Cyclohexane ring conformation

Theoretical anaiyses, performed using the RIS model, prove that the only parameters that have an appreciable effect on the calculated values of ha are those concerning the cyclohexane ring. Conformational energies, geometrical parameters, and contributions to the optical anisotropies from the oxymethylene oxide have no noticable effect on the value of Aa calculated for the polymer. The theoretical values of a are roughly one order of magnitude lower than the experimental results,... 

The dimensionality of a data set is the number of variables that are used to describe eac object. For example, a conformation of a cyclohexane ring might be described in terms c the six torsion angles in the ring. However, it is often found that there are significai correlations between these variables. Under such circumstances, a cluster analysis is ofte facilitated by reducing the dimensionality of a data set to eliminate these correlation Principal components analysis (PCA) is a commonly used method for reducing the dimensior ality of a data set. 

The conformational features of six membered rings are fundamental to organic chemistry so it is essential that you have a clear understanding of the directional prop erties of axial and equatorial bonds and be able to represent them accurately Figure 3 17 offers some guidance on the drawing of chair cyclohexane rings... 

The following questions relate to a cyclohexane ring depicted in the chair conformation shown... 

Section 3 7 Three conformations of cyclohexane have approximately tetrahedral angles at carbon the chair the boat and the skew boat The chair is by far the most stable it is free of torsional strain but the boat and skew boat are not When a cyclohexane ring is present m a compound it almost always adopts a chair conformation... 

The overall picture of the many results which have been obtained with hetero-substituted cyclohexane rings is a very consistent one. Cyclohexane itself in its lowest energy conformation adopts the so-called chair conformation, as depicted in Figure 3 by the two outer formulae (a, b). These are contained in energy wells ca. 42 kJ moP deep. Another conformation, of low abundance in cyclohexane at normal temperatures, but which is important in some substituted derivatives, is the twist form (c, d). This is ca. 22 kJ moP less stable than the chair forms, and it lies on the lowest-energy pathway between them. 

Substitution on a cyclohexane ring does not greatly affect the rate of conformational inversion but does change the equilibrium distribution between alternative chair forms. All substituents that are axial in one chair conformation become equatorial on ring inversion, and vice versa. For methylcyclohexane, AG for the equilibrium... 

The decalin (bicyclo[4.4.0]decane) ring system provides another important system for study of conformational effects in cyclohexane rings. Equilibration of the cis and trans isomers reveals that the trans isomer is favored by about 2.8 kcal/mol. Note that this represents a change in configuration, not conformation. The energy difference can be analyzed by noting that the cis isomer has three more gauche butane interactions that are... 

Consider the conformations possible for 3-substituted methylenecyclohexanes. Dc you expect typical substituents to exhibit larger or smaller preferences for the equatorial orientation, as conpared to the same substituent on a cyclohexane ring ... 

Steric and stereoelectronic effects control the direction of approach of an electrophile to the enolate. Electrophiles approach from the least hindered side of the enolate. Numerous examples of such effects have been observed. In ketone and ester enolates that are exocyclic to a conformationally biased cyclohexane ring there is a slight... 

Examine the geometry of norcarane. What is the conformation of the cyclohexane ring Choose a name (chair, twist boat, half-chair, etc. see Chapter 5, Problem 4) that accurately describes its shape. The bridgehead hydrogens in norcarane are cis. Do you think a trans stereoisomer is possible Explain. 

Examine the structures of trans and cis-decalin. What is the conformation of the two cyclohexane rings in each isomer Obtain the energy of each decalin isomer. Which is more stable and why ... 

Another consequence of the chair conformation is that there are two kinds of positions for substituents on the cyclohexane ring axial positions and equatorial positions (f igure 4.8). The six axial positions are perpendicular to the ring, parallel to the ring axis, and the six equatorial positions are in the rough plane of the ring, around the ring equator. 

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. 

Norbornane has a conformationally locked boat cyclohexane ring (Section 4.5) in which carbons 1 and 4 are joined by an additional CH group. Note how, in drawing this structure, a break in the rear bond indicates that the vertical bond crosses in front of it. Making a molecular mode) is particularly helpful when trying to see the three-dimensionality of norbornane. 

Chair cyclohexanes are conformationally mobile and can undergo a ring-flip, which interconverts axial and equatorial positions. Substituents on the ring are more stable in the equatorial position because axial substituents cause 1,3-diaxial interactions. The amount of 1,3-diaxial steric strain caused by an axial substituent depends on its hulk. 

Anti periplanar geometry for E2 reactions is particularly important in cyclohexane rings, where chair geometry forces a rigid relationship between the substituents on neighboring carbon atoms (Section 4.8). As pointed out by Derek Barton in a landmark 1950 paper, much of the chemical reactivity of substituted cyclohexanes is controlled by their conformation. Let s look at the E2 dehydro-halogenation of chlorocyclohexanes to see an example. 

The annulation of 4//-thiopyran and cyclohexane rings in 50a results in the planarity of the heterocycle and a half-chair conformation of the carbocycle (81KGS1342). On the other hand, a boat conformation of the 2//-thiopyran ring was found in the crystal of224b [91JCS(P2)2061], Other geometrical parameters were within the limits of the expected values (Fig. 2). 

Wehle, D. Fitjer, L. Tetrahedron Lett., 1986, 27, 5843, have succeeded in producing two conformers that are indefinitely stable in solution at room temperature. However, the other five positions of the cyclohexane ring in this case are all spiro substituted with cyclobutane rings, greatly increasing the barrier to chair-chair interconversion. 

An acyclic molecule has more entropy than a similar cyclic molecule because there are more conformations (cf. hexane and cyclohexane). Ring opening therefore means a gain in entropy and ring closing a loss. 

Diamondoids show unique properties due to their exceptional atomic arrangements. Adamantane consists of cyclohexane rings in chair conformation. The name adamantine is derived from the Greek word for diamond since its chemical structure is like the three-dimensional diamond subunit, as shown in Fig. 5. 

The preparation of ketones and ester from (3-dicarbonyl enolates has largely been supplanted by procedures based on selective enolate formation. These procedures permit direct alkylation of ketone and ester enolates and avoid the hydrolysis and decarboxylation of keto ester intermediates. The development of conditions for stoichiometric formation of both kinetically and thermodynamically controlled enolates has permitted the extensive use of enolate alkylation reactions in multistep synthesis of complex molecules. One aspect of the alkylation reaction that is crucial in many cases is the stereoselectivity. The alkylation has a stereoelectronic preference for approach of the electrophile perpendicular to the plane of the enolate, because the tt electrons are involved in bond formation. A major factor in determining the stereoselectivity of ketone enolate alkylations is the difference in steric hindrance on the two faces of the enolate. The electrophile approaches from the less hindered of the two faces and the degree of stereoselectivity depends on the steric differentiation. Numerous examples of such effects have been observed.51 In ketone and ester enolates that are exocyclic to a conformationally biased cyclohexane ring there is a small preference for... 

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