From onium ions

Cyclopentene derivatives with carboxylic acid side-chains can be stereoselectively hydroxy-lated by the iodolactonization procedure (E.J. Corey, 1969, 1970). To the trisubstituted cyclopentene described on p. 210 a large iodine cation is added stereoselectively to the less hindered -side of the 9,10 double bond. Lactone formation occurs on the intermediate iod-onium ion specifically at C-9ot. Later the iodine is reductively removed with tri-n-butyltin hydride. The cyclopentane ring now bears all oxygen and carbon substituents in the right stereochemistry, and the carbon chains can be built starting from the C-8 and C-12 substit""" ... 

BF4. In large rings the fate of the onium ions depends mostly on the structure and degree of unsaturation of the particular compound, and the onium salts range from completely stable to highly unstable. 

When the reaction is performed in dioxane solution, an o onium ion is formed from the solvent and the chlorosulfite ester. The oxonium ion then undergoes substitution by chloride. l vo inversioRs are involved so that tiie result is overall retention. ... 

The study of optical isomers has shown a similar development. First it was shown that the reduction potentials of several meso and racemic isomers were different (Elving et al., 1965 Feokstistov, 1968 Zavada et al., 1963) and later, studies have been made of the ratio of dljmeso compound isolated from electrolyses which form products capable of showing optical activity. Thus the conformation of the products from the pinacolization of ketones, the reduction of double bonds, the reduction of onium ions and the oxidation of carboxylic acids have been reported by several workers (reviewed by Feokstistov, 1968). Unfortunately, in many of these studies the electrolysis conditions were not controlled and it is therefore too early to draw definite conclusions about the stereochemistry of electrode processes and the possibilities for asymmetric syntheses. 

During the time of the Olin reports, the first examples of oligomeric boron-bridged (l-pyrazolyl)borate systems appeared from the laboratory of Trofimenko at DuPont Chemicals 24 He reported the synthesis of poly(l-pyrazolyl)borates (6) (Fig. 5) from the reactions of alkali metal borohydrides with the pyrazole ligand. The (l-pyrazolyl)borate ligand was obtained from two pyrazole units when bridged by a BR2 unit on one side and by a metal or onium ion on the other. Even though reports... 

Considering the abundant evidence for carbene protonation, some quantitative estimate for the base strength of carbenes is clearly desirable. The conventional spectrometric or potentiometric methods of determining the pKa in solution are not applicable, with the exception of some onium ions 1 and their conjugate bases 2 (Section V.B). In favorable cases, equilibria of carbenes with the conjugate carbenium ions have been studied in the gas phase. Proton affinities of various carbenes can be obtained from their enthalpies of formation, and by ab initio computation (Section V.A). Kinetic data have been evaluated to obtain the pKa of carbenes in solution (Section V.B). 

Organic cations (carbocations and onium ions) are important reactive intermediates in organic synthesis. From an experimental point of view, it is noteworthy that the manner in which we carry out reactions of organic cations is different from that for carbanions (Scheme 1). Usually, carbanions are generated and accumulated in a solution in the absence of electrophiles. After the generation process is complete, an electrophile is added to the solution of the pre-formed carbanion to achieve a desired transformation. In contrast, organic cations are usually generated in the presence of nucleophiles. This is probably... 

The El mass spectra of thiols and thioethers also show a series of onium ions generated by a-cleavage of the molecular ion (Table 6.9). Sulfonium ions can easily be recognized from the isotopic pattern of sulfur (Fig. 6.9). The fragmentation patterns of thioethers will be discussed in greater detail later (Chap. 6.5.2 and 6.12.4). 

Aliphatic onium ions such as immonium, oxonium, and sulfonium ions have been introduced as even-electron ionic products of the a-cleavage occurring from molecular ions of amines, alcohols, and ethers or thiols and thioethers, respectively (Chap. 6.2.5). All these and analogous onium ions are capable of further fragmentation reactions, the majority of which are alkene losses [141] yielding fragments of high relevance for structure elucidation. 

The second alkene loss can occur from any onium ion bearing at least one C2-alkyl moiety, which obviously is the least demanding prerequisite for an alkene... 

The loss of alkenes from aliphatic onium ions via onium reaction comprises scission of the C-X bond and concomitant transfer of a hydrogen from the leaving alkyl moiety to the heteroatom, and a merely phenomenological description of this reaction has already been included in the preceding schemes. 

Example The spectra of A7-ethyl-A -methyl-propylamine (Fig. 6.6), tripropylamine, and tributylamine (Fig. 6.43) also exemplify alkene loss from immonium ions via onium reaction. Oxonium ions are involved in the fragmentation of dieth-ylether and methylpropylether (Fig. 6.7) and many others have been published. [36,143,160-163] Below, the fragmentation of butyl-isopropylether is shown ... 

Stable carbocations and onium ions from polycondensed aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds as models for biological electrophiles and DNA-transalkylating agents... 

Two chapters in this volume describe the generation of carbocations and the characterization of their structure and reactivity in strikingly different milieu. The study of the reactions in water of persistent carbocations generated from aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds has long provided useful models for the reactions of DNA with reactive electrophiles. The chapter by Laali and Borosky on the formation of stable carbocations and onium ions in water describes correlations between structure-reactivity relationships, obtained from wholly chemical studies on these carbocations, and the carcinogenic potency of these carbocations. The landmark studies to characterize reactive carbocations under stable superacidic conditions led to the award of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to George Olah. The chapter by Reddy and Prakash describes the creative extension of this earlier work to the study of extremely unstable carbodications under conditions where they show long lifetimes. The chapter provides a lucid description of modern experimental methods to characterize these unusual reactive intermediates and of ab initio calculations to model the results of experimental work. 

The formation of 16 from 14 has been interpreted40 as occurring by an intramolecular displacement of the chlorosulfate group at C-2, by participation of the chlorine atom at C-l, to give initially a chlor-onium ion, as shown the departure of the chlorosulfate group is... 

Substantial variations of the organic solvent used in triphase catalysis with polystyrene-bound onium ions have been reported only for the reactions of 1-bromo-octane with iodide ion (Eq. (4))74) and with cyanide ion (Eq. (3)) 73). In both cases observed rate constants increased with increasing solvent polarity from decane to toluene to o-dichlorobenzene or chlorobenzene. Since the swelling of the catalysts increased in the same order, and the experiments were performed under conditions of partial intraparticle diffusional control, it is not possible to determine how the solvents affected intrinsic reactivity. 

---