Reexamination of the C2H4F potential surface. the status of the classical 2-fluoroethyl cation: a local minimum or transition structure?

According to ab initio molecular orbital calculations carried out with full geometry optimization at the MP2/6–31G^** level, the classical 2-fluoroethyl cation, FCH₂CH₂⁺, is a transition structure for H-scrambling in CH₃CHF⁺. Single point MP4/6–31G^** calculations at the optimized geometries predict the cyclic ethylene fluoronium ion to lie 24.2 kcal mol⁻¹ above CH₃CHF⁺ and 5.4 kcal mol⁻¹ below the 2-fluoroethyl cation. ΔG‡ for ring opening of the cyclic fluoronium ion at -60° is estimated to be ca 15 kcal mol⁻¹. This barrier is largely attributable to the powerful negative fluorine hyperconjugation in the transition state as described by Hoffmann and coworkers. When electron correlation effects are ignored a qualitatively different potential surface is obtained on which the 2-fluoroethyl cation is calculated to be a local minimum separated from the stable 1-fluoroethyl cation by an H-bridged transition state.