Fluoromethyl carbocation

Table 1.30 Thermochemical properties related to fluoromethyl carbocation stabilities...

Several criteria, including hydride affinities of carbocations (R+—H heterolytic BDE) and adiabatic ionization potentials of the corresponding free radicals (Table 1.30), indicate the order of decreasing stability of fluoromethyl carbocations to be CHF2+ > CH2F+ > CF3+ > CH3+ (Scheme 1.54) [1],... 

Order of stability of fluoromethyl and fluoroethyl carbocations +CH3 < +CF3 < +CH2F < +CF2H +CH2CH3 +CF2CH3 +CHFCH3 Figure 1.7 Stability order of fluoroalkyl carbocations (gas phase). 

Halogen as Heteroatom. In 1966 Olah, Cupas, and Comisarow511 reported the first a-fluoromethyl cation. Since then, a large variety of fluorine-substituted carbocations have been prepared. a-Fluorine has a particular ability to stabilize carbocations via back-donation of its unshared electron pairs into the vacant p orbital of the carbocationic carbon atom. 19F NMR spectroscopy is a particularly efficient tool for the structural investigations of these ions.512,513 The 2-fluoro-2-propyl cation 247 (NMR spectra, Figure 3.16) and 1-phenylfluoroethyl cation 248 are representative examples of the many reported similar ions.514... 

Since fluorine is the most electronegative element, it should inductively destabilize carbocations. The stability of fluoromethyl cations in the gas phase decreases in the order CFH2+ > CF2H+ > CF3+ > CH3+. The trend in solution, however, could be different, due to solvent effects, ion pairing, and so on. Indeed, fluorine has been shown to provide stabilization for carbocations. The existence of CH3CF2+, in contrast to the elusive ethyl cation CH3CH2+, is a clear evidence that replacement of H atoms by F atoms provides stabilization for carbocations.524 Furthermore, it was found that in perfluorobenzyl cation C6F5CF2+ fluorine atoms in resonance positions (ortho and para) are more deshielded than those in meta positions.536 This indicates carbocation stabilization by back-donation. 

Much attention has been focused on defining the transition state of FTase and the structural determinants of the chemical step. For FTase, there is evidence for both an electrophilic contribution to the transition state, obtained from studies with fluoromethyl FPP analogues, and a nucleophilic contribution, obtained from the metal-substitution and pH studies [31,40,41]. These results are supported by the inability to trap a carbocation intermediate, inversion of configuration at Cl of the farnesyl group during the reaction, and an a-secondary kinetic isotope effect near unity [31,42,43]. Taken together, the available data suggest that the transition state of FTase... 

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