due to predominant ion-pair recombination (140 -> 142), or to parallel protonation (139 — 140) and insertion (139 — 142). Picosecond LFP studies on photoheterolyses of A CH-X in MeCN revealed that the ratio of collapse to escape (k /ki) for [Ar2CH+ X-] is slightly affected by p-substituents (H, Me, OMe) and by X (Cl, Br).66 In contrast, 4>M1 was found to increase by a factor of 17 as p-H (138d) was replaced with p-OMe (138a).62 Hence the ion-pair hypothesis seems difficult to reconcile with the effect of p-substituents on unless the strong nucleophile RO in 140 behaves differently from the weakly nucleophilic halide ions. 

It should be kept in mind that quantum chemical calculations of structures and magnetic properties generally are done for the isolated carbocation without taking into account its environment and media effects such as solvent, site-specific solvation or counterion effects. This is a critical question since NMR spectra of carbocations with a few exceptions are studied in superacid solutions and properties calculated for the gas-phase species are of little relevance if the electronic structure of carbocations is strongly perturbed by solvent effects. Provided that appropriate methods are used,... 

We have examined the competing isomerization and solvolysis reactions of 1-4-(methylphenyl)ethyl pentafluorobenzoate with two goals in mind (1) We wanted to use the increased sensitivity of modern analytical methods to extend oxygen-18 scrambling studies to mostly aqueous solutions, where we have obtained extensive data for nucleophilic substitution reactions of 1-phenylethyl derivatives. (2) We were interested in comparing the first-order rate constant for internal return of a carbocation-carboxylate anion pair with the corresponding second-order rate constant for the bimolecular combination of the same carbocation with a carboxylate anion, in order to examine the effect of aqueous solvation of free carboxylate anions on their reactivity toward addition to carbocations. 

Quinn et al. followed the reaction of a nucleoside with trityl chloride in pyridine at 50 °C on the laboratory scale. This reaction is the first step of an industrially significant process. The UV-vis spectra were analyzed with chemometric analysis where automatic window factor analysis (WFA) yielded better results than PLS. A reactive intermediate, a solvated carbocation, was identified that had not been found with HPLC (quenching upon aliquot dilution) or NIR, respectively. Small, sudden process upsets could be detected. 

In this first reaction, unless the process is occurring at very high temperatures, solvation of the ionic products is needed to provide the energy needed in the bondbreaking step. Because the carbocation has planar sp hybridization, the second reaction can occur on either face. This second step may just as well be written in either of the following ways ... 

Y is either a solvated electron (displaced electron formed during the radiolytic reaction) or the product of the electron having reacted with some compound in the reaction system [Allen et al., 1974 Hayashi et al., 1967 Kubota et al., 1978 Williams et al., 1967]. If Y is an electron, the propagating carbocation centers are converted to radical centers that subsequently undergo reaction with some species in the reaction system to form molecular species. The termination rate is given by... 

Variations in the absolute concentration of the carbocation solutions and temperature had minor effects on chemical shifts. The counter ion effect and the equilibrium could be minimized by going to higher superacidity systems with lower nucleophilicity counter ions. Resonances due to the PAH itself were considerably shielded. Solvation by FSO3H and the formation of ion pair-molecule clusters were suggested as possible reasons. 

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