Oxonium ions

H3O" is strictly the oxonium ion actually, in aqueous solutions of acid this and Other solvated-proton structures exist, but they are conveniently represented as... 

The results of aetivatioii of aeyl cations led to our study of other carboxonium ions. Carboxonium ions are highly stabilized compared to alkyl cations. As their name indicates, they have both carbocationic and oxonium ion nature. 

Similar to oxonium ions, our studies of sulfonium ions also showed protosolvolytic activation in superacids to give sulfur superelectrophiles. The parent sulfonium ion (HjS ), for example, gives H4S (diprotonated hydrogen sulfide) in superacids. 

The systematic name for the conjugate acid of water (HjO" ) is oxonium ion Its com mon name is hydronium ion... 

We can extend the general principles of electrophilic addition to acid catalyzed hydration In the first step of the mechanism shown m Figure 6 9 proton transfer to 2 methylpropene forms tert butyl cation This is followed m step 2 by reaction of the car bocation with a molecule of water acting as a nucleophile The aUcyloxomum ion formed m this step is simply the conjugate acid of tert butyl alcohol Deprotonation of the alkyl oxonium ion m step 3 yields the alcohol and regenerates the acid catalyst... 

With secondary and tertiary alcohols Ihis slage is an 8 1 reaclion m which Ihe alkyl oxonium ion dissociates to a carbocalion and water... 

Step 1 Proton transfer to the oxygen of the epoxide to give an oxonium ion... 

Step 2 Nucleophilic attack by water on carbon of the oxonium ion The carbon-oxygen bond of the ring is broken in this step and the ring opens... 

Step 3 The oxonium ion formed m step 2 loses a proton to give the tetrahedral intermediate m its neutral form This step concludes the first stage m the mechanism... 

Step 3 Deprotonation of the oxonium ion to give the neutral form of the tetrahedral intermediate... 

Protonation of the carbonyl oxygen as emphasized earlier makes the carbonyl group more susceptible to nucleophilic attack A water molecule adds to the carbonyl group of the protonated ester m step 2 Loss of a proton from the resulting oxonium ion gives the neutral form of the tetrahedral intermediate m step 3 and completes the first stage of the mechanism... 

Once formed the tetrahedral intermediate can revert to starting materials by merely reversing the reactions that formed it or it can continue onward to products In the sec ond stage of ester hydrolysis the tetrahedral intermediate dissociates to an alcohol and a carboxylic acid In step 4 of Figure 20 4 protonation of the tetrahedral intermediate at Its alkoxy oxygen gives a new oxonium ion which loses a molecule of alcohol m step 5 Along with the alcohol the protonated form of the carboxylic acid arises by dissocia tion of the tetrahedral intermediate Its deprotonation m step 6 completes the process... 

Step 3 Deprotonation of oxonium ion to give neutral form of tetrahedral intermediate OH OH... 

Oxonium ion (Section 1 13) The species H30" (also called hydronium ion)... 

Polyatomic Cations. Polyatomic cations derived by addition of more protons than required to give a neutral unit to polyatomic anions are named by adding the ending -onium to the root of the name of the anion element for example, PH4, phosphonium ion HjU, iodonium ion H3O+, oxonium ion CH3OHJ, methyl oxonium ion. 

Cationic ring-opening polymerization is the only polymerization mechanism available to tetrahydrofuran (5,6,8). The propagating species is a tertiary oxonium ion associated with a negatively charged counterion ... 

It is possible to balance all of these thermodynamic, kinetic, and mechanistic considerations and to prepare well-defined PTHF. Living oxonium ion polymerizations, ie, polymerizations that are free from transfer and termination reactions, are possible. PTHF of any desired molecular weight and with controlled end groups can be prepared. 

Initia.tlon. The basic requirement for polymerization is that a THF tertiary oxonium ion must be formed by some mechanism. If a suitable counterion is present, polymerization follows. The requisite tertiary oxonium ion can be formed in any of several ways. 

Often the requisite THF oxonium ion is generated m situ by using a combination of reagents based on the Meerwein syntheses of trialkyl oxonium salts (150). These combinations include epichlorohydrin or a reactive haUde with a Lewis acid, a reactive hahde with a metal salt, or sometimes just a Lewis acid alone. The epoxide portion is often referred to as a promoter. 

