1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene

Let us consider the origins of benzene s aromatic stabilization. Another cyclic hydrocarbon, cyclooctatetraene (pronounced cyclo-octa-tetra-ene), certainly looks conjugated according to our criteria, but chemical evidence shows that it is very much more reactive than benzene, and does not undergo the same types of reaction. It does not possess the enhanced aromatic stability characteristic of benzene. 

These two energies are, respectively, comparable to the experimental activation energies for conformation inversion of the tub conformer and bond shifting, suggesting that the two planar structures might represent the transition states for those processes. The have been measured for several substituted cyclooctatetraenes. According to 

Schroeder, Cyclooctatetraene, Verlag Chemie, Weinheim, 1965 G. I. Fray and R. G. Saxton, The Chemistry of Cyclooctatetraene and Its Derivatives, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1978. 

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Cyclooctatetraene can be obtained on an industrial scale by metal carbonyl catalyzed thermal tetramerization of acetylene. If cyclooctatetraene is UV-irradiated at low temperature in the presence of acetone, it is reversibly rearranged to form semibullvalene (H.E. Zimmerman, 1968, 1970). 

Barrelene was obtained via a double Diels-Alder reaction from a-pyrone with methyl acrylate (H.E. Zimmerman, I969A). The primarily forming bicyclic lactone decarboxylates in the heat, and the resulting cyclohexadiene rapidly undergoes another Diels-Alder cyclization. Standard reactions have then been used to eliminate the methoxycarbonyl groups and to introduce C—C double bonds. Irradiation of barrelene produces semibullvalene and cyclooctatetraene (H.E. Zimmerman. 1969B). 

Dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (DMAD) (125) is a very special alkyne and undergoes interesting cyclotrimerization and co-cyclization reactions of its own using the poorly soluble polymeric palladacyclopentadiene complex (TCPC) 75 and its diazadiene stabilized complex 123 as precursors of Pd(0) catalysts, Cyclotrimerization of DMAD is catalyzed by 123[60], In addition to the hexa-substituted benzene 126, the cyclooctatetraene derivative 127 was obtained by the co-cyclization of trimethylsilylpropargyl alcohol with an excess of DMAD (125)[6l], Co-cyclization is possible with various alkenes. The naphthalene-tetracarboxylate 129 was obtained by the reaction of methoxyallene (128) with an excess of DMAD using the catalyst 123[62],... 

During our discussion of benzene and its derivatives it may have occurred to you that cyclobutadiene and cyclooctatetraene might be stabilized by cyclic rr electron delocal ization m a manner analogous to that of benzene... 

The same thought occurred to early chemists However the complete absence of natu rally occurring compounds based on cyclobutadiene and cyclooctatetraene contrasted starkly with the abundance of compounds containing a benzene unit Attempts to syn thesize cyclobutadiene and cyclooctatetraene met with failure and reinforced the grow mg conviction that these compounds would prove to be quite unlike benzene if m fact they could be isolated at all... 

The first breakthrough came m 1911 when Richard Willstatter prepared cyclooc tatetraene by a lengthy degradation of pseudopelletienne a natural product obtained from the bark of the pomegranate tree Today cyclooctatetraene is prepared from acetylene m a reaction catalyzed by nickel cyanide... 

Cyclooctatetraene is relatively stable but lacks the special stability of benzene Unlike benzene which we saw has a heat of hydrogenation that is 152 kJ/mol (36 kcal/mol) less than three times the heat of hydrogenation of cyclohexene cycloocta tetraene s heat of hydrogenation is only 26 kJ/mol (6 kJ/mol) less than four times that of CIS cyclooctene... 

All of the evidence indicates that cyclooctatetraene is not aromatic and is better considered as a conjugated polyene than as an aromatic hydrocarbon... 

FIGURE 11 12 Molecular geometry of cyclooctatetraene The ring is not planar and the bond distances alternate between short double bonds and long single bonds... 

Thus cyclobutadiene like cyclooctatetraene is not aromatic More than this cyclo butadiene is even less stable than its Lewis structure would suggest It belongs to a class of compounds called antiaromatic An antiaromatic compound is one that is destabi lized by cyclic conjugation... 

One of molecular orbital theories early successes came m 1931 when Erich Huckel dis covered an interesting pattern m the tt orbital energy levels of benzene cyclobutadiene and cyclooctatetraene By limiting his analysis to monocyclic conjugated polyenes and restricting the structures to planar geometries Huckel found that whether a hydrocarbon of this type was aromatic depended on its number of tt electrons He set forth what we now call Huckel s rule... 

Benzene cyclobutadiene and cyclooctatetraene provide clear examples of Huckel s rule Benzene with six tt electrons is a An + 2) system and is predicted to be aromatic by the rule Square cyclobutadiene and planar cyclooctatetraene are An systems with four and eight tt electrons respectively and are antiaromatic... 

FIGURE 11 13 Frost s circle and the TT molecular orbitals of (a) square cyclobutadiene (b) ben zene and (c) planar cyclooctatetraene... 

In the next section we 11 explore Huckel s rule for values of n greater than 1 to see how it can be extended beyond cyclobutadiene benzene and cyclooctatetraene... 

The general term annulene has been coined to apply to completely conjugated mono cyclic hydrocarbons with more than six carbons Cyclobutadiene and benzene retain then-names but higher members of the group are named [jcjannulene where x is the number of carbons m the ring Thus cyclooctatetraene becomes [8]annulene cyclodecapentaene becomes [10] annulene and so on... 

Section 11 19 An additional requirement for aromaticity is that the number of rr elec Irons m conjugated planar monocyclic species must be equal to An + 2 where n is an integer This is called Huckel s rule Benzene with six TT electrons satisfies Huckel s rule for n = 1 Square cyclobutadiene (four TT electrons) and planar cyclooctatetraene (eight rr electrons) do not Both are examples of systems with An rr electrons and are antiaromatic... 

Cyclooctatetraene has two different tetramethyl derivatives with methyl groups on four adja cent carbon atoms They are both completely conjugated and are not stereoisomers Wnte their structures... 

Evaluate each of the following processes applied to cyclooctatetraene and decide whether the species formed is aromatic or not... 

Divide the heats of combustion by the number of carbons The two aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene and [18]annulene) have heats of combustion per carbon that are less than those of the nonaromatic hydrocarbons (cyclooctatetraene and [16]annulene) On a per carbon basis the aromatic hydrocarbons have lower potential energy (are more stable) than the nonaromatic hydrocarbons... 

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