Conformers monosubstituted

Conformational inversion (ring flipping) is rapid in cyclohexane and causes all axial bonds to become equatorial and vice versa As a result a monosubstituted derivative of cyclohexane adopts the chair conforma tion in which the substituent is equatorial (see next section) No bonds are made or broken in this process... 

For the equilibrium between the axial and equatorial conformations of a monosubstituted cyclohexane. 

Because chair cyclohexane has two kinds of positions, axial and equatorial, we might expect to find two isomeric forms of a monosubstituted cyclohexane. In fact, we don t. There is only one methylcyclohexane, one bromocydohexane, one cycJohexanol (hydroxycyclohexane), and so on, because cyclohexane rings are confbnnationally mobile at room temperature. Different chair conformations readily interconvert, exchanging axial and equatorial positions. This interconversion, usually called a ring-flip, is shown in Figure 4.11. 

Even though cyclohexane rings rapidly flip between chair conformations at room temperature, the two conformations of a monosubstituted cyclohexane aren t equally stable. In methylcyclohexane, for instance, the equatorial conformation is more stable than the axial conformation by 7.6 kj/mol (1.8 kcal/mol). The same is true of other monosubstituted cyclohexanes a substituent is almost always more stable in an equatorial position than in an axial position. 

Monosubstituted cyclohexanes are more stable with their substituent in an equatorial position, but the situation in disubstituted cyclohexanes is more complex because the steric effects of both substituents must be taken into account. All steric interactions in both possible chair conformations must be analyzed before deciding which conformation is favored. 

As well as the disubstituted C2-symmelrie pyrrolidines E and F, the monosubstituted (f> )-2-(mcthoxymethyl)pyrrolidine G can be used as chiral auxiliary for the diastereoselecti ve addition of organomctallic reagents to a-oxo amides16. As with the phenylglyoxylic acid derivatives derived from amines E and F. methyllithium or methylmagnesium bromide in diethyl ether preferentially attack the (,S)-mms-conformer 11 (R = ( 6H5), leading to predominant formation of the (2 S)-diastercomer by Re-side attack. 

On the other hand, when the competition is between a monosubstituted and a disub-stituted double bond, the inherent reactivity difference between the two double bonds overcomes reactant conformational preferences.78... 

Such interconversions with monosubstituted cyclohexanes and also with disubstituted ones do not involve any rearrangement i.e., no chemical bonds are broken nor reformed, only their conformation changes and this has been confirmed by NMR studies e.g., methyl cyclohexane at -110°C gives separate signals for equatorially or axially oriented methyl groups. 

In a completely different interpretation Zefirov (242) proposed a new concept of frontier-orbital mixing (243) to explain how conformational and electronic effects in monosubstituted cyclohexanes are transmitted to remote 8-carbon atoms (Scheme 36). The orbitals at C(l) and C(4) in 112 are considered to be equatorial (242). A perturbation at C(l) (H is replaced by X) produces an electron-density shift from H(4) toward C(4) (242), which is associated with an upheld shift of the latter s signal. Although this approach appears to be quite crude and does not account for axial substituents, it deserves fiirther attention. 

Although analysis of the consequences of ring flip in a monosubstituted cyclohexane is pretty straightforward, the presence of two or more substituents requires careful consideration to decide which conformer, if any, is the more favoured. Let us illustrate the approach using 1,4-dimethylcyclohexane. Now, two configurational isomers of this structure can exist, namely trans and... 

In the trans isomer, one methyl is written down (dotted bond) whilst the other is written up (wedged bond). If we transform this to a chair conformation, as shown in the left-hand structure, the down methyl will be equatorial and the up methyl will also be equatorial. With ring flip, both of these substituents then become axial as in the right-hand conformer. From what we have learned about monosubstituted cyclohexanes, it is now easily predicted that the diequatorial conformer will be very much favoured over the diaxial conformer. 

The conformational energies of monosubstituted oxanes studied to date are collected in Table I. In position 2, polar substituents (except NR2) prefer the axial position other substituents prefer the equatorial orientation, which is generally the case for groups in positions 3 and 4. Destabilizing 1,3-diaxial interactions cause the equatorial geometry to be usually favored in the 2-position, the anomeric effect stabilizes the axial conformation. A large purine moiety in position 2 of oxane, for example, prefers the equatorial position because the 1,3-diaxial interactions overcome the anomeric effect (75TL1553). 

Barby et al. [82JCS(P2)249] investigated the conformational equilibria of 2-NR2-substituted oxanes. The cis/trans isomeric 2-NR2-4-Me-derivatives proved to adopt preferred conformations (cis isomers 2-eq-A-eq trans isomers 2-ax-A-eq, except for /ram-2-NHMe-4-Me-oxane preferring the 2-ax-A-eq conformer by only 0.4 kcal mol ) the 2-NR2 monosubstituted oxanes (see Table I) prefer the equatorial position and do not show notable anom-eric interaction with the ring oxygen atom [82JCS(P2)249]. The same is true for 2-NHCOMe-oxane, but not for N3 and NCO substituents, respectively, in the 2-position (70ZOR863) (see Table I). 

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