FREE RADICAL REARRANGEMENTS OF ORGANOCOBALOXIMES: ALKYNYL TO CYCLOALKYLIDENE AND HEXENYL TO CYCLOPENTYLMETHYL

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/0022-328X(85)80129-7

Under irradiation by tungsten light in pyridine solution, several substituted alkylcobaloximes undergo rearrangement to more stable substituted alkyl- or alkenyl-cobaloximes.When the same reactions are carried out in the presence of carbon tetrachloride or chloroform, no rearranged organobaloximes are obtained, but a variety of organic products are obtained derived from the interception of transient organic radicals by the halogenated solvent.The rearrangements are rationalised in terms of a reversible homolysis of the carbon-cobalt bond, rearrangement of the organic radical and recapture by the cobalt(II) fragment to give complexes that are more stable to irradiation than their precursors.