Competitive reactions of nucleophiles. Solvolyses of cyclopropylcarbinyl and cyclobutyl methanesulfonates in the presence of NaBH4

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4020(01)82625-9

Cyclopropylcarbinyl (I) and cyclobutyl (II) mesylates were solvolysed in aqueous diglyme with or without added NaBH₄ under a variety of conditions. The reaction products were isolated and analyzed by VPC. A mixture containing cyclopropylcarbinyl, cyclobutyl and minor quantities of homoallyl products, was obtained in all cases. The proportion of the unsaturated compound was greater in hydrocarbon than in carbinol products, the composition of the mixture depending upon reaction conditions and the starting mesylate. Thus, solvolysis of both I and II yielded cyclopropylcarbinol and cyclobutanol in a ratio of nearly 1:1, while in the hydrocarbon products methylcyclopropane predominated over cyclobutane by a factor of 3 in the reactions of I and by a factor of 2 in the reactions of II. It was shown that a direct displacement reaction of the BH₄ ion on the primary mesylate I is not competitive with the solvolysis and cannot therefore be responsible for the above results. It was found that a better yield in hydrocarbons was obtained with I and II than with (1-methylcyclopropyl)carbinyl (III) and 1-methylcyclobutyl (IV) mesylates. The unexpected fact that the BH₄^- ion competes more efficiently with water for intermediates formed in solvolyses of I and II than for those of III and IV was confirmed by determination of competition factors of N₃^- ion vs water. In all cases, intermediates formed from I and II showed more discrimination in their reactions with reagents differing in nucleophylicity than did those formed from III and IV. The results indicate that the attack of the nucleophile occurs mostly on the ion pair formed in the rate determining step. The latter reaction is apparently subject to reactivity relationships typical for a direct displacement reaction and not characteristic for free carbonium ions. These facts should be borne in mind when conclusions concerning the structure of carbonium ions are drawn from the composition and structure of solvolysis products. It is concluded that the ion pairs trapped by NaBH₄ have different structures, depending upon the starting isomeric mesylate. It is shown that the formation of an equilibrating mixture of classical ions or ion pairs as intermediates in these reactions cannot account for experimental results.