Electronic effects, carbonyl compounds

Methacryhc acid and its ester derivatives are Ctfjy -unsaturated carbonyl compounds and exhibit the reactivity typical of this class of compounds, ie, Michael and Michael-type conjugate addition reactions and a variety of cycloaddition and related reactions. Although less reactive than the corresponding acrylates as the result of the electron-donating effect and the steric hindrance of the a-methyl group, methacrylates readily undergo a wide variety of reactions and are valuable intermediates in many synthetic procedures. 

AH ahphatic aldehydes and most ketones react to form cyanohydrins. The lower reactivity of ketones, relative to aldehydes, is attributed to a combination of electron-donating effects and increased steric hindrance of the second alkyl group in the ketones. The magnitude of the equiUbrium constants for the addition of hydrogen cyanide to a carbonyl group is a measure of the stabiUty of the cyanohydrin relative to the carbonyl compound plus hydrogen cyanide ... 

A 6-endo cyclization by a y-epoxy alcohol can be accomplished through the presence of an appropriately disposed electron-withdrawing group, as found in the total synthesis of (+)-phonomactin. Treatment of the hydroxy-epoxy ketone 30 (R = H) with HC1 afforded the bicyclic compound 31, containing a pyran-4-one ring, in which nucleophilic attack of the y-OH group occurred at the oxirane carbon distal from the unfavorable electronic effect of the carbonyl group (Scheme 8.7) [20a]. 

The combined influences of polar and steric effects and of the strength of the newly formed bond93 was also recognized in the reaction of a,0-unsaturated carbonyl compounds and similar electron deficient alkenes95 with organomercurials and NaBH4. For the addition of alkyl radicals to substituted styrenes, p assumed a... 

Delocalisation takes place (cf. 1,3-dienes, p. 13), so that an electron-deficient atom results at C3, as well as at C, as in a simple carbonyl compound. The difference between this transmission via a conjugated system, and the inductive effect in saturated system, is that here the effect suffers much less diminution by its transmission, and the polarity at adjacent carbon atoms alternates. 

So far as steric effects are concerned, the least energy-demanding direction of approach by the nucleophile to the carbonyl carbon atom will be from above, or below, the substantially planar carbonyl compound. It is also likely to be from slightly to the rear of the carbon atom (cf. 12), because of potential coulombic repulsion between the approaching nucleophile and the high electron density at the carbonyl oxygen atom ... 

Up to about 10 percent of crs-stilbene was obtained when trimethyl-dioxetane 129 was decomposed in the presence of trans-stilbene 182) the electronic excitation energy of the excited carbonyl compounds formed in the cleavage of 129 (see Section V.) was transferred to trans-stilbene, so effecting the photochemical trans-cis isomerization. When bis (2.4-dinitrophenyl) oxalate reacted with hydrogen peroxide (see Section V. C. in the presence of o-tolyl-propane-1.2-dione 130, 2-methyl-2-... 

A kinetically stabilized diarylgermylene, Tb(Tip)Ge, is also stable in hexane solution with no tendency to dimerize. The structure has not yet been measured but it was characterized as the base-free mononuclear transition metal complex formed with the reactive M(CO)s. THF adduct (M = Mo,W). The crystal structure of the W complex466 shows Ge=W = 259.3 pm, Ge-Tb = 198.8 pm, Ge-Tip = 199.9 pm, CGeC = 108.4°, TbGeW = 138.9° and TipGeW = 112.2°. Thus the Ge is pyramidal and the structure is obviously the result of a balance of steric repulsions between the carbonyls, Tb, and Tip. Older work on similar Ge=W compounds, RR,Ge=W(CO)5 with RR = Cp (Cl) or (Bsi)2467, show Ge=W lengths of 251.1 and 263.2 pm, respectively, indicating the combined steric and electronic effects. 

Building on a recently introduced reaction classification system that considers electronic effects, a descriptor for steric hindrance has been added.The expanded classification hierarchy has been applied to a range of representative reactions, including additions to carbonyl compounds, and enolate formation. 

---