Reactivity of carbocation

The heats of formation are less suited to characterizing the stability and/or reactivity of carbocations as models of cationic chain ends in cationic polymerizations71). Model reactions closely connected to the cationic polymerization mechanism are better suited to this characterization, for example ... 

Finally, the above discussion has pointed to a number of gaps in the thermodynamic literature and the studies of BIE. Although the work of Arnett [21, 22, 40] has provided a sound basis for the comparative reactivity of carbocations, there are certain questions (such as the final state of the cations) which need to be clarified before these results can be applied more widely. Until these gaps in our experimental knowledge are filled, we are left with the theoretical approach described in this paper, if we wish to make a systematic choice of the optimum initiator for a chosen alkene polymerisation. 

Li et al. (1997) have discussed the use of catalytic antibodies to control the reactivity of carbocations. At an entry level, the acyclic olefinic sulfonate ester [72] is converted into the cyclic alcohol [73] (98%) using antibody 4C6 raised to hapten [73] with only 2% of cyclohexene produced (Appendix entry 15.1) (Li et al, 1994). 

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