The Carbon-Hydrogen Bond

The carbon-hydrogen bond plays as important part in the mechanism of pyrolysis of carbon compounds and in the formation of graphite and diamond (the pyrolysis process is reviewed in Ch. 4). 

The energy and length of the carbon-hydrogen bond are related to the type of hybridization of the carbon atom. The hybridization can be sp, sp or sp as shown in Table 2.8.( l 

Molecule Bond type Approximate bond energy (kJ/mole) Hybrid bond length (nm) 

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We will generate the energies for the carbon-hydrogen bond /fen and the carbon-carbon single bond Hix using the five linear alkanes from ethane through hexane as the five-member data base. The equation to be used is... 

The picture of the process of substitution by the nitronium ion emerging from the facts discussed above is that of a two-stage process, the first step in which is rate-determining and which leads to a relatively stable intermediate. In the second step, which is relatively fast, the proton is lost. The transition state leading to the relatively stable intermediate is so constructed that in it the carbon-hydrogen bond which is finally broken is but little changed from its original condition. 

The occurrence of a hydrogen isotope effect in an electrophilic substitution will certainly render nugatory any attempt to relate the reactivity of the electrophile with the effects of substituents. Such a situation occurs in mercuration in which the large isotope effect = 6) has been attributed to the weakness of the carbon-mercury bond relative to the carbon-hydrogen bond. The following scheme has been formulated for the reaction, and the occurrence of the isotope effect indicates that the magnitudes of A j and are comparable ... 

FIGURE 13 6 The induced magnetic field of the elec trons in the carbon-hydrogen bond opposes the external magnetic field The resulting magnetic field ex perienced by the proton and the carbon is slightly less than Xr,... 

Ca.ta.lysis, Iridium compounds do not have industrial appHcations as catalysts. However, these compounds have been studied to model fundamental catalytic steps (174), such as substrate binding of unsaturated molecules and dioxygen oxidative addition of hydrogen, alkyl haHdes, and the carbon—hydrogen bond reductive elimination and important metal-centered transformations such as carbonylation, -elimination, CO reduction, and... 

Xenon difluoride fluorinates adamantane in low yield [45] (equation 22) When the carbon-hydrogen bond is activated by an a-sulfur atom, fliiorination occurs readily The reactions involve intermediates that contain sulfur-fluorine bonds. At-Fluoropyridinium reagents behave similarly [99, 100, 101, 102] (equations 55-57)... 

In our previous work [11], it has been shown that the reduction of NO with CH4 on Ga and ln/H-ZSM-5 catalysts proceeds through the reactions (1) and (2), and that CH4 was hardly activated by NO in the absence of oxygen on these catalysts. Therefore, NO2 plays an important role and the formation of NO2 is a necessary step for the reduction of NO with CH4. In the works of Li and Armor [17] and Cowan et al. [18], the rate-determining step in NO reduction with CH4 on Co-ferrierite and Co-ZSM-5 catalysts is involved in the dissociative adsorption of CH4, and the adsorbed NO2 facilitates the step to break the carbon-hydrogen bond in CH4. It is suggested that NO reduction by use of CH4 needs the formation of the adsorbed NO2, which can activate CH4. 

There are also reactions in which hydride is transferred from carbon. The carbon-hydrogen bond has little intrinsic tendency to act as a hydride donor, so especially favorable circumstances are required to promote this reactivity. Frequently these reactions proceed through a cyclic TS in which a new C—H bond is formed simultaneously with the C-H cleavage. Hydride transfer is facilitated by high electron density at the carbon atom. Aluminum alkoxides catalyze transfer of hydride from an alcohol to a ketone. This is generally an equilibrium process and the reaction can be driven to completion if the ketone is removed from the system, by, e.g., distillation, in a process known as the Meerwein-Pondorff-Verley reduction,189 The reverse reaction in which the ketone is used in excess is called the Oppenauer oxidation. 

Examples of such reactions are well known. Sloan, Breslow, and Renfrow found that both alkane and arenesulphonyl azides insert into the carbon-hydrogen bonds of saturated hydrocarbons 12>. Thus, 1-pentane,- 2-propane- and -toluene-sulphonyl nitrene inserted into cyclohexane to give 54, 60, and 58% yields of the corresponding IV-cyclohexylamide derivatives 8>. Similarly, 2-phenoxybenzene-, diphenyl sulphide-2-, and... 

Reaction of rhenium atoms with alkyl-substituted arenes forms dirhenium- l-arylidene compounds (2 2) (Figure 3). The products require insertion, presumably sequential, into two carbon-hydrogen bonds of the alkyl substituent. These reactions seem highly specific and require only the presence of an alkyl-substituted benzene that possesses a CH2 or CH3 substituent. Thus, co-condensation of rhenium atoms with ethylbenzene gives two isomers (see Figure 3) in which the products arise from insertion into the carbon-hydrogen bonds of the methylene or the methyl group. The product distribution in this reaction is in accord with statistical attack at all available sp3 C-H bonds. 

The co-condensation reactions described above have led to the formation of interesting new compounds and sometimes very unexpected products. The nature of the products formed for example in the osmium atom experiments indicate high degrees of specificity can be achieved. However, the detailed mechanisms of the co-condensation reactions are not known. It seems most likely that in all cases the initial products formed at the co-condensation temperature are simple ligand-addition products and that the insertion of the metal into the carbon-hydrogen bond occurs at some point during the warming up process. In support of this hypothesis we note the virtual absence of any... 

Because the cis-decalin molecule extends its two methine carbon-hydrogen bonds on the same side in contrast to frans-decalin, the carbon-hydrogen bond dissociation of adsorbed decalin would be advantageous to the cis-isomer on the catalyst surface (Figure 13.17). A possible reaction path by octalin to naphthalene in dehydrogeno-aromatization of decalin will be favored to the cis-isomer, since its alkyl intermediate provides the second hydrogen atom from the methine group to the surface active site easily. 

Among typical carbon-carbon bond (C-C) formation reactions with carbenes, the cyclopropanation reaction with olefins has been well studied including its application to industrial processes. The second typical reaction of carbenes is the insertion reaction into the carbon-hydrogen bond (C-H) which seems to be a direct and efficient C-C bond forming reaction. However, its use for synthetic purpose has often been limited due to low selectivity of the reactions.3... 

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