Contributing structures benzylic

Part Three. The benzyl (and allyl) halides are a special case they have resonance. To see how the charge is delocalized in the benzyl carbocation, request two plots the electrostatic potential mapped onto a density surface and the LUMO mapped onto a density surface. Submit these for calculation at the AMI semiempirical level. On a piece of paper, draw the resonance-contributing structures for the benzyl cation. Do the computational results agree with the conclusions you draw from your resonance hybrid ... 

The benzyl cation as a hybrid of five contributing structures... 

The diradical structure and the zwitterionic structure have been described as contributing structures to a resonance hybrid. However, the zwitteronic structure has also been described as an excited state of the diradical [345]. In the diradical structures, the odd electron on the benzene ring occupies a sigma orbital while the benzylic odd electron occupies a p orbital which makes a classical conjugative interaction impossible. However, this benzylic p electron can delocalize onto the aryl... 

The unpaired electron in benzyl radical is shared by the benzylic carbon and by the nng carbons that are ortho and para to it as shown by the spin density surface in Figure 119 Delocalization of the unpaired electron from the benzylic carbon to the ortho and para positions can be explained on the basis of resonance contributions from the fol lowing structures... 

Replacing an a-alkyl snbstituent by an a-aryl group is expected to stabilize the cationic center by the p-Jt resonance that characterizes the benzyl carbocations. In order to analyze such interaction in detail, the cumyl cation was crystallized with hexafluoroantimonate by Laube et al. (Fig. 13) A simple analysis of cumyl cation suggests the potential contributions of aromatic delocalization (Scheme 7.3), which should be manifested in the X-ray structure in terms of a shortened cationic carbon—aromatic carbon bond distance (C Cat). Similarly, one should also consider the potential role of o-CH hyperconjugation, primarily observable in terms of shortened CH3 distances. Notably, it was found experimentally that the Cai distance is indeed shortened to a value of 1.41 A, which is between those of typical sp -sp single bonds (1.51 A) and sp -sp double bonds (1.32 A). In the meantime, a C -CH3 distance of 1.49 A is longer than that observed in the tert-butyl cation 1 (1.44 A), and very close to the normal value for an sp -sp single bond. 

Structurally very close to the N,N,O-tridentate ketiminate systems, magnesium complexes bearing bis-amido-oxazolinate complexes 44a-e were used in the PLA preparation from L-lactide in the presence of benzyl alcohol. The low reactivity of 44d, e is due to the presence of a pendant functionality engaging the metal center, and the steric bulk of the phenyl group hindering the coordination of benzyl alcohol or of a monomer to the metal center, contributing to a diminution of the propagation [69]. 

In order to determine whether QMT may contribute to the overall reaction of diarylcarbenes with hydrogen atom donors in solution at ambient temperature, kinetic isotope effects for the benzylic hydrogen atom abstractions of the triplet states of several diarylcarbenes with toluene-toluene-i g in fluid solution were determined over the temperature ranges of —75 to 135 °C. The results are very much dependent on the structure of the carbene (Table 9.11)." The differential... 

For related reasons, and because their excited-state energies are lower than for dialkyl ketones, diaryl ketones and simple alkyl aryl ketones do not fragment on irradiation in solution, even at higher temperatures. This leads to a photostability that is one factor contributing to the successful employment of ketones such as benzophe-none tPh-CO) or acetophenone (PhCOMe) as triplet sensitizers. a-Cleavage for ketones in solution at room temperature is promoted if structural factors cause the bond adjacent to the carbonyl group to be somewhat weaker than normal. Hence t-alkyl ketones give decar-borylation products readily (4.5), as do benzyl ketones (4.6 and benzoin derivatives (4.7). 

The neutral 1,4- and 1,2-quinone methides react as Michael acceptors. However, the reactivity of these quinone methides is substantially different from that of simple Michael acceptors. The 1,6-addition of protonated nucleophiles NuH to simple Michael acceptors results in a small decrease in the stabilization of product by the two conjugated 7T-orbitals, compared to the more extended three conjugated 7T-orbitals of reactant. However, the favorable ketonization of the initial enol product (Scheme 1) confers a substantial thermodynamic driving force to nucleophile addition. By comparison, the 1,6-addition of NuH to a 1,4-quinone methide results in a large increase in the -stabilization energy due to the formation of a fully aromatic ring (Scheme 2A). This aromatic stabilization is present to a smaller extent at the reactant quinone methide, where it is represented as the contributing zwitterionic valence bond structure for the 4-0 -substituted benzyl carbocation (Scheme 1). The ketonization of the product phenol (Scheme 2B) is unfavorable by ca. 19 kcal/mol.1,2... 

Our own work in the area of aerobic oxidations was inspired by the exquisite research performed on the structure and reactivity of the binuclear copper proteins (7), hemocyanin and tyrosinase, and by the seminal contribution of Riviere and Jallabert (8). These two authors have shown that the simple copper complex CuCl - Phen (Phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) promoted the aerobic oxidation of benzylic alcohols to the corresponding aromatic aldehydes and ketones (Fig. 2). 

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