Superacids nucleophilicity

Over a decade of research, we were able to show that practically all conceivable carbocations could be prepared under what became known as stable ion conditions using various very strong acid systems (see discussion of superacids) and low nucleophilicity solvents (SO2, SO2CIF, SO2F2, etc.). A variety of precursors could be used under appropriate conditions, as shown, for example, in the preparation of the methylcyclopentyl cation. 

The high acidity of superacids makes them extremely effective pro-tonating agents and catalysts. They also can activate a wide variety of extremely weakly basic compounds (nucleophiles) that previously could not be considered reactive in any practical way. Superacids such as fluoroantimonic or magic acid are capable of protonating not only TT-donor systems (aromatics, olefins, and acetylenes) but also what are called (T-donors, such as saturated hydrocarbons, including methane (CH4), the simplest parent saturated hydrocarbon. 

Under superacidic, low nucleophilicity so-called stable ion conditions, developing electron-deficient carbocations do not find reactive external nucleophiles to react with thus they stay persistent in solution stabilized by internal neighboring group interactions. 

The formation of the (X-delocalized norbornyl cation via ionization of 2-norbornyl precusors in low-nucleophilicity, superacidic media, as mentioned, can be considered an analog of an intramolecnlar Friedel-Crafts alkylation in a saturated system. Indeed, deprotonation gives nortricyclane,... 

In superacidic media, the carbocationic iatermediates, which were long postulated to exist duting Friedel-Crafts type reactions (9—11) can be observed, and even isolated as salts. The stmctures of these carbocations have been studied ia high acidity—low nucleophilicity solvent systems usiag spectroscopic methods such as nmr, ir, Raman, esr, and x-ray crystallography. 

The extent to which rearrangement occurs depends on the structure of the cation and foe nature of the reaction medium. Capture of carbocations by nucleophiles is a process with a very low activation energy, so that only very fast rearrangements can occur in the presence of nucleophiles. Neopentyl systems, for example, often react to give r-pentyl products. This is very likely to occur under solvolytic conditions but can be avoided by adjusting reaction conditions to favor direct substitution, for example, by use of an aptotic dipolar solvent to enhance the reactivity of the nucleophile. In contrast, in nonnucleophilic media, in which fhe carbocations have a longer lifetime, several successive rearrangement steps may occur. This accounts for the fact that the most stable possible ion is usually the one observed in superacid systems. 

Interpretation of tiie ratio of capture of competing nucleophiles has led to the estimate that bromonium ions have lifetimes on the order of 10 s in methanol. This lifetime is about 100 times longer than fliat for secondary caibocations. There is also direct evidence for the existence of bromonium ions. The bromonium ion related to propene can be observed by NMR spectroscopy when l-bromo-2-fluoropropane is subjected to superacid conditions. The terminal bromine adopts a bridging position in the resulting cation. 

However, the more important question of whether AN can be used in C,C-coupling reactions with nucleophiles remains open. It should be noted that Japanese researchers demonstrated in several studies that these transformations can be performed for benzene and certain electron-rich arenes (477). Just the same, this procedure requires severe conditions (the use of superacids at high... 

Alkylideneallyl cations can be described as resonance hybrids of 1-vinyl-substituted vinyl cations and allenylmethyl cations, and thus contain two reactive sites (the sp- and sp2-hybridized carbons) for nucleophilic addition (Scheme 1) (7,2). Hybridization affects the electronic and steric character of these reaction sites. The electronic property was deduced from the l3C NMR chemical shifts of alkylideneallyl cations measured under superacidic conditions (3) and also from the charge distribution calculated (4). The charge distributions are affected by substituents on the cation the sp2 carbon is more positive than the sp carbon when two methyl groups are introduced at the sp2 carbon. 

