Mesomerism

There are phenomena such as mesomerism or resonance that cannot be described in terms of our graph theoretical model of a molecule. The reason is that it is no longer possible to associate a unique and integral multiplicity to a covalent bond in aromatic structures. Instead, we introduce several resonance structures in order to represent aromatic compounds. Such structures are not generally isomorphic in the sense of Definition 1.17. 

21 Example (Derivatives of benzene) A very simple example of an aromatic compound is benzene  

The two dichlorobenzenes shown below eire chemically identical, but eire not isomorphic if we use a multigraph model that does not consider aromaticity. 

aromatic duplicates are possible when running a molecule generator. 

Such duplicates should be avoided to keep search and answer spaces as small as possible. Thus, the duplicate structures must be detected during structure generation and removed. In addition, it is important to describe chemical compounds as precisely eis possible e.g. during the search for QSPRs. In fact, there are molecular descriptors that 

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The term resonance has also been applied in valency. The general idea of resonance in this sense is that if the valency electrons in a molecule are capable of several alternative arrangements which differ by only a small amount in energy and have no geometrical differences, then the actual arrangement will be a hybrid of these various alternatives. See mesomerism. The stabilization of such a system over the non-resonating forms is the resonance energy. 

The underlying principle of the PEOE method is that the electronic polarization within the tr-bond skeleton as measured by the inductive effect is attenuated with each intervening o -bond. The electronic polarization within /r-bond systems as measured by the resonance or mesomeric effect, on the other hand, extends across an entire nr-system without any attenuation. The simple model of an electron in a box expresses this fact. Thus, in calculating the charge distribution in conjugated i -systems an approach different from the PEOE method has to be taken. 

Dissolve a few drops of nitromethane in 10% sodium hydroxide solution. Add a few crystals of sodium nitrite and shake. Now add dilute sulphuric acid drop by drop. A brownish-red coloration develops, but fades again when an excess of acid is added. The sulphuric acid has thus liberated nitrous acid, which has in turn reacted with the nitromethane to give a nitrolic acid, the sodium salt of which is CH3NO2 + ONOH = CH(N02) N0H + HgO reddish-brown in colour, probably owing to mesomeric ions of the type ... 

The first step is the interaction of the basic catalyst with the ester to produce the carbanion (I) the carbanion so formed then attacks the carbonyl carbon of a second molecule of ester to produce the anion (II), which is converted to ethyl acetoacetate (II) by the ejection of an ethoxide ion. Finally (III) reacts with ethoxide ion to produce acetoacetic ester anion (IV). This and other anions are mesomeric thus (IV) may be written ... 

It may be pointed out that C-alkylation of ethyl acetoacetate is readily aooount for by the mesomeric nature of the carbanion (IV), as will be evident from the following ... 

CjHsOOC)—CH—COOCjHj (I) + HOC Hj The carbanion (I) is a resonance hybrid (mesomeric anion) to which there are contributions carrying the negative charge on either carbon or oxygen ... 

The sodiocompound may be written [CHtCOOCjHjij] Na, and it must always be home in mind that the anion is mesomeric. The system reacts smoothly with an alkyl halide to give a C-substituted malonic ester, evidently through the carbanion (I) ... 

The monosubstituted malonic ester still possesses an activated hydrogen atom in its CH group it can be converted into a sodio derivative (the anion is likewise mesomeric) and this caused to react with an alkyl halide to give a C-disubstituted malonic ester. The procedure may accordingly be employed for the synthesis of dialkyImalonic and dialkylacetic acids ... 

This qualitative theory still provides the most widely used means for describing reactions in organic chemistry. Two principal modes of electronic interaction in organic molecules are recognised the inductive and mesomeric effects. 

In unsaturated molecules electronic effects can be transmitted by mesomerism as well as by inductive effects. As with the latter, the mesomeric properties of a group are described by reference to hydrogen. Groups which release electrons to the unsaturated residue of the molecule are said to exert a +Af effect, whereas groups which attract electrons are said to exert a —Af effect. In aromatic structures the important feature of an M-substituent is that it influences the 0- and p-positions selectively. 

