Destabilized carbenium ions: Secondary and tertiary α-carbomethoxybenzyl cations

The secondary α-carbomethoxybenzyl cations a and the tertiary α-carbomethoxybenzyl cations d have been generated by electron impact-induced fragmentation from appropriately α-substituted methyl phenylacetate and 2-phenylpropionates 1–4. The ions a and d are further examples of destabilized carbenium ions with a push–pull substitution at the carbenium ion centre. The characteristic reaction of these ions is a rearrangement by a 1,2-shift of the methoxy group concomitant to the elimination of CO. This rearrangement reaction is associated with a very large and non-statistical kinetic energy release (a : T ₅₀ = 570 meV; d : T ₅₀ = 760 meV), which is attributed to tight transition states along the reaction coordinates corresponding to the three-membered cyclic oxonium ions b and h, respectively. The tertiary ion d can be distinguished from its more stable isomers f and g by the mass-analysed ion kinetic energy and collisional activation spectra. The investigation of specifically deuterated analogues of ions d and g reveals an isomerization of d to g via a species protonated at the phenyl group but no equilibration between d and g. This isomerization exhibits a large isotope effect for the hydrogen transfer, indicating similar energy barriers for the isomerization and for the CO elimination of d.