Trans-effect Subject

Product 5 was subjected to X-ray diffraction analysis (Fig. 2 and Table 2) [6]. The structure was found to be an octahedrally coordinated metal dichloro complex with the two bidentate ligands occupying the equatorial positions. The observed stereochemistry can be considered to be caused by the trans-effect of the tmen group [3], which activates the two chloro atoms of the hafnium tetrachloride in equatorial position and makes them susceptible to the nucleophilic attack by the silyl dianion. 

There are at least two mechanisms available for aziridine cis-trans isomerism. The first is base-catalyzed and proceeds via an intermediate carbanion (235). The second mechanism can be either thermally or photochemically initiated and proceeds by way of an intermediate azomethine ylide. The absence of a catalytic effect and interception of the 1,3-dipole intermediate provide support for this route. A variety of aziridinyl ketones have been found to undergo equilibration when subjected to base-catalyzed conditions (65JA1050). In most of these cases the cis isomer is more stable than the trans. Base-catalyzed isotope exchange has also been observed in at least one molecule which lacks a stabilizing carbonyl group (72TL3591). 

Compounds in which conformational, rather than configurational, equilibria are influenced by the anomeric effect are depicted in entries 4—6. Single-crystal X-ray dilfiaction studies have unambiguously established that all the chlorine atoms of trans, cis, ira j-2,3,5,6-tetrachloro-l,4-dioxane occupy axial sites in the crystal. Each chlorine in die molecule is bonded to an anomeric carbon and is subject to the anomeric effect. Equally striking is the observation that all the substituents of the tri-0-acetyl-/ -D-xylopyranosyl chloride shown in entry 5 are in the axial orientation in solution. Here, no special crystal packing forces can be invoked to rationalize the preferred conformation. The anomeric effect of a single chlorine is sufficient to drive the equilibrium in favor of the conformation that puts the three acetoxy groups in axial positions. 

The syntheses, structures and properties of wide varieties of metal nitrosyl complexes have been well documented [4, 5, 20-23]. However, the bulk of the complexes reviewed previously are of academic interest and only a few of these metal nitrosyl complexes have been considered as biologically effective NO donors. It was observed that the metal nitrosyls with significant NO+ character are subject to attack from a variety of nucleophiles and have hypertensive properties. This could be due to the strong trans- labilizing effect of NO. In contrast, the metal nitrosyl compounds with the general formula [M(CN)5NO]n, where the NO ligand was either neutral (for M = Co) or anionic (for M = Cr) showed no vasodilatory effect [24]. 

However, given a sufficiently strong steric effect, a permanent twist can be induced in a carbon-carbon double bond even without a push-pull effect. This is a field that has been the subject of much interest, as exemplified by the intense but still unsuccessful search for tetra-/m-butylethylene, and by the still very active studies of trans-cyclooctenes. Besides the synthetic challenge, such compounds present interesting chiroptical and other physical properties, and a knowledge of their heats of formation presents crucial tests for current force fields. 

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