Thermodynamic steric effect

The importance of both electronic and steric effects is clear in cycloadditions as in cross-oxidations. One example is a heterocycHc modification leading to the thermodynamically less stable natural form of juglone derivatives such as ventiloquinones JT [124917-64-2] (84) and I [124917-65-3] (85) (83). The yields are 97% (84) from 6-chloro-2,3-dimethoxy-l,4-ben2oquinone [30839-34-0] and 100% (85) upon hydrolysis. 

Nitroalkanes show a related relationship between kinetic acidity and thermodynamic acidity. Additional alkyl substituents on nitromethane retard the rate of proton removal although the equilibrium is more favorable for the more highly substituted derivatives. The alkyl groups have a strong stabilizing effect on the nitronate ion, but unfavorable steric effects are dominant at the transition state for proton removal. As a result, kinetic and thermodynamic acidity show opposite responses to alkyl substitution. 

The general features of the monensin synthesis conducted by Kishi et al. are outlined, in retrosynthetic format, in Scheme 1. It was decided to delay the construction of monensin s spiroketal substructure, the l,6-dioxaspiro[4.5]decane framework, to a very late stage in the synthesis (see Scheme 1). It seemed reasonable to expect that exposure of the keto triol resulting from the hydrogen-olysis of the C-5 benzyl ether in 2 to an acidic medium could, under equilibrating conditions, result in the formation of the spiroketal in 1. This proposition was based on the reasonable assumption that the configuration of the spiroketal carbon (C-9) in monensin corresponds to the thermodynamically most stable form, as is the case for most spiroketal-containing natural products.19 Spiro-ketals found in nature usually adopt conformations in which steric effects are minimized and anomeric effects are maximized. 

Arrhenius parameters for nitration of 4-aikylphenyltrimethyiammonium ions in nitric acid-sulphuric acid mixtures (Table 12). It was argued that the observed Baker-Nathan order of alkyl substituent effect was, in fact, the result of a steric effect superimposed upon an inductive order. However, a number of assumptions were involved in this deduction, and these render the conclusion less reliable than one would like it would be useful to have the thermodynamic parameters for nitration of the methyl substituted compound in particular, in order to compare with the data for the /-butyl compound, though experimental difficulties may preclude this. It would not be surprising if a true Baker-Nathan order were observed because it is observed for all other electrophilic substitutions in this medium1. 

The acidifying effect of an adjacent phenyl group outweighs steric effects in the case of l-phenyl-2-propanone, and as a result the conjugated enolate is favored by both kinetic and thermodynamic conditions (Entry 5). 

The success of such reactions depends on the intramolecular hydrogen transfer being faster than hydrogen atom abstraction from the stannane reagent. In the example shown, hydrogen transfer is favored by the thermodynamic driving force of radical stabilization, by the intramolecular nature of the hydrogen transfer, and by the steric effects of the central quaternary carbon. This substitution pattern often favors intramolecular reactions as a result of conformational effects. 

John Ward has functionalized an indane using method D in route to tetra-petalone A (46) (Fig. 4.24).25 The o-OBoc benzyl alcohol 44 undergoes addition with two equivalents of Grignard and affords after acidic workup the phenolic indane 45 in 73% yield. Because of steric effects, only one diastereomer is observed after hydrolysis of the enol ether and thermodynamic equilibration of the... 

For a discussion concerning the difference between thermodynamic stability of radicals and their kinetic persistence e.g., due to steric effects see Ref.9)... 

The EfZ ratio of stilbenes obtained in the Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed reaction was independent of catalyst concentration in the range given in Table 22 357). This fact differs from the copper-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate, where the ratio diethyl fumarate diethyl maleate was found to depend on the concentration of the catalyst, requiring two competing mechanistic pathways to be taken into account 365), The preference for the Z-stilbene upon C ClO -or rhodium-catalyzed decomposition of aryldiazomethanes may be explained by the mechanism given in Scheme 39. Nucleophilic attack of the diazoalkane at the presumed metal carbene leads to two epimeric diazonium intermediates 385, the sterically less encumbered of which yields the Z-stilbene after C/C rotation 357,358). Thus, steric effects, favoring 385a over 385 b, ultimately cause the preferred formation of the thermodynamically less stable cis-stilbene. 

Two possible roles for the metal ion in a template reaction have been delineated (Thompson Busch, 1964). First, the metal ion may sequester the cyclic product from an equilibrium mixture such as, for example, between products and reactants. In this manner the formation of the macrocycle is promoted as its metal complex. The metal ion is thus instrumental in shifting the position of an equilibrium - such a process has been termed a thermodynamic template effect. Secondly, the metal ion may direct the steric course of a condensation such that formation of the required cyclic product is facilitated. This process has been called the kinetic template effect. 

Experimental results indicate that steric effects dominate and the an ft form is more stable by 2.1 kcal/mol230. However, by following the strategy illustrated for the cyclic system discussed above, we can design systems standing a good chance of being thermodynamically more stable in the syn form. 

Since the solvent properties of dimethyl sulfoxide are widely different from those of hydrocarbons and halogenated hydrocarbons, it may be difficult to compare the kinetic and thermodynamic data for the C02H group (Table 16) directly with others. However, heating the carboxylic acid (68, X = OH) in toluene affords the sp isomer almost exclusively. Probably, the observed results with the carboxylic acid derive from difficulty in the formation of a hydrogen bond owing to a steric effect, in addition to the nonplanar conformation of the carboxyl group relative to the naphthalene. 

Three new centers of dissymmetry are formed on cyclization of a dialdehyde with nitroethane, hence — depending on the type of substitution of the dialdehyde — three, six or eight diastereomeric methyl-nitro-diols (2, R = CHs) can be expected a priori. In view of the analogy of this reaction to the dialdehyde-nitromethane-cyclization, which is endowed with a marked stereoselectivity, the thermodynamically more stable isomers should arise in considerable preponderance. The steric effects determining the orientation of the hydroxyl groups can reasonably be assumed to be the same, thus an e,c-arrangement (4) or (5) is to be expected for the major products. 

On these transition metal-based catalysts, the selechve hydrogenahon of the C=0 group is very difficult because C=C double bond hydrogenahon is both thermodynamically and kinehcally favored, especially in the case of small molecules (e.g., acrolein, crotonaldehyde) where addihonal steric effects are not important [62, 71, 72]. 

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