Baldwin's rules in organic chemistry are a series of guidelines outlining the relative favorabilities of ring closure reactions in alicyclic compounds. They were first proposed by Jack Baldwin in 1976. [1] [2]
Baldwin's rules discuss the relative rates of ring closures of these various types. These terms are not meant to describe the absolute probability that a reaction will or will not take place, rather they are used in a relative sense. A reaction that is disfavoured (slow) does not have a rate that is able to compete effectively with an alternative reaction that is favoured (fast). However, the disfavoured product may be observed, if no alternate reactions are more favoured.
The rules classify ring closures in three ways:
Thus, a ring closure reaction could be classified as, for example, a 5-exo-trig.
Baldwin discovered that orbital overlap requirements for the formation of bonds favour only certain combinations of ring size and the exo/endo/dig/trig/tet parameters.
There are sometimes exceptions to Baldwin's rules. For example, cations often disobey Baldwin's rules, as do reactions in which a third-row atom is included in the ring. An expanded and revised version of the rules is available: [3]
3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||||
type | exo | endo | exo | endo | exo | endo | exo | endo | exo | endo |
tet | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ||
trig | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
dig | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
The rules apply when the nucleophile can attack the bond in question in an ideal angle. These angles are 180° (Walden inversion) for exo-tet reactions, 109° (Bürgi–Dunitz angle) for exo-trig reaction and 120° for endo-dig reactions. Angles for nucleophilic attack on alkynes were reviewed and redefined recently. [4] The "acute angle" of attack postulated by Baldwin was replaced with a trajectory similar to the Bürgi–Dunitz angle. [5]
In one study, seven-membered rings were constructed in a tandem 5-exo-dig addition reaction / Claisen rearrangement: [6]
A 6-endo-dig pattern was observed in an allene - alkyne 1,2-addition / Nazarov cyclization tandem catalysed by a gold compound: [7]
A 5-endo-dig ring closing reaction was part of a synthesis of (+)-Preussin: [8]
Baldwin's rules also apply to aldol cyclizations involving enolates. [9] [10] Two new descriptors need to be defined: enolendo and enolexo, which refer to whether both carbons of the enolate C-C fragment are incorporated into the ring formed or not, respectively.
The rules are the following: [11]
enolendo | enolexo | |||||||||
type | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
exo-tet | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
exo-trig | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
These rules are based on empirical evidence and numerous "exceptions" are known. [12] [13] [14] Examples include:
In organic chemistry, allenes are organic compounds in which one carbon atom has double bonds with each of its two adjacent carbon atoms. Allenes are classified as cumulated dienes. The parent compound of this class is propadiene, which is itself also called allene. A group of the structure R2C=C=CR− is called allenyl, while a substituent attached to an allene is referred to as an allenic substituent. In analogy to allylic and propargylic, a substituent attached to a saturated carbon α to an allene is referred to as an allenylic substituent. While allenes have two consecutive ('cumulated') double bonds, compounds with three or more cumulated double bonds are called cumulenes.
In chemistry, intramolecular describes a process or characteristic limited within the structure of a single molecule, a property or phenomenon limited to the extent of a single molecule.
In organometallic chemistry, organolithium reagents are chemical compounds that contain carbon–lithium (C–Li) bonds. These reagents are important in organic synthesis, and are frequently used to transfer the organic group or the lithium atom to the substrates in synthetic steps, through nucleophilic addition or simple deprotonation. Organolithium reagents are used in industry as an initiator for anionic polymerization, which leads to the production of various elastomers. They have also been applied in asymmetric synthesis in the pharmaceutical industry. Due to the large difference in electronegativity between the carbon atom and the lithium atom, the C−Li bond is highly ionic. Owing to the polar nature of the C−Li bond, organolithium reagents are good nucleophiles and strong bases. For laboratory organic synthesis, many organolithium reagents are commercially available in solution form. These reagents are highly reactive, and are sometimes pyrophoric.
