Inversion, of radicals

Fig. 1. Examples of temperature dependence of the rate constant for the reactions in which the low-temperature rate-constant limit has been observed 1. hydrogen transfer in the excited singlet state of the molecule represented by (6.16) 2. molecular reorientation in methane crystal 3. internal rotation of CHj group in radical (6.25) 4. inversion of radical (6.40) 5. hydrogen transfer in halved molecule (6.16) 6. isomerization of molecule (6.17) in excited triplet state 7. tautomerization in the ground state of 7-azoindole dimer (6.1) 8. polymerization of formaldehyde in reaction (6.44) 9. limiting stage (6.45) of (a) chain hydrobromination, (b) chlorination and (c) bromination of ethylene 10. isomerization of radical (6.18) 11. abstraction of H atom by methyl radical from methanol matrix [reaction (6.19)] 12. radical pair isomerization in dimethylglyoxime crystals [Toriyama et al. 1977].

J. C. L6pez, A. M. G6mez, and S. Valverde, A novel entry to cyclohexanes and cyclopentanes from carbohydrates via inversion of radical reactivity in hex-2-enono-S-lactones, J Chem Soc., Chem. Commun. 613 (1992). 

Surfactants have also been of interest for their ability to support reactions in normally inhospitable environments. Reactions such as hydrolysis, aminolysis, solvolysis, and, in inorganic chemistry, of aquation of complex ions, may be retarded, accelerated, or differently sensitive to catalysts relative to the behavior in ordinary solutions (see Refs. 205 and 206 for reviews). The acid-base chemistry in micellar solutions has been investigated by Drummond and co-workers [207]. A useful model has been the pseudophase model [206-209] in which reactants are either in solution or solubilized in micelles and partition between the two as though two distinct phases were involved. In inverse micelles in nonpolar media, water is concentrated in the micellar core and reactions in the micelle may be greatly accelerated [206, 210]. The confining environment of a solubilized reactant may lead to stereochemical consequences as in photodimerization reactions in micelles [211] or vesicles [212] or in the generation of radical pairs [213]. 

The broad conclusion of all these studies is that alkyl radicals are shallow pyramids and that the barrier to inversion of the pyramidal structures is low. Radicals also are able to tolerate some geometric distortion associated with strained ring systems. 

Stereochemistry of the vinyl bromide is inconsequential due to the high rate of inversion of the intermediate vinyl radical... 

Vinyl radicals can also participate in 6-exo cyclizations. In pioneering work, Stork and his group at Columbia University showed that stereoisomeric vinyl bromides 20 and 21 (see Scheme 3) can be converted to cyclohexene 22.7 The significance of this finding is twofold first, the stereochemistry of the vinyl bromide is inconsequential since both stereoisomers converge upon the same product and second, the radical cyclization process tolerates electrophilic methoxycarbonyl groups. The observation that the stereochemistry of the vinyl bromide is inconsequential is not surprising because the barrier for inversion of most vinyl radicals is very low.8 This important feature of vinyl radical cyclization chemistry is also exemplified in the conversion of vinyl bromide 23 to tricycle 24, the key step in Stork s synthesis of norseychellanone (25) (see Scheme 4).9 As in... 

It is necessary to postulate the solvent cage because, if the radicals were completely free, the products would be about 50% RR, 25% RR, and 25% R R. This is generally not the case in most of these reactions RR is the predominant or exclusive product. An example where an Sn2 mechanism has been demonstrated (by the finding of inversion of configuration at R) is the reaction between allylic or benzylic... 

It is unlikely that a single mechanism suffices to cover all conversions of organometallic compounds to alkyl halides. In a number of cases the reaction has been shown to involve inversion of configuration (see p. 762), indicating an Se2 (back) mechanism, while in other cases retention of configuration has been shown, implicating an Se2 (front) or SeI mechanism. In still other cases, complete loss of configuration as well as other evidence have demonstrated the presence of a free-radical mechanism. ... 

