Cyclopropyl ions

Special interest attaches to the cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons. Cyclopropane can be converted to oligomers by cationic catalysis [75, 76], and these appear to be essentially linear but whether they are really different from the polypropenes formed under the same conditions from propene is not yet settled. The initiation most probably involves formation of a non-classical cyclopropyl ion [77], as in alkylations with cyclopropane [78],... 

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]. 

E. Electrocyclic Ring Opening of Cyclopropyl Ions and Radicals... 

Cyclopropyl ions and radicals (23) can undergo conversion to allyl (24) by typical electrocyclic ring opening processes we have carried out calculations for ring opening by both conrotatory and disrotatory paths. Table 5 shows calculated activation energies for the various processes. 

The relative rates for electrocyclic ring openings of cyclopropyl ions [200] are shown in Eqs (173,174). For the cations the faster rates are exhibited by compounds in which an acceptor is directly bonded to the electron deficient center (a-a arrangement), whereas precursors with a donor substituent at the center open most slowly. 

PROBLEM 20.30 Analyze the thermal ring opening to aUyl ions of the two cyclopropyl ions shown below. What stereochemistry do you expect in the products Will the reactions involve conrotation or disrotation Elxplain. Do not be put off by the charges They only serve to allow you to count electrons properly. 

Write out the ehitrge density diagTiiiiis for the positive ion. free radical, and negative ion of the cyclopropyl system. 

In ion D, in which the phenyl group would be expected to be coplanar with the cationic center to maximize delocalization, the observed angle is 25-30°. This should permit effective benzylic stabilization. The planes of the cyclopropyl groups in both structures are at 85° to file plane of file trigonal carbon, in agreement with expectation for the bisected... 

Trifluoromethanesulfonate (triflate) ion is an exceptionally good leaving grov. It can be used for nucleophilic substitution reactions on unreactive substrates. Acetolysis of cyclopropyl triflate, for example, occurs 10 times faster than acetolysis of cyclopropyl tosylate. Table 5.11 gives a conqiarison of the triftate group with some other common leaving groups. 

The relative stability of the anions derived from cyclopropene and cyclopentadiene by deprotonation is just the reverse of the situation for the cations. Cyclopentadiene is one of the most acidic hydrocarbons known, with a of 16.0. The plCs of triphenylcyclo-propene and trimethylcyclopropene have been estimated as 50 and 62, respectively, from electrochemical cycles. The unsubstituted compound would be expected to fall somewhere in between and thus must be about 40 powers of 10 less acidic than cyclopentadiene. MP2/6-31(d,p) and B3LYP calculations indicate a small destabilization, relative to the cyclopropyl anion. Thus, the six-7c-electron cyclopentadienide ion is enormously stabilized relative to the four-7c-electron cyclopropenide ion, in agreement with the Hixckel rule. 

FCC after removal of C5 olefins via selective hydrogenation step passes to the isomerization unit. It has been proposed that after the formation of a hutyl carhocation, a cyclopropyl carhocation is formed which gives a primary carhenium ion that produces isobutene ... 

The reaction of azide ions with aliphatic diazo compounds was investigated by Kirmse et al. (1979 for a discussion see Zollinger, 1995, Sec. 6.1). Here we mention only that cyclopropanediazonium ions react similarly to the aromatic diazonium ions, i.e., by TV-coupling to 1-cyclopropylpentazene and dediazoniation to cyclopropyl azide. In about 60% of the 1-cyclopropylpentazene the cyclopropyl azide is formed directly by dediazoniation of the original diazonio group, while in 40% the route is via the cyclopropylpentazole. 

Cyclopropylmethyl cations are even more stable than the benzyl type. Compound 7 has been prepared by solution of the corresponding alcohol in 96% H2S04. Compounds 5, 6, and similar ions have been prepared by solution of the alcohols in FSO3H—SO2—SbFf." This special stability, which increases with each additional cyclopropyl group, is a result of... 

