Carbonium ions triphenylmethyl, structure

The ortho-ring junction that converts the triphenylmethyl structure into that of the ion LX increases the stability of the carbanion but decreases that of the carbonium ion. It will be recalled that this structural modification of the triphenylcarbonium ion had about the same effect as the introduction of one to two nitro groups. 

The site of reaction on an unsaturated organometallic molecule is not restricted to the most probable position of the metallic atom or cation or to a position corresponding to any one resonance structure of the anion. This has been discussed in a previous section with reference to the special case of reaction with a proton. Although the multiple reactivity is particularly noticeable in the case of derivatives of carbonyl compounds, it is not entirely lacking even in the case of the derivatives of unsaturated hydrocarbons. Triphenylmethyl sodium reacts with triphenylsilyl chloride to give not only the substance related to hexaphenylethane but also a substance related to Chichi-babin s hydrocarbon.401 It will be recalled that both the triphenyl-carbonium ion and triphenylmethyl radical did the same sort of thing. 

Another differential reaction is copolymerization. An equi-molar mixture of styrene and methyl methacrylate gives copolymers of different composition depending on the initiator. The radical chains started by benzoyl peroxide are 51 % polystyrene, the cationic chains from stannic chloride or boron trifluoride etherate are 100% polystyrene, and the anionic chains from sodium or potassium are more than 99 % polymethyl methacrylate.444 The radicals attack either monomer indiscriminately, the carbanions prefer methyl methacrylate and the carbonium ions prefer styrene. As can be seen from the data of Table XIV, the reactivity of a radical varies considerably with its structure, and it is worth considering whether this variability would be enough to make a radical derived from sodium or potassium give 99 % polymethyl methacrylate.446 If so, the alkali metal intitiated polymerization would not need to be a carbanionic chain reaction. However, the polymer initiated by triphenylmethyl sodium is also about 99% polymethyl methacrylate, whereas tert-butyl peroxide and >-chlorobenzoyl peroxide give 49 to 51 % styrene in the initial polymer.445... 

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