5-Hexenyl cyclization

The overall reactivities of these radicals in their ummolecular 5-hexenyl cyclization processes reflects those same factors which affect the reactivity of partially-fluorinated radicals in their bimolecular addition reactions with alkenes, such as styrene. Table 17 indicates this clearly, and it also reflects the general leveling effect which would be expected for the more facile unimolecular cyclization processes which have log A s about 1-2 units larger than those for the bimolecular additions. 

This certainly very incomplete and fast growing list of examples was provided in order to show that the 5-hexenyl radical tool may be used in many cases. Other examples in which the 5-hexenyl cyclization also affords kinetic values will be described in Section XII.2. 

These warnings should not lead to the conclusion that the free radical cyclization (or ring-opening) tool must be avoided. Quite the contrary, the 5-hexenyl cyclization is certainly one of the best probes for the presence of alkyl free radical intermediates, but in dubious cases, as for instance those involving organometallic compounds, other probes are needed. 

The 5-hexenyl cyclization is clearly xmder kinetic rather than under thermodynamic control since the thermodynamically favoured product would be the cyclohexyl radical. It has been suggested that the 5- rather than the 6-membered ring is produced because bond formation requires the approach of the radical within the plane of the 7r-orbital and along an axis extending above one of the terminal atoms of the double bond either approximately vertically (, , or at an angle of about 109° to the double... 

Effects of substituent on the regiochemistry of the 5-hexenyl radical cyclization... 

Cyclizations involving iodine-atom transfers have been developed. Among the most effective examples are reactions involving the cyclization of 6-iodohexene derivatives. The 6-hexenyl radical generated by iodine-atom abstraction rapidly cyclizes to a cyclo-pentylmethyl radical. The chain is propagated by iodine-atom transfer. 

Other transformations of the radicals are also possible. For example, the 5-hexenyl radical partially cyclizes in competition with coupling ... 

The use of radical cyclizations to make five-membered rings has become a very important tool for synthetic chemists Although there has been a virtual explosion of reports in the literature regarding the cyclization of 5-hexenyl radicals to cyclopentyl carbinyl radicals in all types of hydrocarbon systems [55], the use of this cyclization for the synthesis of fluorme-containing cyclopentanes has been largely ignored... 

The first example of a cyclization of fluorine-containing 5-hexenyl radicals was the study of the radical-iniOated cyclodimenzation reaction of 3,3,4,4-tetra-fluoro-4-iodo-1-butene. In this reaction, the intermediate free radical adds either to more of the butene or to an added unsaturated species [54, 55] (equation 56). Electron-deficient alkenes are not as effective trapping agents as electron-nch alkenes and alkynes [55]. 

A resident stereocenter in the enone part can control the formation of two new stereocenters in one step, guided by a synclinal transition state and an axial cyclization mode. The major product on cyclization of 4-methyl-3-[6-(trimethylsilyl)-4-(Z)-hexenyl]-2-cyclohexenone was formed in a ratio of 7.5 13S. 

Other radicals undergo rearrangement in competition with bimolecular processes. An example is the 5-hexenyl radical (5). The 6-heptenoyloxy radical (4) undergoes sequential fragmentation and cyclization (Scheme 3.8).1S... 

The preferential 1,5-ring closure of unsubsliluted 5-hexenyl radicals has been attributed to various factors these arc discussed in greater detail in Section 2.3.4. The mode and rate of cyclization is strongly influenced by substituents. The results may be summarized as follows (Scheme 4.13) ... 

A mode] study has demonstrated the pathways shown in Scheme 4,17. The first cyclization step gave predominantly five-membered rings, the second a mixture of six- and seven-membered rings.155 Relative rate constants for the individual steps were measured. The first cyclization step was found to be some five-fold faster than for the parent 5-hexenyl system. Although originally put forward as evidence for hyperconjugation in 1,6-dienes, further work showed the rate acceleration to be sterie in origin.113-I3j... 

Geometric considerations would seem to dictate that 1,4- and 1,5-dicncs should not undergo cyclopolymerization readily. However, in the case of 1,4-dienes, a 5-hexenyl system is formed after one propagation step. Cyclization via 1,5-backbiling generates a second 5-hexenyl system. Homopolymerization of divinyl ether (22) is thought to involve such a bicyclization. The polymer contains a mixture of structures including that formed by the pathway shown in Scheme 4.18. 

