Cationic intermediates nucleophilic trapping

Nucleophilic Trapping of Radical Cations. To investigate some of the properties of Mh radical cations these intermediates have been generated in two one-electron oxidant systems. The first contains iodine as oxidant and pyridine as nucleophile and solvent (8-10), while the second contains Mn(0Ac) in acetic acid (10,11). Studies with a number of PAH indicate that the formation of pyridinium-PAH or acetoxy-PAH by one-electron oxidation with Mn(0Ac)3 or iodine, respectively, is related to the ionization potential (IP) of the PAH. For PAH with relatively high IP, such as phenanthrene, chrysene, 5-methyl chrysene and dibenz[a,h]anthracene, no reaction occurs with these two oxidant systems. Another important factor influencing the specific reactivity of PAH radical cations with nucleophiles is localization of the positive charge at one or a few carbon atoms in the radical cation. 

Bromination is less stereoselective, and the reactions of cis- and trans-olefins tend to be stereoconvergent. The stereospecific formation of the mixed bromoadducts in protic media, such as methanol or acetic acid, could be interpreted in the light of the recent finding (Ruasse et al., 1991) that these solvents assist the formation of the ionic intermediate nucleophilically. If a solvent molecule is close to the cationic part of the transition state in the rate-limiting step, the intermediate can be trapped by this solvent molecule in a necessarily trans mode with respect to the first bromine, before the two components of the ion-pair diffuse away from each other (15). This would... 

The dependence of relative rates in radical addition reactions on the nucleophilicity of the attacking radical has also been demonstrated by Minisci and coworkers (Table 7)17. The evaluation of relative rate constants was in this case based on the product analysis in reactions, in which substituted alkyl radicals were first generated by oxidative decomposition of diacyl peroxides, then added to a mixture of two alkenes, one of them the diene. The final products were obtained by oxidation of the intermediate allyl radicals to cations which were trapped with methanol. The data for the acrylonitrile-butadiene... 

A semiquantitative procedure used to estimate the lifetimes of carbocations and oxocarbenium ions by using diffusion-controlled trapping of the cations by nucleophiles . Ions of intermediate stability react with azide ions at a constant, diffusion-controlled rate and react with water by an activated process. The ratio of the products obtained from the azide path and the water path is dependent on the electronic characteristics of the cation. 

The cyclopropyl-allyl rearrangement has been shown to proceed with nucleophilic assistance,87i232<233 and the intermediate allyl cation can be trapped by nucleophiles leading to synthetically useful derivatives. An example is the formation of an unsaturated acetal and the propiolic acid ortho ester (equations 92 and 93).232... 

In general, mechanistic evidence for a reactive intermediate from trapping experiments needs to be linked to arguments against the introduction of an alternative pathway from the reactant, i.e. to show that an intermediate really has been trapped, not the reactant. A classic case is the hydrolysis of 4-nitrophenyl acetate catalysed by imidazole. The mechanism is nucleophile catalysis and the intermediate (N-acetylimidazolium cation) was trapped by aniline (to give acetanilide) with no kinetic effect, i.e. the aniline does not react directly with the substrate [51]. 

A similar distinction between a system with pre-electrolysis with only one electrode (in this case anodic) process, and a system with simultaneous anodic and cathodic processes (in which anode and cathode are on opposite walls of a microchannel so that each liquid is only in contact with the desired electrode potential, analogous to the fuel cell configurations discussed above) was made by Horii et al. (2008) in their work on the in situ generation of carbocations for nucleophilic reactions. The carbocation is formed at the anode, and the reaction with the nucleophile is either downstream (in the pre-electrolysis case) or after diffusion across the liquid-liquid interface (in the case with both electrodes present at opposite walls). The concept was used for the anodic substitution of cyclic carbamates with allyltrimethylsilane, with moderate to good conversion yields without the need for low-temperature conditions. The advantages of the approach as claimed by the authors are efficient nucleophilic reactions in a single-pass operation, selective oxidation of substrates without oxidation of nucleophile, stabilization of cationic intermediates at ambient temperatures, by the use of ionic liquids as reaction media, and effective trapping of unstable cationic intermediates with a nucleophile. 

Nitrogen-based nucleophiles have been thoroughly examined in the context of trapping the cationic intermediate generated from silver(I)-mediated halocyclopro-... 

The silver(I)-mediated ring opening of halocyclopropanes has been used to construct complex frameworks through the inter- and intramolecular trapping of cationic intermediates with heteronucleophiles. An obvious extension of this work is the involvement of carbon-based nucleophiles to form new carbon-carbon bonds. In 1996, Kostikov and coworkers reported the participation of aromatic solvents in the capture of halocyclopropane-derived allyl cations even in the absence of silver(I).30 However, this early example of intermolecular attack by a carbon nucleophile is one of very few such reports. In the same year, Gassman et al. reported cationic cyclizations of gem-dibromocyclopropanes tethered to remote diene moieties (Scheme 4.16).31... 

In an effort to provide experimental evidence for the formation of a second oxyallyl cationic intermediate, a gem-dichlorocyclopropane substrate was envisaged with two internal nucleophiles one to participate in the initial interrupted Nazarov reaction, and the other to capture the second cationic species. Surprisingly, when the carefully designed substrate 80 was subjected to the optimized reaction conditions, an alternate mode of trapping occurred to generate the intriguing bridged bicyclic product 81 (Scheme 4.25). 

The alicyclic vinyl halide 1-iodocyclooctene yields not only the direct nucleophilic trapping product 86 (and its acid-catalysed decomposition product 87) but also 88 and 89 (equation 74)291, which are produced via 1,2-cyclooctadiene as intermediate, as demonstrated by deuterium labelling for a related vinyl iodide. Deprotonation of the photogenerated vinyl cation is clearly more efficient than nucleophilic trapping in methanol. A... 

The most simple a-aryl substituted vinyl halide studied, a-bromostyrene, flash photolytically yields the enol of acetophenone in aqueous solution, which has been used to measure rates of ketonization302,303. With a,/2-diarylvinyl halides, loss of the /2 (vinylic) proton from the intermediate vinyl cation is competitive with nucleophilic trapping Irradiation of compounds such as 96 in methanol gives about equal amounts of tolan and... 

Electrophilic addition to double bonds gives three-membered ring intermediates with Br2, with Hg2+, and with peroxy-acids (in which case the three-membered rings are stable and are called epoxides). All three classes of three-membered rings react with nucleophiles to give 1,2-difunctionalized products with control over (1) regioselectivity and (2) stereoselectivity. Protonation of a double bond gives a cation, which also traps nucleophiles, and this reaction can be used to make alkyl halides. Some of the sorts of compounds you can make by the methods of this chapter are shown below. 

However, we are not surprised that an enolate ion is formed from a ketone in basic solution. The oxyallyl cation is much more surprising. How can we be convinced that it really is an intermediate There are several alternative ways to make the same intermediate. If basic nucleophiles such as the methoxide ion are avoided and reaction of zinc with an a,a -dibromoketone in a nonnucleophilic solvent like diglyme is used instead, the oxyallyl cation can be trapped in a Diels-Alder reaction. This is tile basis for a good synthesis of seven-membered rings. 

The formation of vinyl cations has also been observed [61]. The acyclic vinyl iodide (24) was irradiated at 254 nm in CH3OH. This afforded reduction, nucleophilic-trapping, and allene intermediate products (Scheme 18). In the presence of CH3OD the allylic ether had 72% incorporation of deuterium at the vinylic position. On irradiation in CH2C12 or pentane, reduction and 1,3-diene product were observed. 

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