Ethylene proposed pathway from

Figure 2. Proposed pathway from methionine to ethylene indicating recycling of the S atom according to Adams and Yang (10J...

In considering catalyzed olefin-cyclopropane interconversions, an important question arises concerning thermodynamic control and the tendency (or lack thereof) to attain a state of equilibrium for the system. Mango (74) has recently estimated the expected relative amounts of ethylene and cyclopropane for various reaction conditions and concluded that the reported results were contrary to thermodynamic expectation. In particular, the vigorous formation of ethylene from cyclopropane (16) at -78°C was stated to be especially unfavored. On the basis of various reported observations and considerations, Mango concluded that a reaction scheme such as that in Eq. (26) above (assuming no influence of catalyst) was not appropriate, because the proper relative amounts of cyclopropanes and olefins just do not occur. However, it can be argued that the role of the catalyst is in fact an important element in the equilibration scheme, for the proposed metal-carbene and [M ] species in Eq. (26) are neither equivalent nor freely interconverted under normal reaction conditions. Consequently, all the reaction pathways are not simultaneously accessible with ease, as seen in the published literature, and the expected equilibria do not really have an opportunity for attainment. In such a case, absence of thermodynamic control should not a priori deny the validity of Eq. (26). 

These results have been interpreted in terms of trans addition of mercuric ion and nucleophile where the attack of the mercuric ion takes place from the more hindered side of the diene molecule. A transition state 197, involving an endo attack of mercuric ion with some stabilization by coordination to the 8,9-ethylenic bond to the mercury atom, has been proposed to support the suggested mechanism. Analogously, and in sharp contrast to the results obtained167 in the mercuration of norbomadiene which reacts with mercury salts via the usual scheme of exo-syn addition, the principal pathway in the mercuration of bicyclo[2.2.2]octa-2,5-diene is the formation of endo-syn products (equation 165). 

The major pathways for the fragmentation of kojic acid (81,5-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-pyran-4-one), are shown in Scheme 14 support for each route was provided by the appearance of metastable ion peaks (67MI22203). An RDA cleavage followed by loss of a CH2OH radical produces ion (81a), m/e 69, the structure of which was substantiated by deuteration experiments. The ion at m/e 97 arises by extrusion of CO from the molecular ion and loss of HO- from the side chain structures (81b) and (81c) were proposed. Decomposition of [M]t occurs to give ethylene and an HC=0 fragment. The initial stage involves loss of a -CHO radical from the hydroxymethyl substituent, a process which has... 

The alkene metathesis reaction was unprecedented - such a non-catalysed concerted four-centred process is forbidden by the Woodward-Hoffmann rules - so new mechanisms were needed to account for the products. Experiments by Pettit showed that free cyclobutane itself was not involved it was not converted to ethylene (<3%) under the reaction condition where ethylene underwent degenerate metathesis (>35%, indicated by experiments involving Di-ethylene) [10]. Consequently, direct interconversion of the alkenes, via an intermediate complex (termed a quasi-cyclobutane , pseudo-cyclobutane or adsorbed cyclobutane ) generated from a bis-alkene complex was proposed, and a detailed molecular orbital description was presented to show how the orbital symmetry issue could be avoided, Scheme 12.14 (upper pathway) [10]. 

Imhof et al. [22] studied the reaction mechanism of the [2+2+1] cycloaddition reactions of diimines, CO, and ethylene catalyzed by iron carbonyl complexes on the basis of density functional theory (Scheme 4). The catalytic reaction does not start when CO dissociates from 10 followed by the addition of ethylene, but instead the associative pathway to 11 is proposed. In addition, it can be concluded that the insertion of CO in 11 takes place into a C-Fe bond but not... 

The mechanisms of acid-catalyzed DME formation from methanol and aromatiza-tion of olefins were widely investigated in the years before the discovery of the methanol-to-gasoline reaction. There is a consensus that the intermediate in DME formation from methan.ol over solid acid catalysts is a protonated surface methoxyl, which is subject to nucleophilic attack by methanol [2]. Aroma-tization of olefins is believed to proceed along classical carbenium pathways, with concurrent hydrogen transfer [3]. The mechanism of the crucial step of initial C-C bond formation from MeOH/DME is an unsolved problem, however, and is the subject of ongoing controversy. At last tally, there were some two dozen mechanistic proposals in the literature. It is not possible here to present a comprehensive review of the entire field. However, a number of common themes can be identified. This commonality is discussed and the concepts currently in vogue are critically reviewed. Another issue, whether ethylene is the "first" olefin, has been widely debated [2], but is beyond the scope of this survey. 

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