Phenonium ion

A system in which the details of aromatic m-electron participation have been thoroughly probed is the case of the phenonium ions, the species resulting from participation by a fi-pbenyl group. 

Several phenonium ions have been prepared as stable ions in solution where they can be studied by NMR, among them are 45, 46,and the unsubstituted 44. These were prepared by the method shown for 44 treatment of the corresponding P-arylethyl chloride with SbFs—SO2 at low temperatures. These conditions are even more extreme than the solvolysis in... 

When an ortho-para directing group is on a ring, it is usually difficult to predict how much of the product will be the ortho isomer and how much the para isomer. Indeed, these proportions can depend greatly on the reaction conditions. For example, chlorination of toluene gives an ortho/para ratio anywhere from 62/38 to 34/66. Nevertheless, certain points can be made. On a purely statistical basis there would be 67% ortho and 33% para, since there are two ortho positions and only one para. However, the phenonium ion (9), which arises from protonation of benzene, has the... 

Scheme 12.15 gives some examples of both acid-catalyzed and nucleophilic ring openings of epoxides. Entries 1 and 2 are cases in which epoxidation and solvolysis are carried out without isolation of the epoxide. Both cases also illustrate the preference for anti stereochemistry. The regioselectivity in Entry 3 is indicative of dominant bond cleavage in the TS. The reaction in Entry 4 was studied in a number of solvents. The product results from net syn addition as a result of phenonium ion participation. The ds-epoxide also gives mainly the syn product, presumably via isomerization to the... 

Rappoport, Z. Kobayashi, S. Stanger, A. Boese, R. Crystal structure of l,2-diphenyl-5,7-di-/er/-butylspiro[2.5]octa-l,4,7-trien-6-one, a possible model for diphenylvinylidene-phenonium ions. J. Org. Chem. 1999, 64, 4370-4375. 

Zimmerman et al.(i2y pointed out that the bridged phenonium ion from (48) is more stable (lower energy route) than is the phenonium ion from (47), while the phenonium ions from (49) and (50) should be of about equal stability. An alternate explanation has been proposed by Kropp,a) who suggests that preferred migration to the position adjacent to the electron-rich oxygen in aprotic solvents arises from a preferred minimization of charge separation in in the dipolar species. 

Such species with a bridging phenyl group are known as phenonium ions. The neighbouring group effect is even more pronounced with an OH rather than an OMe substituent in the p-position. Solvolysis is found to occur % 106 times more rapidly under comparable conditions, and matters can be so arranged as to make possible the isolation of a bridged intermediate (5), albeit not now a carbocation ... 

Support for the suggestion that Fig. 13.6 involves a change in actual reaction pathway is provided by acetolysis of the threo diastereoisomer (31) of the brosylate. Acetolysis leads to two different distinguishable, diastereoisomers whose relative proportion will depend on how much of the total reaction proceeds by external nucleophilic attack via the SN2 pathway (erythro product, 32), and how much by internal nucleophilic attack via a cyclic phenonium ion intermediate (threo product, 33) ... 

The thermodynamic stabilities of phenonium ions relative to the parent have been determined in the gas phase by measuring the position of the equilibrium between (46) and (47)7 The results followed a Yukawa-Tsuno relationship with a p value of -12.6 and an r+ value of 0.62, the general behaviour being more like benzenium ions than benzyl cations, with tt-delocalization less effective than in benzyl cations. A theoretical study of the elimination of molecular H2 from the benzenium ion C6H7+ shows that the barrier to this process appears to be very small.The gas-phase Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction of CF3C6L6+ (L = H or D) with C2L4 is accompanied by isotopic scrambling, which has been used to elucidate the mechanism of this process. A theoretical calculation shows that the lifetime of triplet phenyl cation must be very short. ... 

The study of lactonization via an intermediate phenonium ion has been further pursued for several methyl 4-aryl-5-tosylhexanoates (55) as substrates. The intermediate phenonium ion (56) has two possibilities for ring closure, yielding products (57) or (58). In all the substrates, Ar contained one or two methoxy groups and sometimes also a methyl group. The effects of reaction medium, temperature, and time on the product ratios were examined. It was concluded that substrates (55) give y-lactone (57) selectively under thermodynamic conditions, but 5-lactone (58) under kinetic conditions. Substituents in Ar influence the selectivity through their electronic effects. 

The thermodynamic stabilities of phenonium ions have been determined based on bromide-transfer equilibria in the gas phase and, depending on the substituents, the bridged species (1) has been proposed as an intermediate or transition state on the potential-energy surface for the 1,2-aryl rearrangement of triarylvinyl cations (see Scheme 1). Phenonium ion (3) has been presented as an intermediate to account for the fact that lactonization of methyl 4-aryl-5-tosyloxy hexanoate (2) produces y-lactone (4) selectively under thermodynamic conditions, but affords 5-lactone (5) preferentially under kinetic conditions. It has been shown that anodic oxidation of frany-stilbene in alcohols in the presence of KF or BU4NBF4 is accompanied by its electro-oxidative rearrangement into diphenylacetaldehyde acetals. The mechanism outlined in Scheme 2 has been proposed" for the transformation. 

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