Polyene cations

In addition it is probable that each absorbance has a shoulder on the short wavelength side of the maximum. Application of Sorenson s data would associate the peaks at 590, 660, 730 and 790 nm with ions derived from pentaenes, hexaenes, heptaenes and octaenes respectively and interconversion of A qq to A660 A,q t0 A730 so on corresPonds to an increase In the length of tne ions by one unit in each case. Wasseiman (41) has also studied polyenic cations derived by protonation oF various polyenes but the reliability of his spectral data has been questioned (40) due to the high reactivity of the species concerned. 

Jones et al. [144,214] used direct dynamics with semiempirical electronic wave functions to study electron transfer in cyclic polyene radical cations. Semiempirical methods have the advantage that they are cheap, and so a number of trajectories can be run for up to 50 atoms. Accuracy is of course sacrificed in comparison to CASSCF techniques, but for many organic molecules semiempirical methods are known to perform adequately. 

It has been proposed to designate polymethine cations (9a) in an electron-deficient (N — 1) form, and anion (9b) in an electron-excessive (N + 1) form (17). As a rule, typical PMDs have only one stable form, in contrast to related polyenes with the same terminal residues which have two or even three relatively stable forms (17,18). 

Other, removable cation-stabilizing auxiliaries have been investigated for polyene cyclizations. For example, a sdyl-assisted carbocation cyclization has been used in an efficient total synthesis of lanosterol. The key step, treatment of (257) with methyl aluminum chloride in methylene chloride at —78° C, followed by acylation and chromatographic separation, affords (258) in 55% yield (two steps). When this cyclization was attempted on similar compounds that did not contain the C7P-silicon substituent, no tetracycHc products were observed. Steroid (258) is converted to lanosterol (77) in three additional chemical steps (225). 

Allyl (27, 60, 119-125) and benzyl (26, 27, 60, 121, 125-133) radicals have been studied intensively. Other theoretical studies have concerned pentadienyl (60,124), triphenylmethyl-type radicals (27), odd polyenes and odd a,w-diphenylpolyenes (60), radicals of the benzyl and phenalenyl types (60), cyclohexadienyl and a-hydronaphthyl (134), radical ions of nonalternant hydrocarbons (11, 135), radical anions derived from nitroso- and nitrobenzene, benzonitrile, and four polycyanobenzenes (10), anilino and phenoxyl radicals (130), tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine radical cation (56), tetracyanoquinodi-methane radical anion (62), perfluoro-2,l,3-benzoselenadiazole radical anion (136), 0-protonated neutral aromatic ketyl radicals (137), benzene cation (138), benzene anion (139-141), paracyclophane radical anion (141), sulfur-containing conjugated radicals (142), nitrogen-containing violenes (143), and p-semi-quinones (17, 144, 145). Some representative results are presented in Figure 12. 

In the carotenoid radicals, the unpaired electron is highly delocalized over the conjugated polyene chromophore. This has a stabilizing effect and also allows subsequent reactions. The cation and anion radicals can be detected by their characteristic spectral properties, with intense absorption in the near-infrared region. 

Polyene Cyclization. Perhaps the most synthetically useful of the carbo-cation alkylation reactions is the cyclization of polyenes having two or more double bonds positioned in such a way that successive bond-forming steps can occur. This process, called polyene cyclization, has proven to be an effective way of making polycyclic compounds containing six-membered and, in some cases, five-membered rings. The reaction proceeds through an electrophilic attack and requires that the double bonds that participate in the cyclization be properly positioned. For example, compound 1 is converted quantitatively to 2 on treatment with formic acid. The reaction is initiated by protonation and ionization of the allylic alcohol and is terminated by nucleophilic capture of the cyclized secondary carbocation. 

Polyene cyclizations are of substantial value in the synthesis of polycyclic terpene natural products. These syntheses resemble the processes by which the polycyclic compounds are assembled in nature. The most dramatic example of biosynthesis of a polycyclic skeleton from a polyene intermediate is the conversion of squalene oxide to the steroid lanosterol. In the biological reaction, an enzyme not only to induces the cationic cyclization but also holds the substrate in a conformation corresponding to stereochemistry of the polycyclic product.17 In this case, the cyclization is terminated by a series of rearrangements. 

Scheme 10.1 gives some representative examples of laboratory syntheses involving polyene cyclization. The cyclization in Entry 1 is done in anhydrous formic acid and involves the formation of a symmetric tertiary allylic carbocation. The cyclization forms a six-membered ring by attack at the terminal carbon of the vinyl group. The bicyclic cation is captured as the formate ester. Entry 2 also involves initiation by a symmetric allylic cation. In this case, the triene unit cyclizes to a tricyclic ring system. Entry 3 results in the formation of the steroidal skeleton with termination by capture of the alkynyl group and formation of a ketone. The cyclization in Entry 4 is initiated by epoxide opening. 

The 327-670 GHz EPR spectra of canthaxanthin radical cation were resolved into two principal components of the g-tensor (Konovalova et al. 1999). Spectral simulations indicated this to be the result of g-anisotropy where gn=2.0032 and gi=2.0023. This type of g-tensor is consistent with the theory for polyacene rc-radical cations (Stone 1964), which states that the difference gxx gyy decreases with increasing chain length. When gxx-gyy approaches zero, the g-tensor becomes cylindrically symmetrical with gxx=gyy=g and gzz=gn. The cylindrical symmetry for the all-trans carotenoids is not surprising because these molecules are long straight chain polyenes. This also demonstrates that the symmetrical unresolved EPR line at 9 GHz is due to a carotenoid Jt-radical cation with electron density distributed throughout the whole chain of double bonds as predicted by RHF-INDO/SP molecular orbital calculations. The lack of temperature... 

Deng, Y., G. Gao et al. (2000). Effects of polyene chain length and acceptor substituents on the stability of carotenoid radical cations. J. Phys. Chem. B 104 5651-5656. 

These results emphasise the important role played by HC1 not only as a catalyst for the dehydrochlorination process but in influencing the distribution of polyene sequences which result from the primary part of the degradation process and the photochemical cross-linking reactions of the polyenylic cations. 

Some excellent examples of cationic polycyclizations, especially in the field of steroid synthesis, were described in Chapter 1. However, these polycyclizations can also be performed using a radical as initiator. Such reactions can be divided into those based on serial 6-mdo-trig cyclizations from polyene acyl precursors [92], radi-... 

The mere exposure of diphenyl-polyenes (DPP) to medium pore acidic ZSM-5 was found to induce spontaneous ionization with radical cation formation and subsequent charge transfer to stabilize electron-hole pair. Diffuse reflectance UV-visible absorption and EPR spectroscopies provide evidence of the sorption process and point out charge separation with ultra stable electron hole pair formation. The tight fit between DPP and zeolite pore size combined with efficient polarizing effect of proton and aluminium electron trapping sites appear to be the most important factors responsible for the stabilization of charge separated state that hinder efficiently the charge recombination. 

Electronic structure of diene and polyene radical cations... 

We are aware that our review is by no means complete, the topic of diene and polyene radical cations having ramifications into such diverse fields as biology or interstellar chemistry. In the following we shall first discuss the photoelectron spectra of dienes... 

It should be mentioned that the present review does not cover in detail the ground-state electronic and/or molecular structure of diene and polyene radical cations as revealed, for example, by electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy or variants thereof. 

The primary process taking place in a PE spectrometer is best viewed as a reaction in which a closed-shell diene or polyene M in its electronic (singlet) ground state 1 >Po reacts with a photon of energy hv to yield a radical cation M+ in one of its electronic doublet states 2excess energy kinj ... 

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