Carbon atoms lone pair reactions

First, look at the reaction and identify the bonding changes that have occurred. In this case, a C—Br bond has broken and a C-C bond has formed. The formation of the C-C bond involves donation of an electron pair from the nucleophilic carbon atom of the reactant on the left to the electrophilic carbon atom ol CH Br, so we draw a curved arrow originating from the lone pair on the negatively charged C atom and pointing to the C atom of CH3Br. At the same time the C—C bond forms, the C-Br bond must break so that the octet rule is not violated. We therefore draw a second curved arrow from the C-Br bond to Br. The bromine is now a stable Br- ion. 

The pentagon stabilization has been found in a biochemical phenomenon [80], The hydrogen on the thiazolium ring 9 (Scheme 7) is easily ionized to afford the corresponding carbene 10, a key catalyst in enzymatic reactions for which thiamine (vitamin B-1,11) pyrophosphate is the cofactor. The pentagon stability is expected to contribute to this unusual deprotonation. A lone pair generated on the carbon atom in 10 can similarly delocalize through the vicinal C-N and C-S a bonds in a cyclic manner. 

As heavier analogs of carbenes141) stannylenes can be used as ligands in transition-metal chemistry. The stability of carbene complexes is often explained by a synergetic c,7t-effect cr-donation from the lone electron pair of the carbon atom to the metal is compensated by a a-backdonation from filled orbitals of the metal to the empty p-orbital of the carbon atom. This concept cannot be transferred to stannylene complexes. Stannylenes are poor p-a-acceptors no base-stabilized stannylene (SnX2 B, B = electron donor) has ever been found to lose its base when coordinated with a transition metal (M - SnXj B). Up to now, stannylene complexes of transition metals were only synthesized starting from stable monomoleeular stannylenes. Divalent tin compounds are nevertheless efficient cr-donors as may be deduced from the displacement reactions (17)-(20) which open convenient routes to stannylene complexes. 

Carbenes are defined as molecular species with formally divalent and two-coordinate carbon atoms bearing various substituents X and Y and a lone pair of electrons. While the simple representatives are of low stability (such as CH2) and may only appear as short-lived reaction intermediates or in adducts with electron donors, some cyclic systems can be readily isolated. This is particularly true for many of the A-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), which are now widely applied as ligands to metals ( Wanzlick-Arduengo carbenes ). Such carbenes based on imidazol and benzimidazol have become the working horses in this branch of organogold chemistry (Scheme 54). 

The simplest compounds to consider here are ammonia and water. It is apparent from the above electronic configurations that nitrogen will be able to bond to three hydrogen atoms, whereas oxygen can only bond to two. Both compounds share part of the tetrahedral shape we saw with 5/ -hybridized carbon. Those orbitals not involved in bonding already have their full complement of electrons, and these occupy the remaining part of the tetrahedral array (Figure 2.21). These electrons are not inert, but play a major role in chemical reactions we refer to them as lone pair electrons. 

A plausible mechanism for the formation of 4 is rationalized on the basis that photolysis of 3 results in [2-1-2] cyclization to thietane 4 and is subsequently followed by rearrangement to thiolactone 5 (Scheme 6). Ring opening of the initially formed thietane 4 leads to a zwitterion, which is facilitated by lone pair electrons of nitrogen and oxygen atoms, and nucleophilic reaction of the thiolate anion to carbonyl carbon gives 5. For the tricyclic thietane 4a, nucleophilic addition of the thiolate anion is difficult, and results in the formation of stable thietane 4a. 

Amines are stable to electrochemical oxidation in acid solution because the nitrogen lone pair is protonated and inaccessible for reaction. This is not the case for N-acetylamines, which are oxidisable at a lead dioxide anode in aqueous sulphuric acid [99]. The primary electron tiansfer step involves the amide function and leads to a radical-cation, which loses a proton from the carbon atom adjacent to nitrogen. Subsequent steps lead to an acylimmonium ion, which is trapped by water. N-acetylated primaiy amines are converted to the corresponding carboxylic acid. 

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