The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition is a chemical reaction between a 1,3-dipole and a dipolarophile to form a five-membered ring. The earliest 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions were described in the late 19th century to the early 20th century, following the discovery of 1,3-dipoles. Mechanistic investigation and synthetic application were established in the 1960s, primarily through the work of Rolf Huisgen. Hence, the reaction is sometimes referred to as the Huisgen cycloaddition. 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition is an important route to the regio- and stereoselective synthesis of five-membered heterocycles and their ring-opened acyclic derivatives. The dipolarophile is typically an alkene or alkyne, but can be other pi systems. When the dipolarophile is an alkyne, aromatic rings are generally produced.
A cascade reaction, also known as a domino reaction or tandem reaction, is a chemical process that comprises at least two consecutive reactions such that each subsequent reaction occurs only in virtue of the chemical functionality formed in the previous step. In cascade reactions, isolation of intermediates is not required, as each reaction composing the sequence occurs spontaneously. In the strictest definition of the term, the reaction conditions do not change among the consecutive steps of a cascade and no new reagents are added after the initial step. By contrast, one-pot procedures similarly allow at least two reactions to be carried out consecutively without any isolation of intermediates, but do not preclude the addition of new reagents or the change of conditions after the first reaction. Thus, any cascade reaction is also a one-pot procedure, while the reverse does not hold true. Although often composed solely of intramolecular transformations, cascade reactions can also occur intermolecularly, in which case they also fall under the category of multicomponent reactions.
The Aza-Diels–Alder reaction is a modification of the Diels–Alder reaction wherein a nitrogen replaces sp2 carbon. The nitrogen atom can be part of the diene or the dienophile.
In organic chemistry, a cycloalkyne is the cyclic analog of an alkyne. A cycloalkyne consists of a closed ring of carbon atoms containing one or more triple bonds. Cycloalkynes have a general formula CnH2n−4. Because of the linear nature of the C−C≡C−C alkyne unit, cycloalkynes can be highly strained and can only exist when the number of carbon atoms in the ring is great enough to provide the flexibility necessary to accommodate this geometry. Large alkyne-containing carbocycles may be virtually unstrained, while the smallest constituents of this class of molecules may experience so much strain that they have yet to be observed experimentally. Cyclooctyne is the smallest cycloalkyne capable of being isolated and stored as a stable compound. Despite this, smaller cycloalkynes can be produced and trapped through reactions with other organic molecules or through complexation to transition metals.
The Nazarov cyclization reaction is a chemical reaction used in organic chemistry for the synthesis of cyclopentenones. The reaction is typically divided into classical and modern variants, depending on the reagents and substrates employed. It was originally discovered by Ivan Nikolaevich Nazarov (1906–1957) in 1941 while studying the rearrangements of allyl vinyl ketones.
In organic chemistry, hydroamination is the addition of an N−H bond of an amine across a carbon-carbon multiple bond of an alkene, alkyne, diene, or allene. In the ideal case, hydroamination is atom economical and green. Amines are common in fine-chemical, pharmaceutical, and agricultural industries. Hydroamination can be used intramolecularly to create heterocycles or intermolecularly with a separate amine and unsaturated compound. The development of catalysts for hydroamination remains an active area, especially for alkenes. Although practical hydroamination reactions can be effected for dienes and electrophilic alkenes, the term hydroamination often implies reactions metal-catalyzed processes.
The Kulinkovich reaction describes the organic synthesis of substituted cyclopropanols through reaction of esters with dialkyldialkoxytitanium reagents, which are generated in situ from Grignard reagents containing a hydrogen in beta-position and titanium(IV) alkoxides such as titanium isopropoxide. This reaction was first reported by Oleg Kulinkovich and coworkers in 1989.
Iodolactonization is an organic reaction that forms a ring by the addition of an oxygen and iodine across a carbon-carbon double bond. It is an intramolecular variant of the halohydrin synthesis reaction. The reaction was first reported by M. J. Bougalt in 1904 and has since become one of the most effective ways to synthesize lactones. Strengths of the reaction include the mild conditions and incorporation of the versatile iodine atom into the product.
Radical cyclization reactions are organic chemical transformations that yield cyclic products through radical intermediates. They usually proceed in three basic steps: selective radical generation, radical cyclization, and conversion of the cyclized radical to product.
Lectka and co-workers developed a catalytic, asymmetric method to synthesize β-lactams.
