Cyclopentenes, radical cations

In Scheme 1, the radical cations of the linear hexadienes and some cyclic isomers are contrasted. The heats of formation, AHr, as determined from the heats of formation of the species involved, as well as the heats of formation of the isomeric radical cations themselves clearly reveal the favourable stability of the cyclic isomers and/or fragment ions. Thus, instead of the linear pentadienyl cation (3), the cyclopenten-3-yl cation (2) is eventually formed during the loss of a methyl radical from ionized 1,3-hexadiene (1). Since 1,2-H+ shifts usually have low energy requirements (5-12 kcalmol-1), interconversion of the linear isomers, e.g., 4, and subsequent formation of the cyclic isomers, in particular of the ionized methylcyclopentenes 5 and 6, can take place easily on the level of the... 

Although cyclic azoalkanes are well known as biradical precursors [159] they have been used as 1,2- and 1,3-radical cation precursors only recently [160-164]. Apart from the rearrangement products bicyclopentane 161 and cyclopentene 163, the PET-oxidation of bicyclic azoalkane 158 yields mostly unsaturated spirocyclic products [165]. Common sensitizers are triphenyl-pyrylium tetrafluoroborate and 9,10-dicyanoanthracene with biphenyl as a cosensitizer. The ethers 164 and 165 represent trapping products of the proposed 1,2-radical cation 162. Comparison of the PET chemistry of the azoalkane 158 and the corresponding bicyclopentane 161 additionally supports the notion that the non-rearranged diazenyl radical cation 159 is involved (Scheme 31). 

The vinylcyclopropane radical cation, generated at 77 K by X-irradiation of (139) in a Freon-113 matrix, was shown to rearrange at 105-110 K to afford two ring-opened distonic radical cationic species.300 The rearrangement reactions of the radical cations of 1,3- and 1,4-pentadiene and cyclopentene and the formation of spin adducts with 2.4.6-tri-/-butylnitrosobenzene (BNB) are discussed. The pulse radiolysis of 1,1 -binaphthyl-2,2,-diyl hydrogenphosphate (BiNPCUH) (140) in deaerated f-butanol at... 

Vinylcyclopropane to cyclopentene rearrangement 184 Dissociation of acetone radical cation 186 The wolff rearrangement 187... 

The reaction of 1,3-disubstituted bicyclo[2.1.0]pentanes with tris(4-bromophenyl)ammoniumyl hexachloroantimonate (the latter in catalytic amounts) leads to the corresponding cyclopentene after 1,2-hydrogen or 1,2-alkyl migration in the intermediary 1,3-cation-radicals (Adam and Sahin 1994 Scheme 7.47). 

Dinnocenzo and Conlon have described the remarkable effect of one-electron oxidation on the rate of certain vinylcyclopropane rearrangements. Exposure of several l-p-anisyl-2-vinylcyclopropane derivatives to a catalytic amount of tris(4-bromophenyl)aminium hexafluoroantimonate in acetonitrile at room temperature was found to induce ring expansion to form cyclopentenes (equation 25) temperatures in excess of 200 °C are required for the conventional thermal rearrangement cf these systems. At this time it is uncertain whether these reactions follow concerted mechanisms, or are stepwise processes involving trimethylene cation radical intermediates. 

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