Stilbenes electrophilic addition

Table II. Partition Constant Ratios for the Reactions of Azide and MeOH with Various Bromonium Ions Formed via Electrophilic Addition of Br2 to Stilbenes in Methanol at 25 °C. 

Arylalkene bromination is a typical electrophilic addition to form an a-carbocation, but markedly non-linear structure-reactivity relationships were observed for brominations of styrene [32], trans-stilbene [37] and a-methylstilbene [38] (Ruasse and Dubois, 1972, 1974 Ruasse et al., 1978 Ruasse and Argile, 1983). Some of these curvatures could not be interpreted directly by the Y-T equation but some were related to a mechanistic changeover based on a multipathway scheme (Ruasse, 1990). Three pathways leading to the and carbocations and to the bromonium ion in the bromination of trans-stilbene (Ruasse and Dubois, 1972, 1974) are shown in Scheme 10. 

For electrophilic additions of halogens to alkenes, not only is the reaction rate strongly solvent-dependent [79-81] [cf. Eq. (5-29) in Section 5.3.2), but the stereochemical course may also be affected by the polarity of the medium [79, 386-388], For example, the stereoselectivity of bromine addition to cis- and trans -stilbene according to Eq. (5-140) has been found to be solvent-dependent, as shown in Table 5-23 [79, 386],... 

Addition of bromine to C=C bonds does not begin with electrophilic addition of Br+ nucleophilic mechanisms are possible. Thus, for instance, addition of bromine in glacial acetic acid to maleic or fumaric acid, stilbene, cinnamic acid, or tetrachloroethylene, which is normally slow, is catalysed by LiBr or KBr.20... 

The mechanisms of dehalogenations have been reviewed by Miller and in a series of papers , the stereoselectivity of the dehalogenation of the stilbene dibromides with a wide variety of reagents has been discussed. The meso-stilbene dibromide always eliminates to give the thermodynamically more stable alkene, namely tra 5-stilbene which is product of apparent a t/-elimina-tion. However, the J/-stilbene dibromide gives both cis- and rm i-stilbenes, and the ratio of these products can provide useful mechanistic information. One-electron reductants, such as chromous ion, give rise to intermediate radical formation in which rotation about the Ca-Cg bond allows thermodynamic control of the reaction. Two-electron reductants, such as iodide ion in dimethyl formamide, induce highly stereoselective a i-elimination. In protic solvents, carbonium ion intermediates were proposed to explain the trend towards thermodynamic control. Miller has proposed a reaction mechanism which embraces elimination, substitution, and electrophilic addition to alkenes. 

Competitive pathways proposed for the electrophilic addition of bromine to stilbene derivatives. 

Polar mechanism for the electrophilic addition of Bt2 to stilbenes. Reproduced from ref. 130 with permission from The Royal Society of... 

The reaction of bromine with (E)-stilbene (47) to give meso-stilbene dibromide (48) as the major product (Eq. 10.21) is another example of an electrophilic addition reaction of alkenes. The addition of bromine to many alkenes is a stereospecific reaction that proceeds by anti addition to the double bond. However, the addition of bromine to 47 is not stereospecific because small amounts of dl-stilbene dibromide (49) are also formed in this reaction. The formation of wreso-stilbene dibromide presumably occurs via the nucleophilic attack of bromide on the intermediate cyclic bromonium ion, 50. The possible interconversion of 50 and the acyclic carbocation 51 (Eq. 10.22) is one possible way to account for the presence of dl-stilbene dibromide in the product. 

Mixtures of bromine and chlorine add to olefins such as cyclohexene, styrene, ethylene, stilbene, and cinnamic acid to give the bromochlorides. The products isolated are those expected for the electrophilic addition of a bromine atom and a nucleophilic addition of a chlorine atom. 

Stereoselective addition of nitrobenzene-p-sulphonyl peroxide to cis- and /mnj-stilbenes has been studied. Random ratios of meso- and /-adducts were obtained, and it was concluded that the carbonium ion intermediate in the electrophilic addition process is sufficiently long-lived in this case to undergo rotation before capture. ... 

In addition to benzene and naphthalene derivatives, heteroaromatic compounds such as ferrocene[232, furan, thiophene, selenophene[233,234], and cyclobutadiene iron carbonyl complexpSS] react with alkenes to give vinyl heterocydes. The ease of the reaction of styrene with sub.stituted benzenes to give stilbene derivatives 260 increases in the order benzene < naphthalene < ferrocene < furan. The effect of substituents in this reaction is similar to that in the electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions[236]. 

A versatile approach to the 5-ary ldibenzo[7>,/]oxcpin system is the electrophilic ring-closure reaction of 2-phenoxy-substituted diphenylacetylenes or 1-bromostilbenes. Cyclization of the alkynes 4 occurs after addition of a suitable electrophile such as H +, PhS+, Br+, or I+ to give products 5.100-101 Addition across the triple bond gives stilbenes as byproducts. 

The electrophilic bromination of ethylenic compounds, a reaction familiar to all chemists, is part of the basic knowledge of organic chemistry and is therefore included in every chemical textbook. It is still nowadays presented as a simple two-step, trans-addition involving the famous bromonium ion as the key intermediate. T]nis mechanism was postulated as early as the 1930s by Bartlett and Tarbell (1936) from the kinetics of bromination of trans-stilbene in methanol and by Roberts and Kimball (1937) from stereochemical results on cis- and trans-2-butene bromination. According to their scheme (Scheme 1), bromo-derivatives useful as intermediates in organic synthesis... 

The addition reactions of It with amines are also presumed to occur via exciplex or radical-ion pair intermediates however, exciplex fluorescence is observed only under conditions where chemical reactions do not occur. Transfer of hydrogen from the amine a-C-H (tertiary amine) or N-H (secondary amine) bond results in the formation of a radical pair which ultimately gives rise to stilbene amine adducts and other free-radical derived products. The radical-ion pairs can also be intercepted by external electrophiles and nucleophiles, leading to formation of radical-ion-derived products. 

Table 5-23. Stereoselectivity of electrophilic bromine addition to cis- and tranr-stilbene, carried out at 0 °C in the dark [79, 386] cf. Eqs. (5-29) and (5-140).

Acetyl hypofluorite, prepared by reaction of fluorine gas with acetates, was introduced in 198111S. It reacts smoothly and quickly at -783C with many types of olefins to produce acetylatcd fluorohydrins. Electrophilic syn additions of this reagent across double bonds in unsaturated carbohydrates119,120, cytosine and uracil are described121. Other examples of stereoselective syn additions with this reagent include coumarin. stilbene and steroids118i l22. 

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