Electronic structure reactive intermediates

Taken as a whole, the collection should serve as a reasonable representation of how the field is progressing and evolving and should serve as a model for gauging the current trends. It is hoped that the book can inspire the younger researchers who are still trying to find their niche and can be a useful source for students who are in the process of deciding whether or not to enter into this area. There is no doubt in my mind that much remains to be learned and that electrophilic chemistry and electron-deficient reactive intermediates will continue to play a pivotal role in structural/mechanistic and synthetic chemistry, both in the traditional sense and as applied to interdisciplinary areas. 

We will discuss shortly the most important structure-reactivity features of the E2, El, and Elcb mechanisms. The variable transition state theoiy allows discussion of reactions proceeding through transition states of intermediate character in terms of the limiting mechanistic types. The most important structural features to be considered in such a discussion are (1) the nature of the leaving group, (2) the nature of the base, (3) electronic and steric effects of substituents in the reactant molecule, and (4) solvent effects. 

Potential energy hypersurfaces form the basis for the complete description of a reacting chemical system, if they are throughly researched (see also part 2.2). Due to the fact that when the potential energy surface is known and therefore the geometrical and electronical structure of the educts, activated complexes, reactive intermediates, if available, as well as the products, are also known, the characterizations described in parts 3.1 and 3.2 can be carried out in theory. 

A bridged carbocation with a two-electron, three-centre bond was proposed as early as 1939 (Nevell et al., 1939) for the 2-norbornyl cation [lO ] as a reactive intermediate in the solvolysis of 2-norbornyl system (see also Winstein and Trifan, 1949). It has now been isolated as the SbFe salt and the bridged structure is accounted for using solid-state nmr studies... 

A second role for mass spectrometry in the investigation of reactive intermediates involves the nse of spectroscopy. Althongh an important nse of ion spectroscopy is the determination of thermochemical properties, including ionization energies (addition or removal of an electron), as in photoelectron or photodetachment spectroscopy, and bond dissociation energies in ions, as in photodissociation methods, additional spectroscopic data can also often be obtained, inclnding structural parameters such as frequencies and geometries. 

Hydroxyl radical (OH) is a key reactive intermediate in combustion and atmospheric chemistry, and it also serves as a prototypic open-shell diatomic system for investigating photodissociation involving multiple potential energy curves and nonadiabatic interactions. Previous theoretical and experimental studies have focused on electronic structures and spectroscopy of OH, especially the A2T,+-X2n band system and the predissociation of rovibrational levels of the M2S+ state,84-93 while there was no experimental work on the photodissociation dynamics to characterize the atomic products. The M2S+ state [asymptotically correlating with the excited-state products 0(1 D) + H(2S)] crosses with three repulsive states [4>J, 2E-, and 4n, correlating with the ground-state fragments 0(3Pj) + H(2S)[ in... 

In this chapter we describe experimental studies on the ring expansion reactions of phenylcarbene and phenylnitrene and the calculations that have been performed in order to try to explain the experimental results. Our aim is to show how theory can rationalize these observations and can also serve to stimulate additional experiments by predicting their outcome. We will attempt to demonstrate that an understanding of the fundamental differences between the electronic structures of phenylcarbene and phenylnitrene can explain the many differences in the chemistry of these reactive intermediates. 

Carbenes play important roles both as reactive intermediates and also as ligands consequently, considerable effort has been devoted to understanding their molecular and electronic structures. Special interest is associated with carbenes that feature the attachment of donor groups to the carbenic carbon since they behave as nucleophiles and, in some instances, can be isolated. Pioneering work on nucleo-... 

The decomposition of nitrous oxide over various metal oxides has been widely investigated by many investigators (1-3). Dell, Stone and Tiley (4) have compared the reactivity of metal oxides and shown that in general p-type oxides were the best catalysts and n-type the worst, with insulators occupying an intermediate position. It has been generally accepted (5) that this correlation indicates that the electronic structure of the catalyst is an important factor in the mechanism of the decomposition of nitrous oxide over metal oxides catalysts. The reaction is usually written (4) as... 

Ligand 73 was prepared directly from a single enantiomer of the corresponding naphthol of QUINAP 60, an early intermediate in the original synthesis, and both enantiomers of BINOL. Application in hydroboration found that, in practice, only one of the cationic rhodium complexes of the diastereomeric pair proved effective, (aA, A)-73. While (aA, A)-73 gave 68% ee for the hydroboration of styrene (70% yield), the diastereomer (aA, R)-73 afforded the product alcohol after oxidation with an attenuated 2% ee (55% yield) and the same trend was apparent in the hydroboration of electron-poor vinylarenes. Indeed, even with (aA, A)-73, the asymmetries induced were very modest (31-51% ee). The hydroboration pre-catalyst was examined in the presence of catecholborane 1 at low temperatures and binuclear reactive intermediates were identified. However, when similar experiments were conducted with QUINAP 60, no intermediates of the same structural type were found.100... 

Among the main goals of electrochemical research are the design, characterization and understanding of electrocatalytic systems, (1-2) both in solution and on electrode surfaces. (3.) Of particular importance are the nature and structure of reactive intermediates involved in the electrocatalytic reactions.(A) The nature of an electrocatalytic system can be quite varied and can include activation of the electrode surface by specific pretreatments (5-9) to generate active sites, deposition or adsorption of metallic adlayers (10-111 or transition metal complexes. (12-161 In addition the electrode can act as a simple electron shuttle to an active species in solution such as a metallo-porphyrin or phthalocyanine. 

The fact that complex 38 does not react further - that is, it does not oxidatively add the N—H bond - is due to the comparatively low electron density present on the Ir center. However, in the presence of more electron-rich phosphines an adduct similar to 38 may be observed in situ by NMR (see Section 6.5.3 see also below), but then readily activates N—H or C—H bonds. Amine coordination to an electron-rich Ir(I) center further augments its electron density and thus its propensity to oxidative addition reactions. Not only accessible N—H bonds are therefore readily activated but also C—H bonds [32] (cf. cyclo-metallations in Equation 6.14 and Scheme 6.10 below). This latter activation is a possible side reaction and mode of catalyst deactivation in OHA reactions that follow the CMM mechanism. Phosphine-free cationic Ir(I)-amine complexes were also shown to be quite reactive towards C—H bonds [30aj. The stable Ir-ammonia complex 39, which was isolated and structurally characterized by Hartwig and coworkers (Figure 6.7) [33], is accessible either by thermally induced reductive elimination of the corresponding Ir(III)-amido-hydrido precursor or by an acid-base reaction between the 14-electron Ir(I) intermediate 53 and ammonia (see Scheme 6.9). 

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