Pyrrole orbitals

In pyrrole on the other hand the unshared pair belonging to nitrogen must be added to the four tt electrons of the two double bonds m order to meet the six tt elec tron requirement As shown m Figure 11 166 the nitrogen of pyrrole is sp hybridized and the pair of electrons occupies a p orbital where both electrons can participate m the aromatic tt system... 

FIGURE 1116 (a) Pyridine has six tt electrons plus an unshared pair in a nitrogen sp orbital (b) Pyrrole has six tt electrons (c) Furan has six tt electrons plus an unshared pair in an oxygen sp orbital which is perpendicular to the tt system and does not interact with it... 

The oxygen m furan has two unshared electron pairs (Figure 11 16c) One pair is like the pair m pyrrole occupying a p orbital and contributing two electrons to complete the SIX TT electron requirement for aromatic stabilization The other electron pair m furan IS an extra pair not needed to satisfy the 4n + 2 rule for aromaticity and occupies an sp hybridized orbital like the unshared pair m pyridine The bonding m thiophene is similar to that of furan... 

Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution. The Tt-excessive character of the pyrrole ring makes the indole ring susceptible to electrophilic attack. The reactivity is greater at the 3-position than at the 2-position. This reactivity pattern is suggested both by electron density distributions calculated by molecular orbital methods and by the relative energies of the intermediates for electrophilic substitution, as represented by the protonated stmctures (7a) and (7b). Stmcture (7b) is more favorable than (7a) because it retains the ben2enoid character of the carbocycHc ring (12). 

Molecular orbital Pyrrole Furan Thiophene Selenophene Tellurophene... 

Frontier orbital theory predicts that electrophilic substitution of pyrroles with soft electrophiles will be frontier controlled and occur at the 2-position, whereas electrophilic substitution with hard electrophiles will be charge controlled and occur at the 3-position. These predictions may be illustrated by the substitution behaviour of 1-benzenesulfonylpyr-role. Nitration and Friedel-Crafts acylation of this substrate occurs at the 3-position, whereas the softer electrophiles generated in the Mannich reaction (R2N=CH2), in formylation under Vilsmeier conditions (R2N=CHC1) or in formylation with dichloromethyl methyl ether and aluminum chloride (MeO=CHCl) effect substitution mainly in the 2-position (81TL4899, 81TL4901). Formylation of 2-methoxycarbonyl-l-methylpyrrole with... 

The reaetivity order is pyrrole > fiiran > thiophene, which indicates that electron-donating capacity decreases in the order N > O > The order N > O is as expected on the basis of electronegativity, and O > S probably reflects the better overlap of the oxygen 2p orbital, as compared to the sulfur ip orbital, with the carbon 2p orbitals of the ring. 

Examine pyrrole s highest-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) to see if your can predict the most favorable protonation site. Which of the pyrrole s conjugate acids (N protonated, C2 proto noted, C3 proto noted pyrrole) is lowest in energy Examine electrostatic potential maps to see if the lowest-energy form is also that in which the positive charged is best delocalized. Rationalize your result using resonance arguments. What should be the favored substitution product ... 

In addition to electrophilic attack on the pyrrole ring in indole, there is the possibility for additions to the fused benzene ring. First examine the highest-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of indole. Which atoms contribute the most What should be the favored position for electrophilic attack Next, compare the energies of the various protonated forms of indole (C protonated only). These serve as models for adducts formed upon electrophilic addition. Which carbon on the pyrrole ring (C2 or C3) is favored for protonation Is this the same as the preference in pyrrole itself (see Chapter 15, Problem 2)1 If not, try to explain why not. Which of the carbons on the benzene ring is most susceptible to protonation Rationalize your result based on what you know about the reactivity of substituted benzenes toward electrophiles. Are any of the benzene carbons as reactive as the most reactive pyrrole carbon Explain. 

Pyrrole (two r s, one /) and imidazole are /ive-membered heterocycles, yet both have six tt electrons and are aromatic. In pyrrole, each of the four. sp2-hybridized carbons contributes one tt electron, and the sp2-hybridized nitrogen atom contributes the two from its lone pair, which occupies a p orbital (Figure 15.9). Imidazole, also shown in Figure 15.9, is an analog of pyrrole that has two nitrogen atoms in a five-membered, unsaturated ring. Both nitrogens are sp2-hybridized, but one is in a double bond and contributes only one electron to the aromatic tt system, while the other is not in a double bond and contributes two from its lone pair. 

Figure 15.9 Pyrrole and imidazole are five-membered, nitrogen-containing heterocycles but have six tt electron arrangements, much like that of the cyclopentadienyl anion. Both have a lone pair of electrons on nitrogen in a p orbital perpendicular to the ring.

Thiophene is the sulfur analog of pyrrole. The sulfur atom is sp2-hybridized and lias a lone pair of electrons in a p orbital perpendicular to the plane of the ring. Sulfur also has a second lone pair of electrons in the ring plane. 

Indole is an aromatic heterocycle that has a benzene ring fused to a pyrrole ring. Draw an orbital picture of indole. 

Purine has three basic, pyridine-like nitrogens with lone-pair electrons in sp2 orbitals in the plane of the ring. The remaining purine nitrogen is nonbasic and pyrrole-like, with its lone-pair electrons as part of the aromatic i- electron system. 

Pentadienyl radical, 240 Perturbation theory, 11, 46 Propane, 16, 165 n-Propyi anion conformation, 34 n-Propyl cation, 48, 163 rotational barrier, 34 Propylene, 16, 139 Protonated methane, 72 Pyrazine, 266 orbital ordering, 30 through-bond interactions, 27 Pyridine, 263 Pyrrole, 231... 

Furan, Thiophene, Pyrrole.—The calculations for this case, with five orbitals and six electrons, show that when St( = <56)... 

Aromatic sextets can also be present in five- and seven-membered rings. If a five-membered ring has two double bonds and the fifth atom possesses an unshared pair of electrons, the ring has five p orbitals that can overlap to create five new orbitals— three bonding and two antibonding (Fig. 2.6). There are six electrons for these orbitals the four p orbitals of the double bonds each contribute one and the filled orbital contributes the other two. The six electrons occupy the bonding orbitals and constitute an aromatic sextet. The heterocyclic compounds pyrrole, thiophene, and... 

FIGURE 2.6 Overlap of five p orbitals in molecules such as pyrrole, thiophene, and the cyclopentadienide ion. 

Pyrrole (68) also has 6n electrons in delocalised n orbitals, but here the nitrogen atom has to contribute two electrons to make up the six (thus becoming essentially non-basic in the process, cf. p. 73), and the dipole of pyrrole is found to be in the opposite direction to that of pyridine, i.e. with the positive end on nitrogen and the negative end on the nucleus ... 

Beside the bigger size of the phosphorus atom, as compared to that of nitrogen, the lack of aromaticity is due to the P-pyramide the criterion of coplanarity is not fulfilled and so the lone electron pair of the phosphorus cannot overlap with the pz orbitals of the sp2 carbon atoms (Fig. 2). While in the case of pyrrole, the aromatic stabilization covers the energy requirement of planarization, in the case of phospholes, there is a bigger barrier for the inversion. 

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