The [2,3]-Wittig rearrangement is the transformation of an allylic ether into a homoallylic alcohol via a concerted, pericyclic process. Because the reaction is concerted, it exhibits a high degree of stereocontrol, and can be employed early in a synthetic route to establish stereochemistry. The Wittig rearrangement requires strongly basic conditions, however, as a carbanion intermediate is essential. [1,2]-Wittig rearrangement is a competitive process.
The nitrone-olefin (3+2) cycloaddition reaction is the combination of a nitrone with an alkene or alkyne to generate an isoxazoline or isoxazolidine via a (3+2) cycloaddition process. This reaction is a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, in which the nitrone acts as the 1,3-dipole, and the alkene or alkyne as the dipolarophile.
Perfluorobutanesulfonyl fluoride (nonafluorobutanesulfonyl fluoride, NfF) is a colorless, volatile liquid that is immiscible with water but soluble in common organic solvents. It is prepared by the electrochemical fluorination of sulfolane. NfF serves as an entry point to nonafluorobutanesulfonates (nonaflates), which are valuable as electrophiles in palladium catalyzed cross coupling reactions. As a perfluoroalkylsulfonylating agent, NfF offers the advantages of lower cost and greater stability over the more frequently used triflic anhydride. The fluoride leaving group is readily substituted by nucleophiles such as amines, phenoxides, and enolates, giving sulfonamides, aryl nonaflates, and alkenyl nonaflates, respectively. However, it is not attacked by water (in which it is stable at pH<12). Hydrolysis by barium hydroxide gives Ba(ONf)2, which upon treatment with sulfuric acid gives perfluorobutanesulfonic acid and insoluble barium sulfate.
In chemistry, primarily organic and computational chemistry, a stereoelectronic effect is an effect on molecular geometry, reactivity, or physical properties due to spatial relationships in the molecules' electronic structure, in particular the interaction between atomic and/or molecular orbitals. Phrased differently, stereoelectronic effects can also be defined as the geometric constraints placed on the ground and/or transition states of molecules that arise from considerations of orbital overlap. Thus, a stereoelectronic effect explains a particular molecular property or reactivity by invoking stabilizing or destabilizing interactions that depend on the relative orientations of electrons in space.
Cycloisomerization is any isomerization in which the cyclic isomer of the substrate is produced in the reaction coordinate. The greatest advantage of cycloisomerization reactions is its atom economical nature, by design nothing is wasted, as every atom in the starting material is present in the product. In most cases these reactions are mediated by a transition metal catalyst, in few cases organocatalysts and rarely do they occur under thermal conditions. These cyclizations are able to be performed with excellent levels of selectivity in numerous cases and have transformed cycloisomerization into a powerful tool for unique and complex molecular construction. Cycloisomerization is a very broad topic in organic synthesis and many reactions that would be categorized as such exist. Two basic classes of these reactions are intramolecular Michael addition and Intramolecular Diels–Alder reactions. Under the umbrella of cycloisomerization, enyne and related olefin cycloisomerizations are the most widely used and studied reactions.
Cyclopentyne is a cycloalkyne containing five carbon atoms in the ring. Due to the ideal bond angle of 180° at each atom of the alkyne but the structural requirement that the bonds form a ring, this chemical is a highly strained structure, and the triple bond is highly reactive. The triple bond easily undergoes both [2+2] and [4+2] cycloaddition reactions. Unlike benzyne, which undergoes a [2+2] addition with loss of stereochemistry at the alkene partner, cyclopentyne reacts with alkenes with retention of geometry of the partner, an example of the relevance of orbital symmetry even for highly reactive structures. The structure can also form a π complex with lithium cations, which affects the cycloaddition reactivity. It can even interact strongly enough with copper species to form a novel type of metallacycle.
In organic chemistry, the Conia-ene reaction is an intramolecular cyclization reaction between an enolizable carbonyl such as an ester or ketone and an alkyne or alkene, giving a cyclic product with a new carbon-carbon bond. As initially reported by J. M. Conia and P. Le Perchec, the Conia-ene reaction is a heteroatom analog of the ene reaction that uses an enol as the ene component. Like other pericyclic reactions, the original Conia-ene reaction required high temperatures to proceed, limiting its wider application. However, subsequent improvements, particularly in metal catalysis, have led to significant expansion of reaction scope. Consequently, various forms of the Conia-ene reaction have been employed in the synthesis of complex molecules and natural products.