The best-known equation of the type mentioned is, of course, Hammett s equation. It correlates, with considerable precision, rate and equilibrium constants for a large number of reactions occurring in the side chains of m- and p-substituted aromatic compounds, but fails badly for electrophilic substitution into the aromatic ring (except at wi-positions) and for certain reactions in side chains in which there is considerable mesomeric interaction between the side chain and the ring during the course of reaction. This failure arises because Hammett s original model reaction (the ionization of substituted benzoic acids) does not take account of the direct resonance interactions between a substituent and the site of reaction. This sort of interaction in the electrophilic substitutions of anisole is depicted in the following resonance structures, which show the transition state to be stabilized by direct resonance with the substituent ... 

The greater reactivity of the 5-position of selenazoles, compared to thiazoles, toward electrophilic substitution has also been demonstrated (19). Substituents in the 2-position possessing a mesomeric donor effect increase the reactivity, but, as Haginiwa (19) observed, also increase the tendancy to ring Opening,... 

The mechanism of the reaction can be interpreted as involving a mesomeric effect of the 2-hydrazone group that leads to a negative charge on the 5-carbon (Scheme 46). 

Mechanistically, the reaction results from the mesomeric donor effect of the 2-hydrazino group. The coupling between the two molecules takes place in the 5-position (Scheme 48). 

May be used for disubstituted, polyheterocyclic, and polynuclear systems if deviations due to steric and mesomeric effects are allowed for. 

The 3-, 4-, 5- and 6-positions in the pyridazine nucleus are electron deficient due to the negative mesomeric effect of the nitrogen atoms. Therefore, electrophilic substitution in pyridazines is difficult even in the presence of one or two electron-donating groups. The first reported example is nitration of 4-amino-3,6-dimethoxypyridazine to yield the corresponding 5-nitro derivative. Nitration of 3-methoxy-5-methylpyridazine gives the 6-nitro-,... 

Ring substituents show enhanced reactivity towards nucleophilic substitution, relative to the unoxidized systems, with substituents a to the fV-oxide showing greater reactivity than those in the /3-position. In the case of quinoxalines and phenazines the degree of labilization of a given substituent is dependent on whether the intermediate addition complex is stabilized by mesomeric interactions and this is easily predicted from valence bond considerations. 2-Chloropyrazine 1-oxide is readily converted into 2-hydroxypyrazine 1-oxide (l-hydroxy-2(l//)-pyrazinone) (55) on treatment with dilute aqueous sodium hydroxide (63G339), whereas both 2,3-dichloropyrazine and 3-chloropyrazine 1-oxide are stable under these conditions. This reaction is of particular importance in the preparation of pyrazine-based hydroxamic acids which have antibiotic properties. 

As might be anticipated from the behaviour of the parent heterocycles, C-2 of indole, benzo[i]furan and benzo[i]thiophene (Table 13) is shifted to lower field than C-3. However, the shifts for C-2 (O, 144.8 Se, 128.8 S, 126.1 NH, 124.7 Te, 120.8) and C-7a (O, 155.0 Se, 141.3 S, 139.6 NH, 135.7 Te, 133.0) in the benzo[i] heterocycles vary irregularly (80OMR(l3)3l9), and the sequence is different to that observed for C-2 in the parent heterocycles, namely 0>Se>Te>S>NH. Also noteworthy is the upheld position of C-7, especially in indole and benzofuran, relative to the other benzenoid carbons at positions 4, 5 and 6. A similar situation pertains in the dibenzo heterocycles (Table 14), where not only are C-1 and C-8 shifted upheld in carbazole and dibenzofuran relative to the corresponding carbons in dibenzothiophene and fluorene, but similar, though smaller, shifts can be discerned for C-3 and C-6 in the former compounds. These carbon atoms are of course ortho and para to the heteroatom and the shifts reflect its mesomeric properties. Little variation in the carbon-hydrogen coupling constants is observed for these dibenzo compounds with V(qh) = 158-165 and V(c,h) = 6-8 Hz. 

