STEREOCHEMICAL EFFECTS IN THE GAS-PHASE PINACOL REARRANGEMENT OF CIS- AND TRANS-1-METHYLCYCLOHEXANE-1,2-DIOL.

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4020(01)86188-3

The gas-phase pinacol rearrangement of cis and trans-1-methyl-1,2-cyclohexanediols, promoted by D3(+) and CnH5(+) (n= 1,2), was studied by the radiolytic method in the pressure range 100-760 Torr.Under all conditions, 2-methyl-cyclohexanone is the predominant product, arising from both substrates via different pinacol rearrangements and successive fast isomerisation of the corresponding primary intermediates, e,g, O-protonated 1-methyl-1-cyclopentanecarboxaldehyde.This conclusion is based from kinetic analysis of competition experiments with pinacol as reference substrate, carried out at high pressure (760 Torr) with or without added base (NMe3, 3 Torr), showing that the pinacol rearrngement rates are markedly dependent on the stereochemical features of the diol.Accordingly, the trans diol rearranges more rapidly than the cis isomer, which in turn isomerizes faster than pinacol, indicating that anti-periplanar CH2 migration to the vicinal tertiary C-OH2(+) center in trans (k2) is over five times faster than H migration in cis (k3).Analysis of the relative migrating ability of the different CH2 moieties in trans (k2 > k1) allowed exclusion of appreciable anchimeric assistance in these gas-phase pinacol rearrangements.The results are compared with revelant gas-phase data with those concerting the same substrates in acidic solution.