Dicationic electrophiles enhancing reactivities

Changing the emphasis to synthetic chemistry in superacid media, in Chapter 8, D. Klumpp examines the chemistry of dicationic electrophiles, demonstrating their enhanced reactivity via heteroatom protonation. In Chapter 9, S. Ito et al. explore the potential utility of stabilized carbocations for designing redox-active chromophores. 

This chapter describes our studies of electrophilic systems having adjacent, stable cationic centers. We have shown in a wide variety of systems that stable cationic centers (i.e., ammonium, pyridinium, and phosphonium groups) can enhance the reactivities of some electrophiles. This enhanced reactivity is evident by reactions with weak nucleophiles, but may also involve unusual rearrangements or regiochemistry in the conversions. Using this chemistry, reactive dicationic systems can be generated and studied. 

In summary, we have shown that stable cationic charge centers can significantly enhance the reactivities of adjacent electrophilic centers. Most of the studied systems involve reactive dicationic electrophiles. A number of the reactive dications have been directly observed by low temperature NMR. Along with their clear structural similarities to superelectrophiles, these dicationic systems are likewise capable of reacting with very weak nucleophiles. Utilization of these reactive intermediates has led to the development of several new synthetic methodologies, while studies of their reactivities have revealed interesting structure-activity relationships. Based on the results from our work and that of others, it seems likely that similar modes of activation will be discovered in biochemical systems (perhaps in biocatalytic roles) in the years to come. 

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