Fragmentation carbocation

The carbon-carbon beta scission may occur on either side of the carbocation, with the smallest fragment usually containing at least three carbon atoms. For example, cracking a secondary carbocation formed from a long chain paraffin could be represented as follows ... 

Kolbe electrolysis is a powerful method of generating radicals for synthetic applications. These radicals can combine to symmetrical dimers (chap 4), to unsymmetrical coupling products (chap 5), or can be added to double bonds (chap 6) (Eq. 1, path a). The reaction is performed in the laboratory and in the technical scale. Depending on the reaction conditions (electrode material, pH of the electrolyte, current density, additives) and structural parameters of the carboxylates, the intermediate radical can be further oxidized to a carbocation (Eq. 1, path b). The cation can rearrange, undergo fragmentation and subsequently solvolyse or eliminate to products. This path is frequently called non-Kolbe electrolysis. In this way radical and carbenium-ion derived products can be obtained from a wide variety of carboxylic acids. 

Non-Kolbe electrolysis of carboxylic acids can be directed towards a selective fragmentation, when the initially formed carbocation is better stabilized in the y-position by a hydroxy or trimethylsilyl group. In this way the reaction can be used for a three-carbon (Eq. 36) [335] (Table 14, No. 1) or four-carbon ring extension (Eq. 37) [27] (Table 14, Nos. 2-4). Furthermore it can be employed for the stereo-... 

The mechanism of these reactions is often El. However, in at least some cases, an E2 mechanism operates.It has been shown that stereoisomers of cyclic y-amino halides and tosylates in which the two leaving groups can assume an anti-periplanar conformation react by the E2 mechanism, while those isomers in which the groups cannot assume such a conformation either fragment by the El mechanism or do not undergo fragmentation at all, but in either case give rise to side products characteristic of carbocations. " ... 

The reaction that normally occurs on treatment of a ketoxime with a Lewis or proton acid is the Beckmann rearrangement (18-17) fragmentations are considered side reactions, often called abnormal or second-order Beckmann rearrangements. Obviously, the substrates mentioned are much more susceptible to fragmentation than are ordinary ketoximes, since in each case an unshared pair is available to assist in removal of the group cleaving from the carbon. However, fragmentation is a side reaction even with ordinary ketoximes and, in cases where a particularly stable carbocation can be cleaved, may be the main reaction. ... 

In this section, the emphasis is on carbocation reactions that modify the carbon skeleton, including carbon-carbon bond formation, rearrangements, and fragmentation reactions. The fundamental structural and reactivity characteristics of carbocations toward nucleophilic substitution were explored in Chapter 4 of Part A. 

Despite the cyclic character of these TSs, both the bond distances and charge distribution are characteristic of a high degree of charge separation, with the butenyl fragment assuming the character of an allylic carbocation. 

A fragmentation reaction occurs if one of the oxime substituents can give rise to a relatively stable carbocation. Fragmentation is very likely to occur if a nitrogen, oxygen, or sulfur atom is present a to the oximino group. 

The activation energies for the fragmentation of the carbene in CH2C12 were calculated by the B3LYP/6-31G method to be 14.6, 2.2, and —0.95 for the bicyclo[2.2.1]heptyl, bicyclo[2.2.2]octyl, and adamantyl systems, respectively. Are the product trends consistent with these computational results, which presumably reflect the relative stability of the carbocation formed by the fragmentation ... 

The focus of the next four chapters (Chapters 14-17) is mainly on the theoretical/computational aspects. Chapter 14 by T. S. Sorensen and E. C. F. Yang examines the involvement of p-hydrido cation intermediates in the context of the industrially important heptane to toluene dehydrocyclization process. Chapter 15 by P. M. Esteves et al. is devoted to theoretical studies of carbonium ions. Chapter 16 by G. L. Borosky and K. K. Laali presents a computational study on aza-PAH carbocations as models for the oxidized metabolites of Aza-PAHs. Chapter 17 by S. C. Ammal and H. Yamataka examines the borderline Beckmann rearrangement-fragmentation mechanism and explores the influence of carbocation stability on the reaction mechanism. 

The results obtained in combination with the data on the transformations of cations 9-11, led to the conclusion that 1,2-shifts of methyl groups occur readily in carbocations having a pentalene fragment. On the basis of the data obtained for rearrangements of such carbocations, an alternative mechanism has been proposed (52) for the rearrangement of structurally related carbocation 16 having a bicyclo[3.3.0]octane skeleton described in (33) (Scheme 12). 

Note This reaction involves a polar acidic mechanism, not a free-radical mechanism It is a Friedel-Crafts alkylation, with the slight variation that the requisite carbocation is made by protonation of an alkene instead of ionization of an alkyl halide. Protonation of C4 gives a C3 carbocation. Addition to Cl and fragmentation gives the product. 

The combination of an amine and an aldehyde under weakly acidic conditions almost always gives an iminium ion very rapidly. Such a reaction forms the N1-C8 bond. Nucleophilic C7 can then attack this iminium ion to give a carbocation. Fragmentation of the C5-Si6 bond gives the product. 

By analogy with their behavior in mass spectrometry, branched hydrocarbons are cleaved when oxidized in CH3 CN/TEABF4 at —45 °C. The resulting acetamides of the fragments (Table 6) are formed by cleavage of the initial radical cation at the C,C bond between the secondary and tertiary C atom, to afford after a second electron transfer, carbocations, which react in a Ritter reaction with acetonitrile [29]. 

Oxidative S—C bond cleavage, followed by the attack of a nucleophile on the carbocation formed, is a classical anodic substitution reaction. In this way, OH [60], AcNH [61], AcCH2 [62], and CH2=CHCH2 [63] groups were introduced to replace the RS fragment. 

Similarly, trityl cation in aromatic hydrocarbons initiates the fragmentation of simple tetraalkyl plumbanes and stannanes yielding the plumbyl or stannyl cationic species, e.g. 11, and alkenes. The reaction is thought to proceed via plumbyl-or stannyl-substituted carbocations 12, which in a second step eliminate the al-kene. This approach was used in the synthesis of norbornyl cations of the elements tin and lead, e.g. 13, (Scheme 5). ... 

The alkyl portion of organic compounds gives a number of fragments. If it s possible to form a particularly stable carbocation, such as a tertiary car-bocation like (CH3)3Ct an especially intense peak results. 

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