Self- and cross-disproportionation-to-combination rations for cyclopentyl and cyclohexyl radicals and their deuterated analogues

Hydrogen, cycloalkene, and bicycloalkyl were found to be the principal products which account for ≈?97% of all products formed in the gas-phase radiolysis of water vapor containing low concentrations of cycloalkanes. From the ratios of cycloalkene-to-bicycloalkyl yields extrapolated to the zero dose, the self- and cross-disproportionation-to-recombination rate constant ratios Δ = k_d/k_c were determined for the following 12 reactions: Δ(c-C₅H₉, c-C₅H₉) = 0.73; Δ(c-C₅D₉, c-C₅D₉) = 0.58; Δ(c-C₆H₁₁, cC₆H₁₁) = 0.59; Δ(c-C₆D₁₁, c-C₆D₁₁) = 0.46; Δ(c-C₅H₉, c-C₆H₁₁) = 0.28; Δ(c-C₅D₉, c-C₆H₁₁) = 0.28; Δ(c-C₅H₉, c-C₆D₁₁) = 0.24; Δ(c-C₅D₉, c-C₆D₁₁) = 0.24; Δ(c-C₆H₁₁, c-C₅H₉) = 0.33; Δ(c-C₆H₁₁, c-C₅D₉) = 0.25; Δ(c-C₆D₁₁, c-C₅H₉) = 0.35; and Δ(c-C₆D₁₁, c-C₅D₉) = 0.28, where in the case of the cross-disproportionation the symbol Δ(R₁,R₂) is used to represent k_d/k_c for the disproportionation in which radical R₁ captures a hydrogen (deuterium) atom from radial R₂. The geometrical mean rule holds in the cross-combination reactions of cyclopentyl and cyclohexyl radicals. The kinetic isotope effect in the disproportionation reaction was determined as 1.24 ± 0.06.     

Substituent effects on rearrangements in aromatic aldoximes

The effect of substituents on hydrogen and hydroxyl transfer in substituted benzaldoximes reveals interesting differences. A possible explanation in terms of radical electron site and charge site is suggested.     

Substituent effects on the ionization reaction of beta-mesylate phenethyl radicals

A series of beta-methanesulfonate phenethyl radicals bearing a range of electron donating and withdrawing aromatic substituents were generated and studied in a variety of solvent mixtures using nanosecond laser flash photolysis. Rate constants for the formation of the corresponding styrene radical cation via heterolytic loss of the beta-mesylate leaving group were measured using time-resolved absorption spectroscopy. The ionization reaction was investigated in a variety of solvents and solvent mixtures including 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol, 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol, acetonitrile, methanol and water. The influence of substituent electronic effect and solvent polarity on the kinetics of the beta-heterolysis reaction are discussed and assessed using the sigma+ Hammett parameter and Y(OMs) values, respectively. The small magnitude of m calculated for the formation of the 4-methoxystyrene radical cation by ionization of the mesylate group (m = 0.33) in aqueous methanol mixtures is compared to values obtained for the formation of the same radical cation via loss of chloride and bromide where m = 0.56 and m = 0.45, respectively.     

Substituent effects on the ring opening of 2-aziridinylmethyl radicals

[reaction: see text] Substituent effects on the ring-opening reactions of 2-aziridinylmethyl radicals were studied systematically for the first time utilizing the ONIOM(QCISD(T)/6-311+G(2d,2p):B3LYP/6-311+G(3df,2p)) method. It was found that various substituents on the nitrogen atom had a relatively small effect on the ring opening of the 2-aziridinylmethyl radical. A pi-acceptor substituent at the C(1) position reduced the energy barrier for C-C cleavage dramatically, but it increased the energy barrier for C-N cleavage significantly at the same time. When the C(1) substituent is alkyl, the ring opening should always strongly favor the C-N cleavage pathway, regardless of whether the N substituent is alkyl, aryl, or COR. When the C(1) substituent is CHO (or CO-alkyl, CO-aryl, or CO-OR but not CO-NR(2)), the ring opening strongly favors the C-C cleavage pathway, regardless of whether the N substituent is alkyl, aryl, or COR. When the C(1) substituent is aryl (or alkenyl or alkynyl), the ring opening should favor the C-C cleavage pathway if the N substituent is alkyl or COR. If both the C(1) substituent and the N substituent are aryl, the ring opening should proceed via both the C-C and C-N cleavage pathways. The solvent effect on the regioselectivity of the ring opening of the 2-aziridinylmethyl radicals was found to be very small. The substituent effects on C-C cleavage could be explained successfully by the spin-delocalization mechanism. For the substituent effects on C-N cleavage, an extraordinary through-bond pi-acceptor effect must be taken into account. Furthermore, studies on bicyclic 2-aziridinylmethyl radicals showed that the ring strain could also affect the regiochemistry of the ring-opening reactions.     

