Electrophilic reactions stereochemistry

The bromonium ion postulate, made more than 75 years ago to explain the stereochemistry of halogen addition to alkenes, is a remarkable example of deductive logic in chemistry. Arguing from experimental results, chemists were able to make a hypothesis about the intimate mechanistic details of alkene electrophilic reactions. Subsequently, strong evidence supporting the mechanism came from the work of George Olah, who prepared and studied stable... 

According to the stepwise electrophilic reaction mechanism, the differences in the stereochemistries of the products from the reactions of alkenes with cyclic 49 and acyclic 51 disulfonium dications can be explained by the larger rates of the intramolecular reactions. In the case of a cyclic dication, the carbocationic center in intermediate 94, which is formed as the result of initial attack by a S-S dication on a double C=C bond reacts with nucleophile intramolecularly, thus conserving the configuration of the substituents at the double bond. On the other hand, an acyclic dication undergoes transformation to two separate particles (95 and dimethylsulfide) with a consequent loss of stereoselectivity. Additional experiments with deuteretad alkenes confirm that reaction is not stereoselective, lending further support to the stepwise mechanism (Scheme 36).106... 

Returning to a reaction we met right at the start of this chapter will illustrate that the regio-and stereochemistry of many different electrophilic reactions with alkenes can be controlled by intramolecular nucleophiles. The mercuration of the cis alkene Z-184 leads to a 6 1 ratio of diastereoisomers of a cyclic ether 185 by a related trapping of the intermediate by the internal OH group. 

Reactions.— The stereoselectivity of the abstraction of diastereotopic protons a to trico-ordinated sulphur and the stereochemistry of electrophilic reactions at the carbanion centres of cFlithio-thian 1-oxides still excite considerable interest. The rate factors for base-catalysed H-D exchange of a-protons in several conforma-tionally biassed or rigid thianium cations have been measured with increasing rigidity, the reactivity of decreases, while that of remains about constant. It... 

Electrophilic Addition Reactions, Stereochemistry, and Electron Delocalization... 

In general, electrophilic reactions of p-hydroxyalkyl-, vinyl-, allyl-, crotyl-, homo-allyl- and dienylsilanes proceed with control of the stereochemistry of the olefinic systems formed, which is a great advantage for the synthesis of precursors of natural products such as pheromones and vitamins. 

Mechanism of Enolate Alkylation SN2 reaction, inversion of electrophile stereochemistry... 

You can interpret the stereochemistry and rates of many reactions involving soft electrophiles and nucleophiles—in particular pericyclic reactions—in terms of the properties of Frontier orbitals. This applies in particular to pericyclic reactions. Overlap between the HOMO and the LUMO is a governing factor in many reactions. HyperChem can show the forms of orbitals such as HOMO and LUMO in two ways a plot at a slice through the molecule and as values in a log file of the orbital coefficients for each atom. 

Several electrophiles, such as acetic anhydride, nitric acid or alternative nitrating agents, such as ammonium nitrate in trifluoroacetic anhydride (41), or sodium hypochlorite, react at N-1, which is followed by reaction at N-3 under suitable conditions. In the case of acetic anhydride, the reaction can take place exclusively at N-3 if N-1 is hindered this fact has served as a criterion for studying the stereochemistry of 5-spirohydantoin derivatives (42,43). 

Reactions of alkynes with electrophiles are generally similar to those of alkenes. Because the HOMO of alkynes (acetylenes) is also of n type, it is not surprising that there IS a good deal of similarity between alkenes and alkynes in their reactivity toward electrophilic reagents. The fundamental questions about additions to alkynes include the following. How reactive are alkynes in comparison with alkenes What is the stereochemistry of additions to alkynes And what is the regiochemistry of additions to alkynes The important role of halonium ions and mercurinium ions in addition reactions of alkenes raises the question of whether similar species can be involved with alkynes, where the ring would have to include a double bond ... 

The alkylation reactions of enolate anions of both ketones and esters have been extensively utilized in synthesis. Both very stable enolates, such as those derived from (i-ketoesters, / -diketones, and malonate esters, as well as less stable enolates of monofunctional ketones, esters, nitriles, etc., are reactive. Many aspects of the relationships between reactivity, stereochemistry, and mechanism have been clarified. A starting point for the discussion of these reactions is the structure of the enolates. Because of the delocalized nature of enolates, an electrophile can attack either at oxygen or at carbon. 

HC1, HBr, and HI add to alkenes by a two-step electrophilic addition mechanism. Initial reaction of the nucleophilic double bond with H+ gives a carbo-cation intermediate, which then reacts with halide ion. Bromine and chlorine add to alkenes via three-membered-ring bromonium ion or chloronium ion intermediates to give addition products having anti stereochemistry. If water is present during the halogen addition reaction, a halohydrin is formed. 

The Lead-Off Reaction Addition of HBr to Alkenes Students usually attach great-importance to a text s lead-off reaction because it is the first reaction they see and is discussed in such detail. 1 use the addition of HBr to an alkene as the lead-off to illustrate general principles of organic chemistry for several reasons the reaction is relatively straightforward it involves a common but important functional group no prior knowledge of stereochemistry or kinetics in needed to understand it and, most important, it is a polar reaction. As such, 1 believe that electrophilic addition reactions represent a much more useful and realistic introduction to functional-group chemistry than a lead-off such as radical alkane chlorination. 

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