Electrophilic addition reactions of ethylene

The electrophilic addition reaction of ethylene and HBr. The reaction takes place in two steps, both of which involve electrophile-nucleophile interactions. An electrostatic potential map shows the charge on the carbocation intermediate. 

The transition state structure for the addition of molecular fluorine to ethylene VIIc was found by the 3-2IG calculations [17] to closely resemble that for the addition of HCl (IV). Of special interest are the computational results obtained on transition state structures Vlld, Vile for gas phase electrophilic addition reactions of molecular chlorine and bromine to ethylene. Whereas the four-centered structure VIIc for the fluorination of ethylene indicates concerted c/s-addition, which is in accord with experimental finding for this reaction [18], the transition state geometries for chlorination and bromination may be regarded as cyclic halonium ions backed by halogenide counter-ions. Noteworthy is that the calculations [17] predict the heterolysis to occur intrinsically without any assistance from polar solvents. The three-centered structures Vlld, Vile help to clarify the reason for trans-stereoselectivity of the chlorination and bromination reactions of ethylene [1, 19]. 

Many other reactions of ethylene oxide are only of laboratory significance. These iaclude nucleophilic additions of amides, alkaU metal organic compounds, and pyridinyl alcohols (93), and electrophilic reactions with orthoformates, acetals, titanium tetrachloride, sulfenyl chlorides, halo-silanes, and dinitrogen tetroxide (94). 

IZV118) and the formation of (31) is analogous to the reaction (197)->(98) via a four-membered 1,2-oxathietane 2,2-dioxide intermediate. Subsequent products derived from (31) by electrophilic addition reactions at the alkenic double bond have been described in Section 4.33.3.2.2 and the synthesis of 4,5-dichloro-l,3,2-dioxathiolane 2,2-dioxide (154) by chlorination of ethylene sulfate (18) is discussed in Section 4.33.3.5. Cyclic sulfites, on the other hand, cannot be halogenated without ring opening (cfSection 4.33.3.2.4). 

In electrophilic addition, one of the starting compounds must have a double or a triple bond in other words, it must possess an electron-rich unsaturated C=C or C bond. An electrophile seeks out an unshared electron pair. The reaction in Schane 5.1 shows an electrophilic addition to ethylene. 

Direct Chlorination of Ethylene. Direct chlorination of ethylene is generally conducted in Hquid EDC in a bubble column reactor. Ethylene and chlorine dissolve in the Hquid phase and combine in a homogeneous catalytic reaction to form EDC. Under typical process conditions, the reaction rate is controlled by mass transfer, with absorption of ethylene as the limiting factor (77). Ferric chloride is a highly selective and efficient catalyst for this reaction, and is widely used commercially (78). Ferric chloride and sodium chloride [7647-14-5] mixtures have also been utilized for the catalyst (79), as have tetrachloroferrate compounds, eg, ammonium tetrachloroferrate [24411-12-9] NH FeCl (80). The reaction most likely proceeds through an electrophilic addition mechanism, in which the catalyst first polarizes chlorine, as shown in equation 5. The polarized chlorine molecule then acts as an electrophilic reagent to attack the double bond of ethylene, thereby faciHtating chlorine addition (eq. 6) ... 

The electrophilic addition of HBr to ethylene is only one example of a polar process there are many others that vve ll study in detail in later chapters. But regardless of the details of individual reactions, all polar reactions take place between an electron-poor site and an electron-rich site and involve the donation of an electron pair from a nucleophile to an electrophile. 

The electrophilic bromination of ethylenic compounds, a reaction familiar to all chemists, is part of the basic knowledge of organic chemistry and is therefore included in every chemical textbook. It is still nowadays presented as a simple two-step, trans-addition involving the famous bromonium ion as the key intermediate. T]nis mechanism was postulated as early as the 1930s by Bartlett and Tarbell (1936) from the kinetics of bromination of trans-stilbene in methanol and by Roberts and Kimball (1937) from stereochemical results on cis- and trans-2-butene bromination. According to their scheme (Scheme 1), bromo-derivatives useful as intermediates in organic synthesis... 

