Mobius type inversion

The transition state in suprafacial attack is designated as of Huckel type in which no sign inversion of the cycle has taken place. The other type of migration involves one sign inversion. This is called mobius type inversion. The Huckel type of inversion occurs when the total number of electrons is 2, 6,. .., (4n + 2). This is also called aromatic transition state. In mobius type the participating electrons is 4, 8,. .. i.e. An. 

Electrocyclic reactions are examples of cases where n-electron bonds transform to sigma ones [32,49,55]. A prototype is the cyclization of butadiene to cyclobutene (Fig. 8, lower panel). In this four electron system, phase inversion occurs if no new nodes are formed along the reaction coordinate. Therefore, when the ring closure is disrotatory, the system is Hiickel type, and the reaction a phase-inverting one. If, however, the motion is conrotatory, a new node is formed along the reaction coordinate just as in the HC1 + H system. The reaction is now Mobius type, and phase preserving. This result, which is in line with the Woodward-Hoffmann rules and with Zimmerman s Mobius-Hiickel model [20], was obtained without consideration of nuclear symmetry. This conclusion was previously reached by Goddard [22,39]. 

The Mobius-Huckel concept was introduced by Zimmerman in 1966 35). It was suggested that each cyclic array of orbitals in a reacting system may be categorized as a Hiickel type or a Mobius type , depending on the number of plus-minus overlaps between adjacent orbitals. With zero or an even number of such sign inversions, the system is a Hiickel variety array while with one or some other odd number the system is a Mobius system. 

The An cyclononatetraenyl cation was studied by Anastassiou and Yakali via the treatment of deuterium-labeled 9-chlorocyclononatetraene with liquid SO2 (an ionizing solvent), and they found that the deuterium became statistically distributed, presumably via the cation. They wondered why this An system could be so easily formed and proposed a helical geometry. Subsequent calculations by Schley-er et al. found that the lowest energy conformation of the ion did have a structure of this type, which leads to a Mobius 7r-electron system in which there is one inversion of phase. Compounds of this type were predicted by Heilbronner to have aromatic character, and the NICS value for this ion is in accord with this expectation. Calculations for other conformations of this ion have been reported. ... 

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