Rearrangements in Highly Acidic Media

Reversible, random carbonium ion formation is not required to explain the rearrangements of both 2 and 37 to adamantane in the highly acidic media. Sequential 1,2 alkyl shifts coupled with the well documented 5316,2- and 3,2-hydride shifts of the norbomyl system permit a rearrangement pathway analogous to that discussed earlier as the most likely route for the Lewis acid catalyzed rearrangement of 2 to adamantane. 

The rearrangements of several twistane derivatives to adamantyl cations under the same conditions, on the other hand, appear to involve reversible, random carbonium ion formation, at least to a limited extent. Rearrangement of 2-twistanol-2-d (38) occurs with considerable intermolecular hydrogen scrambling (Eq. (15)) 40T Similar intermolecular rearrangements are observed when a 50 50 mixture of 1-adamantanol and l-adamantanol-3,5,7-d3 in S02 is treated with SbFs 40). 

The precise mechanism of these intermolecular reactions is not known. Transient disproportionation processes, although well documented in less acidic media (see below and Section V.A.l), seem unlikely if alkyl cations alone are involved. Two possible explanations for the observed results may be considered. Small amounts of polymeric impurities may be present in the reaction mixture which could serve as a hydride source, catalyzing the intermolecular reaction as indicated in Eq. (16)4°). Alternatively, the intermolecular reactions may result from inefficient mixing during reaction initiation. In this case, unionized alcohols would serve as the hydride source. This latter alternative is consistent with the observation 4°1 that the deuterium in the 1-adamantanol obtained from the rearrangement of 38 is distributed between bridgehead and methylene positions. Unless more than one re- 

This energy barrier may be associated with the inhibition of 1,2-shifts on the adamantane nucleus 51 As discussed earlier, 1,2 shifts on the adamantyl nucleus are unfavorable due to the near orthogonal relationship between a vacant orbital and the migrating group (see Fig. 1). No evidence of 1,2-hydride 

Of course, the intramolecular nature of the rearrangement of the 2-adamantyl cation to its tertiary isomer has not been established. Intermolecular processes similar to those discussed above in connection with the 1 -adamantyl cation may be involved, and, in fact, seem likely 60  

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