A reasonable idea of the stability of the stereoisomeric trigonal vinyl cations can be gained from the behavior of vinyl anions and radicals. It is known that the interconversion between stereoisomeric vinyl anions is fairly slow, with an activation energy of the order of 18-24 kcal/mole (171). On the other hand, inversion of stereoisomeric vinyl radicals is reasonably rapid, even at fairly low temperatures, with an activation energy of the order of 2-8 kcal/mole (172). Hence, extrapolating from the electron-rich vinyl anion through the neutral vinyl radical to the electron-deficient vinyl cation, one would expect rapid interconversion between stereoisomeric vinyl cations and only a small amount (if any) of stereospecificity. To put it differently, the vinyl cation should be mostly linear with an empty p orbital and very little trigonal character. 

The last reaction commonly evoked to support the involvement of radical species 10 in tocopherol chemistry is the disproportionation of two molecules into the phenol a-tocopherol and the ort/zo-quinone methide 3 (Fig. 6.8), the latter immediately dimerizing into spiro dimer 9. This dimerization is actually a hetero-Diels-Alder process with inverse electron demand. It is largely favored, which is also reflected by the fact that spiro dimer 9 is an almost ubiquitous product and byproduct in vitamin E chemistry.28,29 The disproportionation mechanism was proposed to account for the fact that in reactions of tocopheroxyl radical 2 generated without chemical coreactants, that is, by irradiation, the spiro dimer 9 was the only major product found. 

This is, of course, the Wurtz reaction, and support for such a mechanism involving carbanions (radicals may be involved under some conditions, however) is provided by the observation that in some cases it is possible, with optically active halides, to demonstrate inversion of configuration at the carbon atom undergoing nucleophilic attack. The carbanion, e.g. (61), can also act as a base and promote elimination ... 

The problem of retention of asymmetry of the formed free radical in the fast geminate recombination of radicals was studied by photolysis of the optically active azo-compound PhMeCH—N=NCH2Ph [88,89]. The radical pair of two alkyl radicals was initiated by the photolysis of the azo-compound in benzene in the presence of 2-nitroso-2-methylpropane as a free radical acceptor. The yield of the radical pair combination product was found to be 28%. This product PhMeEtCCH2Ph was found to be composed of 31% 5,5 -(-)(double retention), 48% meso (one inversion), and 21% R.R(+) double inversion. These results were interpreted in terms of the competition between recombination (kc), diffusion (kD), and rotation (kml) of one of the optically active radicals with respect to another. The analysis of these data gave kxo[Pg.126]

The reaction of BA with isopropyl alcohol is particularly revealing. Direct irradiation of DABA in neat isopropyl alcohol gives the ether (17%) expected from the reaction of the singlet carbene, and the radical coupling products characteristic of the triplet spin state (21). The ratio of the yields of radical-derived products to ether depends inversely on the concentration of isopropyl alcohol in a benzene solution. This behavior is particularly meaningful when compared with that of FL, XA and DPM. For these... 

In this analysis, the activation barrier for both C1-C6 and C1-C5 cyclizations of enediyne radical-anions can be described as the avoided crossing between the out-of-plane and in-plane MOs (configurations). One-electron reduction populates the out-of-plane LUMO of the enediyne moiety. At the TS (the crossing), the electron is transferred between the orthogonal re-systems to the new (in-plane) LUMO. This effect leads to the accelerated cyclization of radical-anions of benzannelated enediynes, a large sensitivity of this reaction to re-conjugative effects of remote substituents and the fact that this selectivity is inverse compared to that of the Bergman cyclization. Similar electronic effects should apply to the other reductive cyclization reactions that were mentioned in the introduction. 

Single Electron Transfer A single electron transfer (SET) mechanism is often difficult to distinguish from an SN2 reaction because the principal product of these two pathways is the same, apart from the stereochemistry at carbon (race-mization instead of inversion). The radicals formed can recombine rapidly in a solvent cage (inner-sphere ET) [2, 193, 194]. The [HFe(CO)5] -catalyzed deiodina-tion of iodobenzene may serve as an example [179] (Eq. (13)). 

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