A protonic acid derived from a suitable or desired anion would seem to be an ideal initiator, especially if the desired end product is a poly(tetramethylene oxide) glycol. There are, however, a number of drawbacks. The protonated THF, ie, the secondary oxonium ion, is less reactive than the propagating tertiary oxonium ion. This results in a slow initiation process. Also, in the case of several of the readily available acids, eg, CF SO H, FSO H, HCIO4, and H2SO4, there is an ion—ester equiUbrium with the counterion, which further reduces the concentration of the much more reactive ionic species. The reaction is illustrated for CF SO counterion as follows ... 

Propa.ga.tlon, The tertiary THF oxonium ion undergoes propagation by an S. mechanism as a result of a bimolecular colHsion with THF monomer. Only colHsions at the ring a-carbon atoms of the oxonium ion result in chain growth. Depropagation results from an intramolecular nucleophilic attack of the penultimate chain oxygen atom at the exocycHc a-carbon atom of the oxonium ion, followed by expulsion of a monomer molecule. 

Studies have shown that, in marked contrast to carbanionic polymerisation, the reactivity of the free oxonium ion is of the same order of magnitude as that of its ion pair with the counterion (6). On the other hand, in the case of those counterions that can undergo an equiUbrium with the corresponding covalent ester species, the reactivity of the ionic species is so much greater than that of the ester that chain growth by external attack of monomer on covalent ester makes a negligible contribution to the polymerisation process. The relative concentration of the two species depends on the dielectric constant of the polymerisation medium, ie, on the choice of solvent. 

For counterions that can form esters with the growing oxonium ions, the kinetics of propagation are dominated by the rate of propagation of the macroions. For any given counterion, the proportion of macroions compared to macroesters varies with the solvent—monomer mixture and must be deterrnined independentiy before a kinetic analysis can be made. The macroesters can be considered to be in a state of temporary termination. When the proportion of macroions is known and initiation is sufftcientiy fast, equation 2 is satisfied. 

Donation of a proton to the reactant often forms a carbenium ion or an oxonium ion, which then reacts ia the catalytic cycle. For example, a catalytic cycle suggested for the conversion of phenol and acetone iato bisphenol A, which is an important monomer used to manufacture epoxy resias and polycarbonates, ia an aqueous mineral acid solution is shown ia Figure 1 (10). 

The protonated azirine system has also been utilized for the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds (67JA44S6). Thus, treatment of (199) with anhydrous perchloric acid and acetone or acetonitrile gave the oxazolinium perchlorate (207) and the imidazolinium perchlorate (209), respectively. The mechanism of these reactions involves 1,3-bond cleavage of the protonated azirine and reaction with the carbonyl group (or nitrile) to produce a resonance-stabilized carbonium-oxonium ion (or carbonium-nitrilium ion), followed by attack of the nitrogen unshared pair jf electrons to complete the cyclization. 

Typical Lewis acids like BF3 and SbCls coordinate with oxirane oxygen to give (presumably) a cyclic oxonium ion (41) which reacts further (Scheme 28) (64HC 19-1)446, B-67MI50505). 

These give the products expected from electrophilic attack on oxygen by the electrophilic reagent atom, followed by nucleophilic opening of the cyclic oxonium ion (e.g. 42 Scheme 29) <64HC(19-1)436). 

Entry 4 shows that reaction of a secondary 2-octyl system with the moderately good nucleophile acetate ion occurs wifii complete inversion. The results cited in entry 5 serve to illustrate the importance of solvation of ion-pair intermediates in reactions of secondary substrates. The data show fiiat partial racemization occurs in aqueous dioxane but that an added nucleophile (azide ion) results in complete inversion, both in the product resulting from reaction with azide ion and in the alcohol resulting from reaction with water. The alcohol of retained configuration is attributed to an intermediate oxonium ion resulting from reaction of the ion pair with the dioxane solvent. This would react until water to give product of retained configuratioiL When azide ion is present, dioxane does not efiTectively conqiete for tiie ion-p intermediate, and all of the alcohol arises from tiie inversion mechanism. ... 

When the reaction is performed in dioxane solution, an o onium ion is formed from the solvent and the chlorosulfite ester. The oxonium ion then undergoes substitution by chloride. l vo inversioRs are involved so that tiie result is overall retention. ... 

The huge difReretice in rate that results fhun the alternative placement of oxygen in the eight-membered rmgs reflects the relative stability of the various oxonium ions that result fiom pairicipariaQ. The ion 16 is much mote favorable than 14 or 15. 

---