Thermal rearrangement mechanism

Another example of a reaction in which the stereochemistry of the process provides some valuable information about the mechanism is the thermal rearrangement of 1,5-dienes and substituted analogs ... 

The following thermal rearrangement involves two pericyclic reactions in sequence. Identify them, and propose a mechanism to account for the observed result. 

Vinyl-substituted cyclopropanes undergo thermal rearrangement to yield cyclopentenes. Propose a mechanism for the reaction, and identify the pericyclic process involved. 

More recently, a number of reports dealing with 1,3-sulfonyl shifts which proceed by other mechanisms have been published. For example, Baechler and coworkers suggested that the higher activation enthalpy observed for the isomerization of the deuterium labeled methallyl sulfone 72 in nitrobenzene at 150°C as compared to the corresponding sulfide, together with the positive entropy of activation may be taken as evidence for a homolytic dissociation mechanism (equation 44). A similar mechanism has also been suggested by Little and coworkers for the gas-phase thermal rearrangement of deuterium labelled allyl sec-butyl sulfone, which precedes its pyrolysis to alkene and sulfur dioxide. 

Capable of polymerization, decomposition or rearrangement. Initiation of the reaction can be spontaneous, by energy input such as thermal or mechanical energy, or by catalytic action increasing the reaction rate. 

The enthalpy changes associated with proton transfer in the various 4, -substituted benzophenone contact radical ion pairs as a function of solvent have been estimated by employing a variety of thermochemical data [20]. The effect of substituents upon the stability of the radical IP were derived from the study of Arnold and co-workers [55] of the reduction potentials for a variety of 4,4 -substituted benzophenones. The effect of substituents upon the stability of the ketyl radical were estimated from the kinetic data obtained by Creary for the thermal rearrangement of 2-aryl-3,3-dimethylmethylenecyclopropanes, where the mechanism for the isomerization assumes a biradical intermediate [56]. The solvent dependence for the energetics of proton transfer were based upon the studies of Gould et al. [38]. The details of the analysis can be found in the original literature [20] and only the results are herein given in Table 2.2. 

Figure 11.3 Proposed PTT thermal degradation mechanism through the Mc-Clafferty rearrangement and the formation of acrolein and allyl alcohol...

The Cope rearrangement mechanism can be also strongly affected by other substituents. Thus, the normal electrocyclic process in the thermal isomerization of divinyl aromatics has been suppressed relative to the thermolysis of l,2-bis(trifluorovinyl)naphthalene 438 (in benzene, at 193 °C, 24 h)231. Three major products 440-442 were isolated from the reaction mixture, but none of them was the expected product 439. Also formed in low... 

Products isolated from the thermal fragmentation of A-arylbenzamide oximes and A-arylbenzamide O-phenylsulfonyl oximes have been accounted for by invoking a free-radical mechanism which is initiated by the preferential homolysis of the N-O bond." Time-resolved IR spectroscopy has revealed that photolysis of A, A -diphenyl-l,5-dihydroxy-9,10-anthraquinone diimine affords acridine-condensed aromatic products via excited-state intramolecular proton transfer." The absolute and relative rates of thermal rearrangements of substituted benzyl isocyanides have been measured,and it has been found that the relative rates are independent of temperature and exhibit excellent Hammett correlations. Thionitrosoarene (25), thought to be generated by desulfurization of the stable A-thiosulfinylaniline (24), has been established" " as an intermediate in the formation of 3,3a-dihydro-2,l-benzisothiazole (26) from o-alkylthionitrosoarene (24). 

In summary, it should be pointed out, however, that the exact mechanism of the thermal rearrangement of sulfur rings and chains is still unknown and that further investigations are necessary in this connection. For any further discussion it may also be interesting to take into account the recent results on the molecular rearrangement reactions of cyclic selenium sulfides and of elemental selenium which take place at considerably lower temperatures compared with elemental sulfur and for which — as far as solid selenium is concerned — interesting ionic mechanisms have been proposed... 

An interesting reaction related to the ring expansions of penicillin S-oxides (208) was observed in the thermal rearrangement of 2,2,4A-tetramethyl-thiethan-3-one 1-oxide to the five-membered thiolane ring 209. Oxidation attempts of these thermally unstable thietanone oxides led via ring opening to the more stable heterocycle. The reaction mechanism (Scheme 11) was... 

SCHEME 3 Proposed Mechanism for the Thermal Rearrangement of a -Acetates... 

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