Conjugated diene complexes reactions with carbon electrophiles

The diene-Br2 complex is again in equilibrium with the reagents, and nucleophilic attack at carbon can be carried out either by the bromide of the ammonium bromide ion pair, formed at the moment of the electrophilic attack, or by the less nucleophilic pyridine added in excess in the reaction medium. It is noteworthy that this mechanism is characterized by a rate- and product-limiting nucleophilic step which should be quite insensitive to steric hindrance around the double bond. In agreement with a weak influence of the steric effects, pyridinium perbromide reacts in chloroform and tetrahydrofuran with substituted conjugated and non-conjugated dienes to give selectively (>95%) bromine addition to the more alkylated double bond (equation 44). 

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