The mesomeric dipole moment, /Lim, which is the difference between the measured values for the heteroaromatic and its fully saturated analogue (c/. Table 1), has been proposed as... 

The high reactivity of pyrroles to electrophiles is similar to that of arylamines and is a reflection of the mesomeric release of electrons from nitrogen to ring carbons. Reactions with electrophilic reagents may result in addition rather than substitution. Thus furan reacts with acetyl nitrate to give a 2,5-adduct (33) and in a similar fashion an adduct (34) is obtained from the reaction of ethyl vinyl ether with hydrogen bromide. 

Annular tautomerism (e.g. 133 134) involves the movement of a proton between two annular nitrogen atoms. For unsubstituted imidazole (133 R = H) and pyrazole (135 R = H) the two tautomers are identical, but this does not apply to substituted derivatives. For triazoles and tetrazoles, even the unsubstituted parent compounds show two distinct tautomers. Flowever, interconversion occurs readily and such tautomers cannot be separated. Sometimes one tautomeric form predominates. Thus the mesomerism of the benzene ring is greater in (136) than in (137), and UV spectral comparisons show that benzotriazole exists predominantly as (136). 

The removal of a hydrogen atom from a heterocyclic nitrogen atom of azolones by nucleophiles acting as bases, e.g. (14) (15), gives mesomeric anions, e.g. (15) <-> (16) <->... 

In addition to reaction sequences of type (66) -> (67), electrophilic reagents can attack at either one of the ring nitrogen atoms in the mesomeric anions formed by proton loss e.g. 70 71 or 72 see Section 4.02.1.3.6). Here we have an ambident anion, and for unsymmetrical cases the composition of the reaction product (71) + (72) is dictated by steric and electronic factors. 

Mesomeric shifts of the types shown in structures (82) and (83) increase the electron density on the nitrogen atom and facilitate reaction with electrophilic reagents. However, the heteroatom Z also has an adverse inductive effect the pK, of NH2OH is 6.0 and that of N2H4 is 8.0, both considerably lower than that of NH3 which is 9.5. 

The basicities of the parent azole systems in water are shown in Table 1. When both heteroatoms are nitrogen, the mesomeric effect predominates when the heteroatoms are in the 1,3-positions, whereas the inductive effect predominates when they are in the 1,2-positions. The predominance of the mesomeric effect is illustrated by the pK value of imidazole (82 Z = NH), which is 7.0, whereas that of pyrazole (83 Z = NH) is 2.5 cf. pyridine, 5.2). An fV-methyl group is base-strengthening in imidazole, but base-weakening in pyrazole, probably because of steric hindrance to hydration. When the second heteroatom is oxygen or sulfur the inductive, base-weakening effect increases the pK of thiazole (82 Z = S) is 3.5 and that of isoxazole (83 Z = 0) is 1.3. 

Azolinones are weak to medium strong acids of pK 4-11. They form mesomeric anions which react very readily with electrophilic reagents at the nitrogen, oxygen or carbon atoms, depending on the conditions see Section 4.02.1.1.4. 

If the reactions of the same substituents on heteroaromatic azoles and on benzene rings are compared, the differences in the reactivities are a measure of the heteroatoms influence. Such influence by the mesomeric effect is smaller when the substituent is /3 to a heteroatom than when it is a or y. The influence by the inductive effect is largest when the substituent is a to a heteroatom. 

Hydroxy-imidazoles, -oxazoles and -thiazoles (484 Z = NR, O, S) can isomerize to 2-azolinones (485a). These compounds all exist predominantly in the azolinone form and show many reactions similar to those of the pyridones. They are mesomeric with zwitterionic and carbonyl canonical forms e.g. 485a 485b Z = NR, O, S). 

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