Rate constants for the reactions of isobutyl,neopentyl, cyclopentyl,and cyclohexyl radicals with molecular oxygen

Rate constants have been measured for the reactions of four hydrocarbon radicals with O₂ in the gas phase at room temperature. Laserflash photolysis was used to generate low concentrations of radicals. A photoinization mass spectrometer followed the radical loss as a function of time. The measured pseudo first-order decay rate of the radical and the absolute oxygen concentration were combined to give the absolute rate constants (in units of 10^?12 cm³ molec^?1 s^?1): isobutyl (2.9 ± 0.7); neopentyl (1.6 ± 0.3); cyclopentyl (17 ± 3); and cyclohexyl (14 ± 2). The cycloalkyl radicals have rate constants similar to those of other secondary radicals. However, the isobutyl and neopentyl radicals react more slowly than similar primary radicals. These new rate constants are compared in Figure 2 with the recently published correlation of reactive cross section with radical ionization potential.     

Substituent effects in the reaction of phenols with polyacrylonitrile radicals

Substituent effects in the reactivities of phenols towards polyacrylonitrile radicals have been studied in terms of Swain and Luptons' field (F_k) and resonance (R_k) components of the substituent parameters and the unique positional weighting factors (f_j and r_j) proposed by Williams and Norrington, with the aid of the following equation:

$\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{= x}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{F}{}_{\mathrm{k}}\text{+ ß}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{r}{}_{\mathrm{j}}\text{K}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{+ e}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{+}\text{P}\text{i}\text{o}$

P_i′s are the rate parameters, P_i⁰ being that for a standard reference compound. Two types of rate parameters have been employed—one, suggested by Simonyi, Tüdös and Pospisil (β) and another, suggested by us, (K), which is obtained from a plot of [Monomer]/(rate of polymerisation) vs [Phenol]. The correlations have been found to be quite satisfactory with both β and K. An attempt has been made to ascertain the nature of the transition state from the reaction parameters α_i and β_i; a dipolar transition state is suggested. The anomalous kinetic behaviour of hydroxy phenols has been discussed.     

Substituent effects and the role of negative hyperconjugation in siloxycarbene rearrangements

Substituent effects and the role of negative hyperconjugation in 1,2-silyl migration and decarbonylation of methoxy(substituted-siloxy)carbenes have been investigated using quantum chemical calculations and natural bond orbital analysis. It has been found that sigma-electron-withdrawing substituents generally lower the barriers for 1,2-silyl migration and decarbonylation, consistent with symmetry-forbidden concerted rearrangements involving intramolecular front-side nucleophilic attack by the carbene lone pair at silicon and by the methoxy oxygen at silicon, respectively. However, while good linear Hammett correlations are obtained for 1,2-silyl migration, those obtained for decarbonylation are poor. In addition, there appears to be a relationship between the extent of pertinent hyperconjugative interactions in the siloxycarbene conformers and the ease of intramolecular reactivity. As a matter of fact, the finding that 1,2-silyl migration is more favorable than decarbonylation seems to be primarily related to stronger negative hyperconjugation between the carbene lone pair and the O-Si antibonding orbital, compared to that between the methoxy oxygen n(sigma) lone pair and the O-Si antibonding orbital. Moreover, the activation enthalpies for 1,2-silyl migration decrease linearly with stronger negative hyperconjugation, although no such correlation could be established for decarbonylation.     

Substituent and solvent effects on the beta-heterolysis reaction of beta-hydroxy arylethyl radicals

Time-resolved conversion of a series of beta-hydroxy arylethyl radicals with electron-donating and -withdrawing aromatic substituents to their corresponding styrene radical cation via heterolytic loss of the beta-hydroxy leaving group was examined with nanosecond laser flash photolysis. In all cases, the reaction was catalyzed by added perchloric acid. Radicals 2a-d reacted via a pre-equilibrium protonation mechanism in acidic 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP), and measuring rate constants for radical cation formation as a function of acid content allowed for the determination of absolute rate constants ranging from 3.6 x 10(6) to 3.8 x 10(7) s(-1) for the loss of water from the protonated beta-hydroxy arylethyl radicals 2a-d, as well as the acidity constants, pKa approximately 1.5 (in HFIP), for the protonated radicals. The 4-methoxy-substituted beta-hydroxy arylethyl radical 2e reacted by rate determining protonation in HFIP with a second-order rate constant of k(H+) = 7.8 x 10(8) M(-1) s(-1). However, in acetonitrile, 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol, and mixtures of these two solvents, 2e reacted by pre-equilibrium protonation, allowing for solvent effects on the rate constant for loss of water from the protonated radical 2e to be determined. With use of these data, substituent electronic effects on the kinetics of the beta-heterolysis reaction are discussed. Differences in the effect of solvent on the rate constant for loss of water from the protonated beta-hydroxy arylethyl radicals and other beta-substituted arylethyl radicals are also discussed.     

