Probing the cyclic transition state in the reaction O(P-3) plus alkyl iodides to form HOI: electronic, steric and thermodynamic factors influencing the reaction pathway
Jp. Reid et al., Probing the cyclic transition state in the reaction O(P-3) plus alkyl iodides to form HOI: electronic, steric and thermodynamic factors influencing the reaction pathway, PCCP PHYS C, 2(4), 2000, pp. 853-860
Electronic, steric and thermodynamic factors governing the reaction of O(P-
3) with alkyl iodides to yield HOI are probed by time-resolved Fourier tran
sform infrared emission spectroscopy. The reaction to produce HOI is known
to proceed through a cyclic 5-membered transition state. Steric effects are
examined by studying the nascent vibrational distribution of the HOI produ
ct in the reactions of O(P-3) with cyclopentyl iodide and cyclohexyl iodide
. Little effect of steric hindrance is observed with either of these reacta
nts. A CF3 electron withdrawing group on the carbon in the beta-position to
the iodine atom, probed by studying the precursor CH2ICH2CF3, weakens the
C-H bond participating in the cyclic transition state and therefore diminis
hes the partitioning of vibrational energy into the HOI product. The cyclic
5-membered transition state occurs not only with saturated hydrocarbon cha
ins, but also when either the H atom or the I atom is abstracted from an ol
efinic carbon site to yield an allene or acetylene product. This is explore
d by probing the reactions of O(P-3) with CH(2)2CHI and CH(2)2CHCH(2)I, vin
yl and allyl iodide, respectively. The energetic driving force for these re
actions is the formation of the carbon-carbon multiple bond in the correspo
nding product. If a strongly doubly bound product pathway is not available,
such as in the reaction of O(P-3) with trimethyliodosilane, (CH3)(3)SiI, t
he reaction exothermicity is not sufficient to form vibrationally excited H
OI. Preferential reaction through a 5-membered cyclic transition state to a
bstract an H atom from a carbon atom, rather than through a 6-membered ring
by abstraction of an H atom from an oxygen atom, appears to be the mechani
sm in the reaction of O(P-3) with 2-iodoethanol, CH2ICH2OH.