量子トンネリングによる同位体制御の選択性:サイクロプロピルメチルカーベンの水素移動対環膨張

This lesson discusses the stability of substituted cyclohexanes with a focus on energies of various conformers and the effect of 1,3-diaxial interactions.
The two chair conformations of cyclohexanes undergo rapid interconversion at room temperature. Both forms have identical energies and stabilities, each comprising equal amounts of the equilibrium mixture. Replacing a hydrogen atom with a functional group makes the two conformations energetically non-equivalent.
For example, in...

If a set of reactants can yield multiple constitutional isomers, but one of the isomers is obtained as the major product, the reaction is said to be regioselective. In such reactions, bond formation or breaking is favored at one reaction site over others.
The hydrohalogenation of an unsymmetrical alkene can yield two haloalkane products, depending on which vinylic carbon takes up the halogen. However, one product usually predominates, where hydrogen adds to the vinylic carbon bearing the...

Depending upon the different spatial orientation of the substituents, the disubstituted cycloalkanes exhibit two types of stereoisomers. The cis isomers have the substituents on the same side of the ring, whereas the trans isomers have the substituents on the opposite sides. These stereoisomers exhibit different physical properties and cannot be interconverted without breaking the carbon-carbon bonds.
In cyclohexane, the substituents can occupy different positions generating distinct isomers....

The axial and equatorial protons in cyclohexane can be distinguished by performing a variable-temperature NMR experiment. In this process, except for one proton, the remaining eleven protons are replaced by deuterium. The deuterium substitution avoids the possible peak splitting caused by the spin-spin coupling between the adjacent protons. The remaining proton flips between the axial and equatorial positions.

A significant aspect of hydroboration–oxidation is the regio- and stereochemical outcome of the reaction.
Hydroboration proceeds in a concerted fashion with the attack of borane on the π bond, giving a cyclic four-centered transition state. The –BH2 group is bonded to the less substituted carbon and –H to the more substituted carbon. The concerted nature requires the simultaneous addition of –H and –BH2 across the same face of the alkene giving syn stereochemistry.

Adolf von Baeyer attempted to explain the instabilities of small and large cycloalkane rings using the concept of angle strain — the strain caused by the deviation of bond angles from the ideal 109.5° tetrahedral value for sp3  hybridized carbons. However, while cyclopropane and cyclobutane are strained, as expected from their highly compressed bond angles, cyclopentane is more strained than predicted, and cyclohexane is virtually strain-free. Hence, Baeyer’s theory that...