Substituent effects in the reaction between acetophenones and polyacrylonitrile radicals

The reactivity of substituted acetophenones towards polyacrylonitrile radical has been correlated with Swain and Luptons field and resonance parameters inclusive of the unique positional weighting factors suggested by Williams and Norrington. From the sign and magnitude of the reaction dependent regression constants, the transition state has been found to be essentially ‘non-polar’ in character.     

Substituent effects in the reaction between benzaldehydes and polyacrylonitrile radicals

The effects of substituents on the reaction of benzaldehydes with polyacrylonitrile radicals have been studied in terms of the multiparameter equations based on Swain and Lupton's Field and Resonance (F and R) components with the unique positional weighting factors f and r developed by Williams and Norrington. From the nature of the reaction constants, a polar transition state has been postulated.     

Substituent effects on the lifetime and fluorescence of excited diphenylmethyl radicals in solution

The room-temperature lifetimes of ring-substituted excited diphenylmethyl radicals have been shown to correlate well with the energy gap between the fluorescent lowest excited doublet and the ground state. Attempts to correlate the lifetimes with Hammett constants were unsuccessful.     

The reaction of cyclopentyl radicals with carbon tetrachloride

The photolysis of azocyclopentane in the presence of cyclopentane–carbon tetrachloride mixtures has been investigated in the gas phase. Product analysis data have been used to determine the Arrhenius parameters for the reactions The rate data for chlorine atom abstraction from CCl₄ by the cyclopentyl radical were compared with available data for other alkyl radicals in both the gas and the solution phases. The results indicate that the rate constant for chlorine atom abstraction in the gas phase is fairly insensitive to the nature of the attacking alkyl radical and that the activation energy for a secondary radical is about 4 kcal/mol higher than the corresponding reaction in the solution phase.     

Remote substituent effects upon the rearrangements of housane cation radicals

The rearrangement of a series of housane-derived cation radicals was investigated. Surprisingly, 2-aryl-substituted systems rearranged regioselectively and in a process whose selectivity proved to be independent of the electronic character of para substituents. The major reaction pathway is suggested to be the one that allows maximum delocalization, and allows it to be maintained for as long as possible. Bridging is invoked to account for the regio- and stereoselectivity. When a nonbridging trimethylsilylmethyl substituent is appended to C2, the regioselectivity is eroded entirely. B3LYP/6-31G(d) calculations corroborate the notion that bridging plays a role. While bridging ought to stabilize an intermediate by allowing delocalization of the charge/spin, there should be an accompanying entropic penalty. To determine the relative importance of enthalpic and entropic factors in determining the product selectivity, the rearrangement of the p-methoxyphenyl-substituted housane was investigated as a function of temperature. Enthalpic factors dominated over the entire temperature range that was explored. Overall, the results indicate that it is possible to influence the direction of migration in housane-derived cation radical rearrangements even when the regiochemical control unit is not directly appended to the migration terminus. This finding suggests that there may be other substituents that can be placed at C2 that could do the same, perhaps more efficiently.     

Kinetics of the self reaction of cyclohexyl radicals

The kinetics of the self-reaction of cyclohexyl radicals was studied by laser photolysis/photoionization mass spectroscopy. Overall rate constants were obtained in direct real-time experiments in the temperature region 303-520 K and at bath gas (helium with up to 5% of radical precursors) densities (3.00-12.0) × 10(16) molecules cm(-3). Cyclohexyl radicals were produced by a combination of the 193 nm photolysis of oxalyl chloride ((CClO)(2)) with the subsequent fast reaction of Cl atoms with cyclohexane, and their initial concentrations were determined from real-time profiles of HCl. The observed overall c-C(6)H(11) + c-C(6)H(11) rate constants demonstrate negative temperature dependence, which can be described by the following expressions: k(1) = 4.8 × 10(-12) exp(+542 K/T) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1), with estimated uncertainty of 16% over the 303-520 K temperature range. The fraction of disproportionation equal to 41 ± 7% was determined at 305 K; analysis of earlier experimental determinations of the disproportionation-to-recombination branching ratio leads to recommending this room-temperature value for other temperatures. The corresponding temperature dependences of the recombination (1a, bicyclohexyl product) and the disproportionation (1b, cyclohexene and cyclohexane products) channels are k(1a) = 2.8 × 10(-12) exp(+542 K/T) and k(1b) = 2.0 × 10(-12) exp(+542 K/T) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1), with estimated uncertainties of 20% and 29%, respectively.     

