Carbomethoxychlorocarbene: spectroscopy, theory, chemistry and kinetics.
Photolysis (254 nm) of methyl 8-chloro-3a,7a-methanoindan-8-carboxylate (5) in argon at 14 K produces carbomethoxychlorocarbene (6) as a persistent species. The IR and UV-vis spectra of the carbene were recorded and analyzed with the aid of density functional calculations (B3-LYP/6-31G). The IR spectrum of 6 is consistent with the carbene having a nonplanar singlet ground state, in agreement with the G3(MP2)//B3-LYP calculations of Scott and Radom (accompanying paper). Irradiation (300 nm) of 5 in solution produces indane in 97% yield. In cyclohexane, carbene 6 is trapped by insertion into a CH bond, whereas in 2,3-dimethylbutene it adds to the double bond to form a cyclopropane. Laser flash photolysis of 5 (308 nm, 17 ns, XeCl excimer) produces carbene 6 which reacts with pyridine to form an ylide (lambda(max) = 440 nm). It was possible to resolve the growth of the ylide in Freon-113 (CF(2)ClCFCl(2)) to measure the lifetime (tau = 114 ns, ambient temperature) of the carbene and the absolute rate constant of its reaction with pyridine (k(pyr) = 2 x 10(9) M(-)(1) s(-)(1)). A plot of log(1/tau) versus 1/T in CF(2)ClCFCl(2) is linear with Arrhenius parameters E(a) = 10.9 +/- 0.8 kJ/mol and A = 10(9.1)(+/-)(0.2) s(-)(1). In perfluorohexane, a less reactive solvent than Freon-113, E(a) = 23.4 +/- 1.7 kJ/mol, A = 10(10.6)(+/-)(0.) s(-)(1), and tau = 354 ns at 293 K. It is argued that the activation barrier to carbene disappearance in perfluorohexane represents the lower limit to the barrier to Wolff rearrangement of the carbene.
Likhotvorik
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Department of Chemistry, The Ohio State University, 100 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Zhu
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Tae
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Tippmann
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Hill
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Platz
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