THE EFFECT OF ARYL SUBSTITUENTS ON ARYLCARBENE REACTIVITY

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4020(01)96384-7

Substituted (p-MeO, p-Me, H, p-Cl, p-Br, m-Br, m-MeO, 3,4-Cl2, p-CO2Me, m-CN and p-CN) monophenylcarbenes are generated in a binary mixture of substrates (methanol, cis-4-methyl-2-pentene and cyclohexane) and the relative rate of O - H insertion into methanol to stereospecific cyclopropanation of the olefin to C - H insertion into cyclohexane are calculated from the ratios of products and substrates.It is found (i) that the reactivities of the substrates decrease in the order of methanol, olefin and cyclohexane and (ii) that electron-donating substituents generally lead to reaction with the more reactive substrates while the reaction with the less reactive substrates is favoured in the case of electron-withdrawing substituents.These results are interpreted in terms of the change in the electrophilicity of the singlet arylcarbene by the substituents rather than the change in the singlet-triplet equilibrium.