Substituent effects on the oxidation and reduction potentials of phenylthiyl radicals in acetonitrile.

Oxidation (E(1/2)(ox)) and reduction potentials (E(1/2)(red)) of a series of para-substituted phenylthiyl radicals XC(6)H(4)S* generated from the pertinent disulfides or thiophenols have been measured by means of photomodulated voltammetry in acetonitrile. The values of E(1/2)(ox) are of particular interest as they give access to the hitherto unknown thermochemistry of short-lived phenylsulfenium cations in solution. Both E(1/2)(OX) and E(1/2)(red) decrease as the electron-donating power of the substituent raises, resulting in linear correlations with the Hammett substituent coefficient sigma(+) with slopes rho(+) of 4.7 and 6.4, respectively. The finding of a larger substituent effect on than is a consequence of a corresponding development in the electron affinities and ionization potentials of XC(6)H(4)S* as revealed by quantum-chemical calculations. Solvation energies extracted for XC(6)H(4)S(+) and XC(6)H(4)S(-) from thermochemical cycles show the expected substituent dependency; i.e., the absolute values of the solvation energies decrease as the charge becomes more delocalized in the ions. Acetonitrile is better in solvating XC(6)H(4)S(+) than XC(6)H(4)S(-) for most substituents, even if there is a substantial delocalization of the charge in the series of phenylsulfenium cations. The substituent effect on is smaller in aqueous solution than acetonitrile, which is attributed to the ability of water to stabilize in particular localized anions through hydrogen bonding.     

Substituent effects on the bridging modes of photochemical rearrangements of pyrazino-, quinoxalino-, and benzoquinoxalinobarrelenes

Chemoselective photorearrangements of symmetrically substituted pyrazinobarrelene 4, quinoxalinobarrelene 5, and benzoquinoxalinobarrelenes 6 and 7 containing polar and non-polar groups under various conditions are described. In both direct and sensitized irradiation conditions, barrelenes 4-7 afforded similar bridging modes and photoproduct distributions suggesting a resemblance in the multiplicities of photoreactants upon excitation. Irradiation of pyrazinobarrelene 4a furnished almost equal amounts of photoproducts derived from DPM (vinyl-vinyl bridging) and ADPM (aryl-vinyl bridging) pathways. Pyrazinobarrelenes 4b-d underwent chemoselective rearrangements via the ADPM route. In the case of quinoxalinobarrelenes 5a-c and benzoquinoxalinobarrelenes 6b,c, vinyl-vinyl bridging was strongly favored. Benzoquinoxalinobarrelene 6a was insensitive to photochemical reactions. Heteroaryl-vinyl bonding was the preferred primary interaction in benzoquinoxalinobarrelene 7a whereas 7b favored the DPM route via vinyl-vinyl bridging. The photochemical behavior of the title compounds was explained in terms of energy minimization of the perturbed triplet state and diradical stabilization by polar and non-polar substituents. Plausible mechanisms for the photochemical reactions are also described.     

Kinetics of the reaction between cyclohexylsulfonyl and cyclohexyl radicals

Previous pulse photolysis studies on the combination of cyclohexylsulfonyl radicals /1/ have been extended to determination of the rate constant for the reaction ₆H₁₁SO₂+₆H₁₁prod. in a solution of cyclohexane at 293–323 K.

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/1/ . C₆H₁₁SO₂+C₆H₁₁ 293–323 .

     

Mutual isomerization of cyclopentyl and 1-Penten-5-y1 radicals

Unimolecular reactions of mutual isomerization of cyclopentyl and 1-penten-5-yl radicals have been investigated by chemical activation. The radicals were generated by adding energized hydrogen atoms (E_H about 23 kcal mol⁻¹) to the double bond of either cyclopentane or 1,4-pentadiene. Based on the extensive steady-state RRKM calculations employing the experimental data from this work as well as from the literature, the threshold energies for the cyclopentyl ring opening and closure are 32 ± 0.3 and 16.2 ± 0.3 kcal mol⁻¹, respectively. The entropy of activation for the ring opening is close to zero.