Ground-state conformation

Specific optical rotation values, [a], for starch pastes range from 180 to 220° (5), but for pure amylose and amylopectin fractions [a] is 200°. The stmcture of amylose has been estabUshed by use of x-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy (23). The latter analysis shows that the proposed stmcture (23) is consistent with the proposed ground-state conformation of the monomer D-glucopyranosyl units. Intramolecular bonding in amylose has also been investigated with nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr) spectroscopy (24). 

The photochemical behavior of butadienes has been closely studied. When these compounds are exposed to light, they move from the ground state to an excited state. This excited state eventually returns to one of the ground state conformations via a process that includes a radiationless decay (i.e., without emitting a photon) from the excited state potential energy surface back to the ground state potential energy surface. 

An interesting use of the Camps quinoline synthesis is in the ring contraction of macrocycles. Treatment of 9 member ring 24 with sodium hydroxide in water furnished quinolin-4-ol 25, while 26 furnishes exclusively quinolin-2-ol 27 under the same reaction conditions (no yield was given for either reaction). The reaction does not work with smaller macrocycles. The authors rationalize the difference in reactivity based upon ground state conformation differences, but do not elaborate. 

The stereochemical outcome of these reactions can be rationalized as arising from attack on a ground-state conformation in which the sulfoxide lone pair and the alkene double bond are syn coplanar2. Such a conformation would minimize 1,3-allylic strain. 

From single-crystal X-ray structural analysis the ground-state conformation of (.S )-2-(4-meth-ylphenylsulfinyl)-2-cyclopentenone was shown to have the sulfoxide bond orientated anti to the carbonyl bond, as expected for minimization of electrostatic interactions13. 

The stereochemical outcome of the reaction with dialkylmagnesium reagents can be readily rationalized as resulting from attack on this ground-state conformation from the enone face opposite to the bulky 4-methylphenyl group. 

The addition of the lithium enolates of methyl acetate and methyl (trimelhylsilyl)acetate to ( + )-(S)-2-(4-methylphenylsulfinyl)-2-cycloalkenones gives, after desulfurization, (/ -substituted cycloalkenones. A higher level of selectivity is observed with the a-silyl ester enolate and in the cyclohexenone series13. The stereochemical outcome is rationalized by assuming attack on a ground-state conformation analogous to that in Section 1.5.3.2.1. 

In addition to the branched rings and chains, cyclic Ss conformations of lower symmetry than Did are also likely components of liquid sulfur. For example, the following exo-endo isomer of Ss (Cs symmetry) is by just 28 kJ mor (AG°29s) less stable than the ground state conformation and therefore its relative concentration in liquid sulfur and sulfur vapor at the boiling point will also be 1% of all Ss species [35]. 

The model [39] was developed using three assumptions the conformers are in thermodynamic equilibrium, the peak intensities of the T-shaped and linear features are proportional to the populations of the T-shaped and linear ground-state conformers, and the internal energy of the complexes is adequately represented by the monomer rotational temperature. By using these assumptions, the temperature dependence of the ratio of the intensities of the features were equated to the ratio of the quantum mechanical partition functions for the T-shaped and linear conformers (Eq. (7) of Ref. [39]). The ratio of the He l Cl T-shaped linear intensity ratios were observed to decay single exponentially. Fits of the decays yielded an approximate ground-state binding... 

This preferred ground state conformation, coupled with the slither mechanism, would account for the observed stereospecificity [formation of (34c)]. The spirodienone (35) undergoes photorearrangement to form... 

Thus the earlier failure to observe migratory preference with p-substituted phenyl groups in triarylmethylazides results from the fact that the presence of the p-substituent would have no influence on the ground state conformation of the azides. In support of this hypothesis is the observation that the decomposition and rearrangement of (27) becomes increasingly statistical as the temperature is raised (higher energy conformations become more populated) ... 

With accurate calculated barriers in hand, we return to the question of the underlying causes of methyl barriers in substituted toluenes. For simpler acyclic cases such as ethane and methanol, ab initio quantum mechanics yields the correct ground state conformer and remarkably accurate barrier heights as well.34-36 Analysis of the wavefunctions in terms of natural bond orbitals (NBOs)33 explains barriers to internal rotation in terms of attractive donor-acceptor (hyperconjuga-tive) interactions between doubly occupied aCH-bond orbitals or lone pairs and unoccupied vicinal antibonding orbitals. 

Recently, an example of cycloamylose-induced catalysis has been presented which may be attributed, in part, to a favorable conformational effect. The rates of decarboxylation of several unionized /3-keto acids are accelerated approximately six-fold by cycloheptaamylose (Table XV) (Straub and Bender, 1972). Unlike anionic decarboxylations, the rates of acidic decarboxylations are not highly solvent dependent. Relative to water, for example, the rate of decarboxylation of benzoylacetic acid is accelerated by a maximum of 2.5-fold in mixed 2-propanol-water solutions.6 Thus, if it is assumed that 2-propanol-water solutions accurately simulate the properties of the cycloamylose cavity, the observed rate accelerations cannot be attributed solely to a microsolvent effect. Since decarboxylations of unionized /3-keto acids proceed through a cyclic transition state (Scheme X), Straub and Bender suggested that an additional rate acceleration may be derived from preferential inclusion of the cyclic ground state conformer. This process effectively freezes the substrate in a reactive conformation and, in this case, complements the microsolvent effect. 

Fig. 3. Calculated ground state conformations and rotational barriers for 9,14, and 15.

If thermal motion on the Ti (or Si) surface leads to a quasi-equilibrium distribution of molecules between several minima, some of them are likely to provide a faster return to So than others and they will then drain the excited state population and determine which products will be formed. This is a straight-forward kinetic problem and it is clear that the process need not be dominated by the position of the lowest-energy accessible minimum in the excited hypersurface. Such minima may correspond to conformers, valence isomers, etc. Of course, it is well known that ground-state conformers may correspond to excited-state isomers, which are not in fast equilibrium. 65,72) Also, there is no reason why several separate minima in Si or Ti could not correspond to one minimum in So, and there is some evidence that this situation indeed occurs in certain polycyclic cyclohexenones. 73,74)... 

The allyl anion ground-state conformation is Czv at 6-31G HF and C2 at MP2. The energy difference, however, is only 0.2 kcalmol-1 and when the zero-point energy (ZPE)... 

The phenyl substituent in cation 8a is oriented almost perpendicular to the plane spanned by the two silicon atoms and the atom. This ground state conformation provides maximum overlap between the empty 2p orbital at... 

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