Aromatic cations from oxidative carbon-hydrogen bond cleavage in bimolecular carbon-carbon bond forming reactions

Alkynes undergo oxidative cleavage in the presence of oxidizing reagents like potassium permanganate and ozone. The triple bond — one σ bond and two π bonds — is completely cleaved, and the alkyne is oxidized to carboxylic acids. When warm and basic aqueous potassium permanganate is used as an oxidizing agent, alkynes are first converted to carboxylate salts via an unstable α-diketone intermediate. Further, a mild acid treatment protonates the carboxylate anions generating free carboxylic acid...

Carbocations are one of the reaction intermediates formed during several nucleophilic substitutions or elimination reactions. A carbocation is an electron-deficient species with the central carbon atom having six electrons and three bonded atoms. The central carbon in a carbocation is sp2 hybridized with trigonal planar geometry. It has an empty p orbital perpendicular to the plane of the structure that can accept electrons. Thus, carbocations act as strong electrophiles and may react with any...

A bond is formed between two atoms by sharing two electrons. When this bond is broken by supplying sufficient energy, either two electrons can be taken up by one atom forming ions by the cleavage called heterolysis, or the two electrons are shared by two atoms, with one each creating radicals by the cleavage called homolysis.

Cycloheptatriene is a neutral monocyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon that consists of an odd number of carbon atoms and an intervening sp3 carbon in the ring. The three double bonds in the ring correspond to 6 π electrons, which is a Huckel number, and therefore satisfies the criteria of 4n + 2 π electrons. However, the intervening sp3 carbon disrupts the continuous overlap of p orbitals. As a result, cycloheptatriene is not aromatic.
Removing one hydrogen from the intervening CH2 group with both...

Neutral hydrocarbons like cyclopentadiene with an odd number of carbon atoms and one intervening CH2 group in the ring are not aromatic. Cyclopentadiene with 4 π electrons does not satisfy the 4n + 2 π electron rule. Additionally, the intervening CH2 group is sp3 hybridized and lacks a vacant p orbital, thereby interrupting the overlap of p orbitals in a continuous manner and preventing the delocalization of π electrons throughout the ring.
Due to the absence of continuous overlap of p...

The double bond in a simple, unconjugated alkene is a region of high electron density that can act as a weak base or a nucleophile. The filled π orbital (HOMO) of the double bond can interact with the empty LUMO of an electrophile. A bonding interaction occurs when the electrophile attacks between the two carbons; the electrophile then accepts a pair of electrons from the π bond and undergoes addition across the double bond, yielding a single product.
Addition and elimination reactions can be...