Activation parameters. Calculate AW and AS for the cyclization of the 5-hexenyl radical, whose rate is given in Eq. (5-39). 

Competition kinetics. Cyclization of the 1-hexenyl radical competes with the reaction with BihSnH to form methylcyclopentane. 

Based on a unimolecular cyclization rate constant of 5 x 105s" 1 for A5-hexenyl radical at 318 K (cf. Reference 34). 

A5-hexenyl substituent, extensive cyclization occurs to yield the cyclopentylcarbinyl product from the yields of uncyclized and cyclized products for A5-hexenylmercury chloride, the rate constants for equation 50 have been estimated (vide supra). The SH2 reaction 49 has also been invoked to be the key step in the alkylation of -substituted styrenes by a free-radical addition-elimination sequence, namely96... 

One experimental test for the involvement of radical intermediates is to study 5-hexenyl systems and look for the characteristic cyclization to cyclopentane derivatives (see Part A, Section 11.2.3). When 5-hexenyl bromide or iodide reacts with LiAlH4, no cyclization products are observed. However, the more hindered 2,2-dimethyl-5-hexenyl iodide gives mainly cyclic product.164... 

One of the fundamental questions about the mechanism is whether the radical is really free in the sense of diffusing from the metal surface.7 For alkyl halides, there is considerable evidence that the radicals behave similarly to alkyl free radicals.8 One test for the involvement of radical intermediates is to determine whether cyclization occurs in the 6-hexenyl system, where radical cyclization is rapid (see Part A, Section 12.2.2). 

Small amounts of cyclized products are obtained after the preparation of Grignard reagents from 5-hexenyl bromide.9 This indicates that cyclization of the intermediate radical competes to a small extent with combination of the radical with the metal. Quantitative kinetic models that compare competing processes are consistent with diffusion of the radicals from the surface.10 Alkyl radicals can be trapped with high efficiency by the nitroxide radical TMPO.11 Nevertheless, there remains disagreement about the extent to which the radicals diffuse away from the metal surface.12... 

Another major influence on the direction of cyclization is the presence of substituents. Attack at a less hindered position is favored by both steric effects and the stabilizing effect that most substituents have on a radical center. These have been examined by DFT (UB3LYP/6-31+G ) calculations, and the results for 5-hexenyl radicals are shown in Figure 10.14. For the unsubstituted system, the 5-exo chair TS is favored over the 6-endo chair by 2.7kcal/mol. A 5-methyl substituent disfavors the 5-exo relative to the 6-endo mode by 0.7kcal/mol, whereas a 6-methyl substituent increases the preference for the 5-exo TS to 3.3 kcal/mol.322... 

Fig. 10.13. MM2 models of exo and endo cyclization transition structures for 5-hexenyl, 6-heptenyl, and 7-octenyl radicals. Reproduced from Tetrahedron, 41, 3925 (1985), by permission of Elsevier.

Table II. Most of the data was obtained from radical clock studies. The neophyl radical rearrangement24 [Eq. (2)] was used for the majority of the kinetic data in Table II, but the ring expansion rearrangement reactions25-27 of radicals 7 and 8, cyclizations of 5-hexenyl type radicals,...

The kinetic data for these reactions are numerous, as shown in Table VI. Most of values were obtained by radical clock methods. The ring expansion of radical 7 has been employed as the clock in a study that provided much of the data in Table VI.74 Cyclizations of 5-hexenyl-type radicals also have been used as clocks,75-77 and other competition reactions have been used.78 Hydrogen atom abstraction from n-Bu3GeH by primary alkyl radicals containing a trimethylsilyl group in the a-, >8-, or y-position were obtained by the indirect method in competition with alkyl radical recombi-... 

The extension of the cyclization from tetrahydrofurans and pyrrolidines to car-bocycles leads to a sharp decrease in the yield of cyclized product. This is due to the slower cyclization rate of 5-hexenyl radicals compared to 5-(3-oxahexenyl) radicals, which favors the competing bimolecular coupling to the acyclic product. Three measures help to increase the yield in these cyclizations. 

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