Cyclobutane ions

It has also been proposed that the ring-opened radicals may undergo ring-closure to a cyclobutane (Scheme 4.23).202,2 8 At this stage the only evidence for this pathway is observation of signals in the NMR spectrum of the polymer that cannot be rationalized in terms of the other structures. There is no precedent for 1,4-ring-closure of a 3-butenyl radical in small molecule chemistry and the result is contrary to expectation based on stcrcoclcctronic requirements for intramolecular addition (Section 2.3.4). However, an alternate explanation has yet to be proposed. The possibility of carbonium ion intermediates should not be discounted. 

From the observed drop in yield, one can calculate the rate of Reaction 10 relative to hydride transfer with cyclobutane (on the rate scale used in Table I) as 1.55 for the ethyl ion and 0.83 for the propyl ion. 

A low ion pair yield of products resulting from hydride transfer reactions is also noted when the additive molecules are unsaturated. Table I indicates, however, that hydride transfer reactions between alkyl ions and olefins do occur to some extent. The reduced yield can be accounted for by the occurrence of two additional reactions between alkyl ions and unsaturated hydrocarbon molecules—namely, proton transfer and condensation reactions, both of which will be discussed later. The total reaction rate of an ion with an olefin is much higher than reaction with a saturated molecule of comparable size. For example, the propyl ion reacts with cyclopentene and cyclohexene at rates which are, respectively, 3.05 and 3.07 times greater than the rate of hydride transfer with cyclobutane. This observation can probably be accounted for by a higher collision cross-section and /or a transmission coefficient for reaction which is close to unity. 

Proton transfer from H3 + and CH5+ to cyclopropane yields a C3H7 + ion, which at atmospheric pressures is largely stabilized by collision (9). This ion reacts as a sec-propyl ion with an added interceptor molecule (9). Hence, the protonated cyclopropane ion undergoes ring opening to acquire the sec-propyl ion structure. Similarly, it has been shown that protonated cyclobutane rearranges to the sec-C4H9 + structure. 

Reactions between much stronger donors and acceptors belong to the electron tranter band. Such olefins do not form cyclobutanes but ion radical pairs or salts of olefins. refrato(dimethylamino)elhylene has an ionization potential as low as Na. The olefin with extraordinary strong electron-donating power is known not to undergo [2+2]cycloaddition reaction, but to give 1 2 complex with TCNE (transfer band in Schane 3) [23]. 

A more recent approach, which also profits from the synthetic versatility of stabilized thionium ions, has been elaborated by Berard and Piras [22]. These authors observed that the cyclobutane thionium ions 1-76 obtained from the cyclopropyl phenyl sulfides 1-75 by treatment with pTsOH under anhydrous conditions can be trapped by an adjacent electron-rich aromatic ring to give the chromane derivatives 1-77 in good to excellent yields (Scheme 1.20). As expected, 1-77 were obtained as single diastereoisomers with a ds-orientation of the methyl and the phenylthio group as a consequence of steric constraints. 

A computational study was concerned with the effect of solvation on the radical ion involved in CDP photolyase enzyme-catalysed reversion of thymine and uracil cyclobutane dimers stimulated by visible light <06T6490>. 

Dipolar species have been observed in the cycloaddition of polar intermediates. Thus cyclobutanes can be formed by non concerted processes involving zwitter ionic intermediates. The combination of an electron rich alkene (enamimes, enol ethers) and an alkene having electron withdrawing groups (nitro a cyano substituted alkenes) first gives a zwitter ion which can rotate about the newly formed bond before cyclization and gives both a cis and a trans adduct. 

In reactions with tetracyanoethylene, the stereochemistry of the double bond of an enol ether is retained in the cyclobutane product when the reaction is carried out in non polar solvents. In polar solvents, cycloaddition is non stereospecific because of the longer life time of the zwitter ion. 

Cyclobutane has not been polymerised cationically (or by any other mechanism). Thermochemistry tells us that the reason is not thermodynamic it is attributable to the fact that the compound does not possess a point of attack for the initiating species, the ring being too big for the formation of a non-classical carbonium ion analogous to the cyclopropyl ion, so that there is no reaction path for initiation. The oxetans in which the oxygen atom provides a basic site for protonation, are readily polymerizable. Methylenecyclobutane polymerises without opening of the cyclobutane ring [72, 73]. 

Many other ion-molecule reactions involving highly unsaturated hydrocarbon ions and neutral olefins or the equivalent strained cycloalkanes have been studied by mass spectrometry98. For example, we may mention here the addition of ionized cyclopropane and cyclobutane to benzene radical cations giving the respective n-alkylbenzene ions but also isomeric cyclodiene ions such as ionized 8,9-dihydroindane and 9,10-dihydrotetralin, respectively. Extensive studies have been performed on the dimerization product of charged and neutral styrene4. 

The oxidative photocleavage of l,2-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)cyclobutane is also accelerated in the presence of Mg(C104)2. However, no salt effect was found for 1,2-diphenylcyclobutane because the high-speed back electron transfer prevents interaction of the caged ion pair with the added salt (Pac et al. 1987). 

Cyclobutanes disubstituted in the 1,2-positions should favor strucmre-type C or a related distonic structure with one broken C—C bond. Calculations [QCISD-(T)/ 6-31G //UMP2/6-31G ] suggest a trapezoidal structure for frawi-1,2-dimethyl-cyclobutane radical cation.This expectation is born out by experimental results such as the ET induced cis-trans-isomerization of 1,2-diaryloxycyclobutane (Ar = aryl), leading to IS " ", and likely involving the distonic radical cation (14 +) formed via a type C ion. ... 

In contrast to cyclopropane, the cyclobutane C C bonds are only slightly bent, so that in order for the proton to form a bond, it must come close to the positively charged carbon nuclei, leading to increased Coulombic repulsion. Similarly, an attempt to bond one of the carbons does not lead to an ion with any apparent stabilization. This attempt to bond to one of the carbons leads to a relatively unstable... 

Structures of protonated cyclobutanes have been studied in the same fashion (see Figure 9 B). In the corner-protonated cyclobutane, the structure corresponds essentially to a methyl cation interacting with a trimethylene diyl, and is much less favorable than that for cyclopropane. Similarly, for the edge-protonated ion, the proton must come much closer to the carbons to form a bond than for cyclopropane, and as a result, cyclobutane is much less basic. 

The calculated energies again confirm that cyclopropane is much more easily attacked by electrophiles than is cyclobutane, and this accounts for the common observation that cyclobutanes are much less reactive toward electrophiles than are cyclopropanes, despite the similar strain energy relief for these compounds.55 The reactions of cyclopropane with other electrophiles, such as mercuric ion,65 and metal radical cations,67 have also been studied. 

The interaction with an adjacent cationic center has a similar character and, here again, cyclopropane has been found to be much more effective than cyclobutane. This may be seen in a comparison of the cyclopropyldimethylmethyl ion 11 with the corresponding cyclobutyl-methyl ion 12.6 8... 

The cyclobutane ring in propellanes may be cleaved by electrochemical221 or chemical222 oxidation. Thus, dehydrohomoadamantane 1 was converted to disubstituted homoadaman-tanes on oxidation with nitronium ions in the presence of nucleophiles. 

Many highly strained cage molecules undergo rearrangement when treated with metallic ions such as Ag+, Rh(I), or Pd(II).580 The bond rearrangements observed can be formally classified into two main types (1) 2 + 2 ring openings of cyclobutanes and (2) conversion... 

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