ABSTRACT
The radical cations generated from 4-methyl- and 4,7-dimethylindanone, as well as their deuterated isotopomers, isolated in Argon matrices, were found to undergo enolization to the corresponding enol radical cations at rates that differ by orders of magnitude. It is shown by quantum chemical calculations that the effect of the remote methyl group in the 4-position is of purely electronic nature in that it stabilizes the unreactive pi-radical relative to the reactive sigma-radical state of the 7-methylindanone radical cation. The observed kinetic behavior of the two compounds can be reproduced satisfactorily on the basis of calculated height and width of the thermal barrier for enolization, using the Bell model for quantum mechanical tunneling. High-level calculations on the methylacrolein radical cation show that barriers for enolization in radical cations are overestimated by B3LYP/6-31G.
ABSTRACT
The anti dimer of cyclobutadiene (anti-tricyclo[4.2.0.0(2.5)]octa-3,7-diene, TOD) is subjected to ionization by gamma-irradiation in Freon matrices, pulse radiolysis in hydrocarbon matrices, and photoinduced electron transfer in solution. The resulting species are probed by optical and ESR spectroscopy (solid phase) as well as by CIDNP spectroscopy (solution). Thereby it is found that ionization of anti-TOD invariably leads to spontaneous decay to two products, that is bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-2,4,7-triene (BOT) and 1,4-dihydropentalene (1,4-DHP), whose relative yield strongly depends on the conditions of the experiment. Exploration of the C8H8*+ potential energy surface by the B3LYP/6-31G* density functional method leads to a mechanistic hypothesis for the observed rearrangements which involves a bifurcation between a pathway leading to the simple valence isomer, BOT*+, and another one leading to an unprecedented other valence isomer, the anti form of the bicyclo[3.3.0]octa-2,6-diene-4,8-diyl radical cation (anti-BOD*+). The latter product undergoes a very facile H-shift to yield the radical cation of 1,3a-dihydropentalene (1,3a-DHP*+) which ultimately rearrranges by a further H-shift to the observed product, 1,4-DHP*+.
ABSTRACT
The syn dimer of cyclobutadiene (tricyclo[4.2.0.0(2.5)]octa-3,7-diene, TOD) is subjected to ionization under different conditions and the resulting species are probed by optical and ESR spectroscopy. By means of quantum chemical modelling of the potential energy surfaces and the optical spectra, it is possible to assign the different products that arise spontaneously after ionization or after subsequent warming or illumination of the samples. Based on these findings, we propose a mechanistic scheme which involves a partitioning of the incipient radical cation of TOD between two electronic states. These two states engage in (near) activation-less decay to the more stable valence isomers, cyclooctatetraene (COT*+) and a bis-cyclobutenylium radical cation BCB*+. The latter product undergoes further rearrangement, first to tetracyclo[4.2.0.0(2,4).0(3,5]oct-7-ene (TCO*+) and eventually to bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-2,4,7-triene (BOT*+) which can also be generated photochemically from BCB*+ or TCO*+. The surprising departure of syn-TOD*+ from the least-motion reaction path leading to BOT*+ can be traced to strong vibronic interactions (second-order Jahn-Teller effects) which prevail in both possible ground states of syn-TOD*+. Such effects seem to be more important in determining the intramolecular reactivity of radical cations than orbital or state symmetry rules.
ABSTRACT
The ion chemistry of anti-o,o'-dibenzene (1) was examined in the gaseous and the condensed phase. From a series of comparative ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) mass spectrometry experiments which involved the interaction of Cu+ with 1, benzene, or mixtures of both, it was demonstrated that 1 can be brought into the gas phase as an intact molecule under the experimental conditions employed. The molecular ions, formally 1*+ and 1*- , were investigated with a four-sector mass spectrometer in metastable-ion decay, collisional activation, charge reversal, and neutralization-reionization experiments. Surprisingly, the expected retrocyclization to yield two benzene molecules was not dominant for the long-lived molecular ions; however, other fragmentations, such as methyl and hydrogen losses, prevailed. In contrast, matrix ionization of 1 in freon (77 K) by gamma-radiation or in argon (12 K) by X-irradiation leads to quantitative retrocyclization to the cationic dimer of benzene, 2*+. Theoretical modeling of the potential-energy surface for the retrocyclization shows that only a small, if any, activation barrier is to be expected for this process. In another series of experiments, metal complexes of 1 were investigated. 1/Cr+ was formed in the ion source and examined by metastable ion decay and collisional activation experiments, which revealed predominant losses of neutral benzene. Nevertheless, comparison with the bis-ligated [(C6H6)2Cr]+ complex provided evidence for the existence of an intact 1/Cr+ under these experimental conditions. No evidence for the existence of 1/Fe+ was obtained, which suggests that iron mediates the rapid retrocyclization of 1/Fe+ into the bis-ligated benzene complex [(C6H6)2Fe]+.
