SCHEME 1
Gas-Phase Kinetics and Activation
Parameters for Thermal 1,5-Hydrogen
Shifts Interconverting
Monodeuterium-Labeled
1,3-Cyclohexadienes
The 1,5-hydrogen shift reactions of monocyclic conju-
gated dienes such as 1,3-cyclohexadiene (1) give degener-
ate products. The reactions are detectable only with the
assistance of isotopically labeled variants. An experi-
mental activation enthalpy of ∆Hq ) 40 kcal/mol for the
1,5-hydrogen shift of 1,4-d2-1 was reported in 1975.8 In
1976 in a Ph.D. thesis providing experimental details
about this work, the activation enthalpy for the reaction
of 1,4-d2-1 to give 2,5-d2-1 was reported to be 39 kcal/
mol.9 No other kinetic work on 1,5-hydrogen shifts shown
by isotopically labeled 1,3-cyclohexadienes has appeared.
John E. Baldwin* and Bonnie R. Chapman
Department of Chemistry, Syracuse University,
Syracuse, New York 13244
Received September 3, 2004
Thermal equilibrations among the three possible monodeu-
terium-labeled 1,3-cyclohexadienes have been followed in the
gas phase at temperatures from 254 to 284 °C. The temper-
ature-dependent rate constants for the 1,5-shift of a single
hydrogen lead to the activation parameters Ea ) (40.1 ( 0.8)
kcal/mol, log A ) (12.1 ( 0.3), and ∆Sq ) -(6.3 ( 1.3) e.u.
These activation parameters are reconciled with experimen-
tal values reported earlier for reactions starting with 1,4-
d2-cyclohexadiene.
Kinetic studies of 1,5-hydrogen shifts equilibrating
monodeuterium-labeled cis,cis-cyclooctadienes10,11 and
cis,cis-cycloheptadienes12,13 have provided activation pa-
rameters necessary for comparisons with theory-derived
values and for approaching better understandings of how
geometrical details in transition structures impact reac-
tion rates.14 The present work followed the equilibrations
among the three possible isotopomers of monodeuterium-
labeled 1,3-cyclohexadienes.
The three monodeuterium-labeled 1,3-cyclohexadienes
and the possible isomerization paths provided by 1,5-
hydrogen shifts are shown in Scheme 1. The rate constant
symbols in Scheme 1 reflect the path degeneracies
involved and neglect possible secondary deuterium ki-
netic isotope effects. Two hydrogens might shift to convert
2-d-1 into 1-d-1, and vice versa, or 1-d-1 into 5-d-1, so
on a per hydrogen shift basis the rate constants are
defined as 2kH. Isotopomer 5-d-1 can isomerize to 1-d-1
through the shift of but a single hydrogen, and hence the
appropriate rate constant is kH. Were a deuterium
migration to take place, 5-d-1 would give another version
of 5-d-1 and the reaction would go undetected. A kD shift
might well occur at a kinetically competitive rate, but it
would not complicate the kinetic situation at all.
Structural isomerizations through thermal 1,5-shifts
of hydrogens in conjugated dienes were encountered more
than 100 years ago, though it took some time for them
to be recognized individually and as representatives of a
specific type of reaction.1-4 Today they are well-known
as [1,5] sigmatropic rearrangements involving a suprafa-
cial transfer of a hydrogen from one end of a pentadienyl
π system to the other.5 The stereochemistry6 and very
substantial energy of concert characteristic of these
reactions7 mark them as concerted processes, transfor-
mations that take place without the intervention of any
short-lived reactive intermediate. Detailed studies of such
reactions thus offer an attractive opportunity for probing
into just how structure-reactivity relationships may
reflect the nature of transition structures of these
concerted reactions. Cyclic conjugated dienes seem well
suited for kinetic and computational studies, for the
structural variations they offer are related to geometrical
constraints rather than to major electronic effects intro-
duced by strongly electron-donating or -withdrawing
substituents.
A nonequilibrium mixture of monodeuterium-labeled
cyclohexadienes was conveniently prepared through the
(8) de Dobbelaere, J. R.; van Zeeventer, E. L.; de Haan, J. W.; Buck,
H. M. Theor. Chim. Acta 1975, 38, 241-244.
(9) de Dobbelaere, J. R. Thermal Sigmatropic [1,j] Shifts in Cyclic
Systems: A Quantumchemical Study. Ph.D. Dissertation, Eindhoven
University of Technology, The Netherlands, 1976.
(10) Glass, D. S.; Boikess, R. S.; Winstein, S. Tetrahedron Lett. 1966,
999-1008.
(1) Roth, W. R. Chimia 1966, 20, 229-236.
(2) Spangler, C. W. Chem. Rev. 1976, 76, 187-217.
(3) Hasselmann, D. Stereoselective Synthesis; Thieme: Stuttgart,
1996; Vol. E21, pp 4421-4463.
(4) For a recent extensive gathering of references on 1,5-hydrogen
shifts, see: Alabugin, I. V.; Manoharan, M.; Breiner, B.; Lewis, F. D.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 9329-9342.
(11) Baldwin, J. E.; Lee, T. W.; Leber, P. A. J. Org. Chem. 2001, 66,
5269-5271.
(12) Mironov, V. A.; Chizhov, O. S.; Kimel’feld, Ya. M.; Akhrem, A.
A. Tetrahedron Lett. 1969, 499-500.
(5) Woodward, R. B.; Hoffmann, R. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1965, 87,
2511-2513.
(13) Baldwin, J. E.; Raghavan, A. S. J. Org. Chem. 2004, 69, 8128-
8130.
(6) Roth, W. R.; Ko¨nig, J.; Stein, K.Chem. Ber. 1970, 103, 426-439.
(7) Compare: Doering, W. von E.; Roth, W. R.; Breuckmann, R.;
Figge, L.; Lennartz, H. W.; Fessner, W. D.; Prinzbach, H. Chem. Ber.
1988, 121, 1-9.
(14) (a) Hess, B. A., Jr.; Baldwin, J. E. J. Org. Chem. 2002, 67,
6025-6033. (b) Hess, B. A., Jr. Int. J. Quantum Chem. 2002, 90, 1064-
1070.
10.1021/jo048441e CCC: $30.25 © 2005 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 12/01/2004
J. Org. Chem. 2005, 70, 377-380
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