P carbon

Athene formation requires that X and Y be substituents on adjacent carbon atoms By mak mg X the reference atom and identifying the carbon attached to it as the a carbon we see that atom Y is a substituent on the p carbon Carbons succeedmgly more remote from the reference atom are designated 7 8 and so on Only p elimination reactions will be dis cussed m this chapter [Beta (p) elimination reactions are also known as i 2 eliminations ] You are already familiar with one type of p elimination having seen m Section 5 1 that ethylene and propene are prepared on an industrial scale by the high temperature dehydrogenation of ethane and propane Both reactions involve (3 elimination of H2... 

Hydrogen is lost from P carbon having the fewest attached hydrogens... 

The major product is 2 3 dimethyl 2 butene It has a tetrasubstituted double bond and IS more stable than 2 3 dimethyl 1 butene which has a disubstituted double bond The major alkene arises by loss of a hydrogen from the p carbon that has fewer attached hydrogens (C 3) rather than from the p carbon that has the greater number of hydrogens (C 1) ... 

Section 5 15 Dehydrohalogenation of alkyl halides by alkoxide bases is not compli cated by rearrangements because carbocations are not intermediates The mechanism is E2 It is a concerted process m which the base abstracts a proton from the p carbon while the bond between the halogen and the a carbon undergoes heterolytic cleavage... 

FIGURE 8 11 When a Lewis base reacts with an alkyl halide either substitution or elimination can occur Sub stitution (Sn2) occurs when the Lewis base acts as a nu cleophile and attacks carbon to displace bromide Elimi nation (E2) occurs when the Lewis base abstracts a pro ton from the p carbon The alkyl halide shown is iso propyl bromide and elimi nation (E2) predominates over substitution with alkox ide bases... 

It IS convenient to use the Greek letters a p 7 and so forth to locate the carbons m a molecule m relation to the carbonyl group The carbon atom adjacent to the carbonyl carbon is the a carbon atom the next one down the chain is the p carbon and so on Butanal for example has an a carbon a p carbon and a y carbon... 

The carbonyl group withdraws rr electron density from the double bond and both the carbonyl carbon and the p carbon are positively polarized Their greater degree of charge separation makes the dipole moments of a p unsaturated carbonyl compounds signifi cantly larger than those of comparable aldehydes and ketones... 

On the other hand the polarization of electron density map unsaturated carbonyl compounds makes their p carbon atoms rather electrophilic Some chemical conse quences of this enhanced electrophilicity are described m the following section... 

The nucleophilic portion of the reagent (Y m HY) becomes bonded to the p carbon For reactions carried out under conditions m which the attacking species is the anion Y an enolate ion precedes the enol... 

Mentally disconnect one of the bonds to the p carbon so as to identify the group that comes from the lithium dialkylcuprate... 

P carbon atom of an a 3 unsatu rated carbonyl compound is elec trophilic nucleophiles especially weakly basic ones yield the prod ucts of conjugate addition to a 3 unsaturated aldehydes and ketones... 

Stabilized anions exhibit a pronounced tendency to undergo conjugate addition to a p unsaturated carbonyl compounds This reaction called the Michael reaction has been described for anions derived from p diketones m Section 18 13 The enolates of ethyl acetoacetate and diethyl malonate also undergo Michael addition to the p carbon atom of a p unsaturated aldehydes ketones and esters For example... 

In this reaction the enolate of diethyl malonate adds to the p carbon of methyl vinyl ketone... 

The asterisk signifies an asymmetric carbon. AH of the amino acids, except glycine, have two optically active isomers designated D- or L-. Isoleucine and threonine also have centers of asymmetry at their P-carbon atoms (1,10). Protein amino acids are of the L-a-form (1,10) as illustrated in Table 1. 

Mechanism of the initial reaction, known as alkaline peeling, is shown in equation 4. EnoHzations and tautomerizations take place easily because of the contiguous hydroxyl groups. The hydroxyl or substituted hydroxyl on the second, ie, P-carbon, from a carbonyl group is released from the molecule by P-elimination. 

Photochemistry. Vinyl chloride is subject to photodissociation. Photexcitation at 193 nm results in the elimination of HCl molecules and Cl atoms in an approximately 1.1 1 ratio (69). Both vinyUdene ( B2) [2143-69-3] and acetylene have been observed as photolysis products (70), as have H2 molecules (71) and H atoms [12385-13-6] (72). HCl and vinyUdene appear to be formed via a concerted 1,1 elimination from excited vinyl chloride (70). An adiabatic recoil mechanism seems likely for Cl atom elimination (73). As expected from the relative stabiUties of the 1- and 2-chlorovinyl radicals [50663-45-1 and 57095-76-8], H atoms are preferentially produced by detachment from the P carbon (72). Finally, a migration mechanism appears to play a significant role in H2 elimination (71). 

Syn- and anti-orientations are possible and there is evidence that the anti-orientation does not favor orbital overlap such an orientation is favored with larger branched-chain substituents. A C-nmr study found that the TT-electron density on the vinyl P-carbon is lower as the reactivity of the monomer increases (20). Methyl vinyl ether exists almost entirely ia the syn-stmcture, a favorable orbital overlap situation, and MVE for this reason is less reactive to both polymerization and hydrolysis (21). 

Important synthetic paths to azirines and aziridines involve bond reorganization, or internal addition, of vinylnitrenes. Indeed, the vinylnitrene-azirine equilibrium has been demonstrated in the case of trans-2-methyl-3-phenyl-l-azirine, which at 110 °C racemizes 2000 times faster than it rearranges to 2-methylindole (80CC1252). Created in the Neber rearrangement or by decomposition of vinyl azides, the nitrene can cyclize to the p -carbon to give azirines (Scheme 4 Section 5.04.4.1). 

Tibbetts, G.G., Endo, M. and Beetz, Jr. C.P., Carbon fibers grown from the vapor phase A novel material, SAMPE, Sept., Oct., 1986, 22(5). 

The chemical reactivity of these two substituted ethylenes is in agreement with the ideas encompassed by both the MO and resonance descriptions. Enamines, as amino-substituted alkenes are called, are vety reactive toward electrophilic species, and it is the p carbon that is the site of attack. For example, enamines are protonated on the carbon. Acrolein is an electrophilic alkene, as predicted, and the nucleophile attacks the P carbon. 

Substituent constants calculated in this way are in good agreement with empirical Of values. The same system was used to calculate values by determining charge accumulation or depletion on the a and p carbons of substituted ethylenes using the 4-3IG method. 

Electrophilic additions to allenes represent an interesting reaction type which is related to additions to both alkenes and alkynes. An allene could, for example, conceivably be protonated at either a terminal s[p- carbon or the central sp carbon. 

Amino substituents on a carbon-carbon double bond enhance the nucleophilicity of the p carbon to an even greater extent flian the hydroxyl group in enols. This is because of the greater electron-donating power of nitrogen. Such compounds are called enamines. ... 

The stereochemistry of radical addition of hydrogen bromide to alkenes has been studied with both acyclic and cyclic alkenes. Anti addition is favored.This is contrary to what would be expected if the s[p- carbon of the radical were rapidly rotating or inverting with respect to the remainder of the molecule ... 

In ketones having propyl or longer alkyl groups as a carbonyl substituent, intramolecular hydrogen abstraction can be followed by either cleavage of the bond between the a and P carbon atoms or by formation of a cyclobutanol ... 

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