Intramolecular definition

In order to define how the nuclei move as a reaction progresses from reactants to transition structure to products, one must choose a definition of how a reaction occurs. There are two such definitions in common use. One definition is the minimum energy path (MEP), which defines a reaction coordinate in which the absolute minimum amount of energy is necessary to reach each point on the coordinate. A second definition is a dynamical description of how molecules undergo intramolecular vibrational redistribution until the vibrational motion occurs in a direction that leads to a reaction. The MEP definition is an intuitive description of the reaction steps. The dynamical description more closely describes the true behavior molecules as seen with femtosecond spectroscopy. 

Fig. 2. Classification/nomenclature of host—guest type inclusion compounds, definitions and relations (/) coordinative interaction, (2) lattice barrier interaction, (J) monomolecular shielding interaction (I) coordination-type inclusion compound (inclusion complex), (II) lattice-type inclusion compound (multimolecular/extramolecular inclusion compound, clathrate), (III) cavitate-type inclusion compound (monomolecular/intramolecular inclusion...

The systematic study of piezochromism is a relatively new field. It is clear that, even within the restricted definition used here, many more systems win be found which exhibit piezochromic behavior. It is quite possible to find a variety of potential appUcations of this phenomenon. Many of them center around the estimation of the pressure or stress in some kind of restricted or localized geometry, eg, under a localized impact or shock in a crystal or polymer film, in such a film under tension or compression, or at the interface between bearings. More generally it conveys some basic information about inter- and intramolecular interactions that is useful in understanding processes at atmospheric pressure as well as under compression. 

As has been indicated, since there is a ring isotope effect there must be a degree of C-H bond breaking in the transition state of the rate-determining stage. Clearly further work is required in this system before a definitive mechanism can be established for the intramolecular rearrangement. 

It has been pointed out321-324 that the two groups of solvents differ by some definite structural features. In particular, ED, 1,2-BD, and 1,3-BD possess vicinal OH groups that can form intramolecular hydrogen bonds. For these solvents, the ability of the organic molecule to interact with neighboring molecules is reduced. This results in the possibility of a different orientation at the interface because of different interactions of the OH groups with the Hg surface.323 The different molecular structure leads to different dipolar cooperative effects. As a result, the dependence of C on the bulk permittivity follows two different linear dependencies. 

Various other interactions have been considered as the driving force for spin-state transitions such as the Jahn-Teller coupling between the d electrons and a local distortion [73], the coupling between the metal ion and an intramolecular distortion [74, 75, 76] or the coupling between the d electrons and the lattice strain [77, 78]. At present, based on the available experimental evidence, the contribution of these interactions cannot be definitely assessed. Moreover, all these models are mathematically rather ambitious and do not show the intuitively simple structure inherent in the effect of a variation of molecular volume considered here. Their discussion has to be deferred to a more specialized study. 

The contribution of the frontier orbitals would be maximized in certain special donor-acceptor reactions. The stabilization energy is represented by Eqs. (3.25) and (3.26). Even in a less extreme case, the frontier orbital contribution maybe much more than in the expression of the superdelocalizability. If we adopt the approximation of Eq. (6.3), the intramolecular comparison of reactivity can be made only by the numerator value. In this way, it is understood that the frontier electron density, /r, is qualified to be an intramolecular reactivity index. The finding of the parallelism between fr and the experimental results has thus become the origin of the frontier-electron theory. The definition of fr is hence as follows ... 

Before studying some examples more closely, let us consider some cases which are not listed in Table 13. There are numerous compounds SnX2 which are definitely monomeric but are nevertheless no carbene analogs since their valence electron number at the tin atom is at least eight. These compounds contain chelating ligands which can stabilize the carbenoid tin atom due to intramolecular Lewis acid-base interactions as shown by structure A and B (see also Chapter 3). 

Pyridine ylide/LFP studies of 83-85 in pentane or isooctane afforded carbene lifetimes of 21-24 ns (k 4 to 5 x 107 s 1), similar to the lifetime of dimethylcarbene under these conditions. Unfortunately, these lifetimes are limited by reactions with the hydrocarbon solvents the lifetime of 83 is 1.5 times longer in cyclohexane-d12 than in cyclohexane. The observation that the lifetimes of 55-CI ( 1000 ns) and 55-F (—7000 ns) are considerably longer than those of 83 and 84 could reflect the superior stabilization provided by the halogen spectator substituents of 55, but this conclusion is tentative in the absence of definitive intramolecularly controlled lifetimes for 83-85. 

It is remarkable that in the same year, 1934, two independent approaches, those of Stoll et al. and of Kuhn, led to the definition of two quantities which are conceptually quite similar and can be practically identical in many actual cases. In either case the intramolecular reaction is compared to a corresponding intermolecular process. This is the dimerisation reaction of the bifunctional reactant in the definition of the cyclisation constant C in the case of the effective concentration Crff Winter must be determined with the aid of an inter-molecular model reaction, the choice of which is not always obvious and can possibly lead to conceptual as well as experimental difficulties. It is also worth noting that although these early workers established a firm basis for interpretation of physical as well as of preparative aspects of intramolecular reactions, no extensive use of quantities C and Qff appears to have been made in the chemical literature over more than three decades after their definition. This is in spite of the enormous development of studies in the field of... 

The model shown in Scheme 2 indicates that a change in the formal oxidation state of the metal is not necessarily required during the catalytic reaction. This raises a fundamental question. Does the metal ion have to possess specific redox properties in order to be an efficient catalyst A definite answer to this question cannot be given. Nevertheless, catalytic autoxidation reactions have been reported almost exclusively with metal ions which are susceptible to redox reactions under ambient conditions. This is a strong indication that intramolecular electron transfer occurs within the MS"+ and/or MS-O2 precursor complexes. Partial oxidation or reduction of the metal center obviously alters the electronic structure of the substrate and/or dioxygen. In a few cases, direct spectroscopic or other evidence was reported to prove such an internal charge transfer process. This electronic distortion is most likely necessary to activate the substrate and/or dioxygen before the actual electron transfer takes place. For a few systems where deviations from this pattern were found, the presence of trace amounts of catalytically active impurities are suspected to be the cause. In other words, the catalytic effect is due to the impurity and not to the bulk metal ion in these cases. 

The effective molarity (EM) is formally the concentration of the catalytic group (RCOO- in [5]) required to make the intermolecular reaction go at the observed rate of the intramolecular process. In practice many measured EM s represent physically unattainable concentrations, and the formal definition is probably relevant only in reactions (which will generally involve very large cyclic transition states) where the formation of the ring or cyclic transition state per se is enthalpically neutral, or in diffusion-controlled processes. For the formation of small and medium-sized rings and cyclic transition states the EM as defined above contains, and may indeed be dominated by, the enthalpy of formation of the cyclic form. This topic has been discussed briefly by Illuminati et al. (1977) and will be treated at greater length in a future volume in this series. 

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