Much of our research has involved the use of dicationic electrophiles in reactions with very weak nucleophiles, such as non-activated arenes and alkanes. By comparison to similar monocationic electrophiles, we have been able to show the extent of electrophilic activation by adjacent cationic centers. For example, carbocations show an increased reactivity with a nearby cationic charge (eqs 3-4).9 When 1,1-diphenyletheneis reacted with superacidic CF3SO3H... 

This may suggest that fully conjugated charge centers are an important aspect in directing nucleophilic attack to the terminal carbon. Thus, the superacid promoted reactions of the olefinic pyrazines (and related systems) may be viewed as the superelectrophilic version of Michael addition. 

Oxidation of unfunctionalized alkanes is notoriously difficult to perform selectively, because breaking of a C-H bond is required. Although oxidation is thermodynamically favourable, there are limited kinetic pathways for reaction to occur. For most alkanes, the hydrogens are not labile, and, as the carbon atom cannot expand its valence electron shell beyond eight electrons, there is no mechanism for electrophilic or nucleophilic substitution short of using extreme (superacid or superbase) conditions. Alkane oxidations are therefore normally radical processes, and thus difficult to control in terms of selectivity. Nonetheless, some oxidations of alkanes have been performed under supercritical conditions, although it is probable that these actually proceed via radical mechanisms. 

Variations in the absolute concentration of the carbocation solutions and temperature had minor effects on chemical shifts. The counter ion effect and the equilibrium could be minimized by going to higher superacidity systems with lower nucleophilicity counter ions. Resonances due to the PAH itself were considerably shielded. Solvation by FSO3H and the formation of ion pair-molecule clusters were suggested as possible reasons. 

Such unique acid catalysis of Fe-Mont, which is sometimes superior to the acid catalysis of superacid as seen in the present paper, is due possibly to the Me3Si cations as very strong Lewis acid sites that are formed initially from silylated nucleophilic reagents and the protons of Fe-Mont layer surfaces (Eq. 5) as recently suggested by the present authors [3]. 

When dissolved in superacidic media, complex molecules such as steroids or alkaloids undergo polyprotonation of reasonably distant functions. This prevents the degradation generally observed under usual strong acidic conditions. Moreover, the lack of basic or nucleophilic entities in the medium avoids further processes... 

Phenonium ions, more appropriately called spirocyclopropylbenzenium or ethyl-enebenzenium ions, have been directly observed107 in low nucleophilicity solvents in superacidic media, and well characterized as having symmetrical bridging. The l3C NMR... 

The concentration of protons (and of protonated substrates) is limited at pH values near neutrality. Analogous metal complexes are often stable over a wide pH range including physiological pH, and may exist in the presence of appreciable concentrations of OH- or other nucleophiles. Westheimer2 coined the term superacid catalysis to describe the ability of metal ions to catalyze reactions at pH values where substantial concentrations of the protonated substrates cannot exist. 

This chapter deals with silyl-substituted carbocations. In Section II results of quantum chemical ab initio calculations of energies and structures of silyl-substituted carbocations are summarized1. Throughout the whole chapter results of ab initio calculations which relate directly to the experimental observation of silyl-substituted carbocations and their reactions are reviewed. Section m reports on gas phase studies and Section IV on solvolytic investigations of reactions which involve silyl-substituted carbocation intermediates and transition states. Section V summarizes the structure elucidation studies on stable silyl-substituted carbocations. It includes ultra-fast optical spectroscopic methods for the detection of transient intermediates in solution, NMR spectroscopic investigations of silyl-substituted carbocations in superacids and non-nucleophilic solvents, concomitant computational studies of model cation and X-ray crystallography of some silyl-substituted carbocations which can be prepared as crystals of salts. 

Carborane Superacids H(CB11HR X.6). Recently, new carbon superacids, icosahedral carboranes H(CBnHR5X6) (where X = chlorine, bromine or iodine R = H, Me, Cl), have been described by Reed et al.34, whose conjugate base, the carborane anion (CBnHR5X6), is quite inert due to low nucleophilicity. 

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