However, experiments in the gas phase gave different results. In reactions of OH with alkyltrimethylsilanes, it is possible for either R or Me to cleave. Since the R or Me comes off as a carbanion or incipient carbanion, the product ratio RH/MeH can be used to establish the relative stabilities of various R groups. From these experiments, a stability order of neopentyl > cyclopropyl > rcrt-butyl > n-pro-pyl > methyl > isopropyl > ethyl was found. On the other hand, in a different kind of gas-phase experiment, Graul and Squires were able to observe CHi ions, but not the ethyl, isopropyl, or (ert-butyl ions. 

A number of miscellaneous reactions involving diazonium ions and possible vinyl cations have been reported. Treatment of amine 138 with sodium nitrite in 20% aqueous acetic acid is reported to give methyl cyclopropyl ketone as one of four products (116). The reaction has been postulated to involve a vinyl cation, presumably by the following sequence of reactions (116) ... 

Aziridinocyclopropanes 163 derived from 2-phenylsulfonyl-l,3-dienes undergo BF3-induced rearrangement to bicyclic amines 165, which feature the skeleton of the tropane alkaloids. The reaction proceeds via cyclopropyl carbinyl cation 164, an intermediate also invoked in the analogous epoxide rearrangements. Trapping by fluoride ion is a competing pathway <96TL3371>. 

Besides the carbocations mentioned above, numerous highly stable carboca-tions have been isolated as the salts of inorganic anions. Azulene analogues of triphenylmethylium ion [ll ]-[20 ], [21 j, [22 " ] and [23 j trisubsti-tuted cyclopropenylium ions [l" ] and [24 ]-p6 ] cyclopropyl-substituted tropylium ions [27 ]-[30 ] tropylium ions annelated with bicyclic frameworks [31 ]-[36 ] and [37 ]-[39 ] fulvene-substituted cyclopropenylium [40 ] and tropylium [41 ] ions a tropylium ion condensed with acenaphthylene [42 ] and a cation containing a 147t periphery [43 ] have... 

Among the real chemical species that have been developed along these lines are the cyclopropyl phosphonium ions 1 and 2. 

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. 

The elusive diazoalkenes 6 and 14 are unlikely to react with methanol as their basicity should be comparable to that of diphenyldiazomethane. However, since the formation of diazonium ions cannot be rigorously excluded, the protonation of vinylcarbenes was to be confirmed with non-nitrogenous precursors. Vinyl-carbenes are presumedly involved in photorearrangements of cyclopropenes.21 In an attempt to trap the intermediate(s), 30 was irradiated in methanol. The ethers 32 and 35 (60 40) were obtained,22 pointing to the intervention of the al-lylic cation 34 (Scheme 10). Protonation of the vinylcarbene 31 is a likely route to 34. However, 34 could also arise from protonation of photoexcited 30, by way of the cyclopropyl cation 33. The photosolvolysis of alkenes is a well-known reaction which proceeds according to Markovnikov s rule and is, occasionally, associated with skeletal reorganizations.23 Therefore, cyclopropenes are not the substrates of choice for demonstrating the protonation of vinylcarbenes. 

The -conformation 13 is lower in energy than the Z-isomer 14. These are the smallest cyclopropyl substituted carbocations which can be investigated in solution by high resolution NMR. The corresponding primary cyclopropylmethyl cation 15 cannot directly be observed by high resolution NMR in solution because it is energetically less favorable than the bicyclobutonium ion 16 and thus only a minor isomer in the fast dynamic equilibrium of the cations 15 and 16. 13C- and H... 

For example, the fact that ions of m/z [90 + R]+ and [104 + R]+ arise directly from the molecular ions of sulfones (Scheme 5.20) confirms a transformation with a new C-C bond formation between carbon atoms of the small ring and of the second benzene ring prior to the fragmentation of the M+. In this case the cyclopropyl moiety (maybe iso-merized) retains the charge and unpaired electron and attacks the second aromatic ring by a nucleophilic or radical mechanism. 

FIGURE 8.23 One electron oxidation of a cyclopropyl amine leading to ring opening and the formation of a carbon-centered free radical and an iminium ion. 

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