Absolute rates for the addition of the methyl radical and the trifluoromethyl radical to dienes and a number of smaller alkenes have been collected by Tedder (Table l)3. Comparison of the rate data for the apolai4 methyl radical and the electrophilic trifluoromethyl radical clearly show the electron-rich nature of butadiene in comparison to ethylene or propene. This is also borne out by several studies, in which relative rates have been determined for the reaction of small alkyl radicals with alkenes. An extensive list of relative rates for the reaction of the trifluoromethyl radical has been measured by Pearson and Szwarc5,6. Relative rates have been obtained in these studies by competition with hydrogen... 

The regioselectivity in radical addition reactions to alkenes in general has successfully been interpreted by a combination of steric and electronic effects1815,47. In the absence of steric effects, regiochemical preferences can readily be explained with FMO theory. The most relevant polyene orbital for the addition of nucleophilic radicals to polyenes will be the LUMO for the addition of electrophilic orbitals it will be the HOMO. Table 10 lists the HOMO and LUMO coefficients (without the phase sign) for the first three members of the polyene family together with those for ethylene as calculated from Hiickel theory and with the AMI semiempirical method48. 

The kinetics of chlorination of ethylene, allyl chloride, 3,4-dichlorobutene, 2,3-dichlo-ropropene, and 1,2-dichloroethylene in 1,2-dichloroethane have been investigated in the presence of BU4NCI. The mathematical treatment of the results was performed with due regard to the equilibrium constants of the formation of complexes between CI2 and CP. For all the substrates at 256K, the introduction of CP into the system has been found to result in an increase in the rate of the addition. The reaction turned out to be of first order with respect to both the substrate and the salt and second order with respect to chlorine. As expected, the dependence of the reaction rate on the substiments at the double bond is compatible with the electrophilic addition, initiated by electrophilic chlorine."... 

Fields et alf and Schmidt made closely parallel observations concerning polar cycloaddition of ethylenes substituted at the a-position by an electron-withdrawing group and having no substituent at the jS-position. In both cases the product observed was that to be expected if the electrophile had added to the j3-carbon atom. Since it is clear that the normal ground-state polarization of acrylonitrile (127) and methyl methacrylate (128) should tend to destabilize the cation produced by j8-addition, it was concluded that the orientation of polar cycloadditions could not be predicted by the rules of electrophilic addition and that this apparent anomaly pointed toward a more concerted type of cycloaddition reaction. 

Ethylene is the template for olefin reactions, but ethylene itself is rather unreactive, undergoing electrophilic attack by moderately strong Lewis acids. Nucleophilic attack on the bond even by the strongest Lewis bases has not been reported. The following sequence involves intramolecular addition of a carbanion to an unactivated olefin [111, 112]. The reaction is undoubtedly facilitated by active participation of the lithium cation as a Lewis acid [113]. 

Scheme 43 shows the details of the different steps involved in the equilibrium. The nucleophilic attack of the P(III) derivative on the acetylenic bond yields a 1,3-dipole which, after a fast protonation, frees aZ ion. If the subsequent addition of this ion occurs on the P atom (reaction a), a P(V) phosphorane is formed, but the addition of Z on the ethylenic C atom (reaction b) results in the formation of an ylide. Both of these reactions occur under kinetic control and, in both cases, X is always an OR group from the initial acetylene dicarboxylic ester. When the acetylenic compound is a diketone and X is an alkyl or aryl moiety, the C=0 group is much more electrophilic and the attack by the Z ion produces an alcoholate (reaction c), a new intermediate which can cyclize on to the P+ to form a phosphorane, or attack the a-C atom to form an ylide as in Scheme 42. Hence, reactions a and c can coexist, and are strongly dependent on the nature of the trapping reagent and of the P compound, but reaction b is blocked, whatever the reagent. This is well illustrated by the reaction of the 2-methoxytetramethylphospholane 147 on diben-zoylacetylene in the presence of methanol as trapping reagent. The proportions of the vinylphosphorane 157 and spirophosphorane 158 formed (Figure 24) are 13% and 84%, respectively.

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