The effect of leaving radical on the formation of tetrahydroselenophene by SHi ring closure: an experimental and computational study.

Competition kinetic studies augmented with laser-flash photolysis and high-level computational techniques [G3(MP2)-RAD], with [COSMO-RS, SMD] and without solvent correction, provide kinetic parameters for the ring closures of a series of 4-(alkylseleno)butyl radicals 1. At 22 °C rate constants (kc) that lie between 10(4)-10(7) s(-1) were determined experimentally and correlate with expectations based on leaving group ability. Activation energies (Eact) were determined to lie between 10.6 (R = Ph2CH) and 28.0 (R = n-Bu) kJ mol(-1), while log(A/s(-1)) values were generally between 9 and 10 in benzene. Computationally determined rate constants were in good-to-excellent agreement with those determined experimentally, with the COSMO-RS solvation model providing values that more closely resemble those from experiment than SMD.

First-principles prediction of rate coefficients for free-radical cyclization reactions at selenium.

High-level ab initio calculations of the barriers, enthalpies, and rate coefficients for the intramolecular cyclization reactions of *CH(2)CH(2)CH(2)CH(2)SeR (R = Me, n-Bu, s-Bu, t-Bu, Bn, Bz, Ph(2)CH) and *CH(2)CH(2)CH(2)CH(2)CHCH(2) have been performed at the G3(MP2)-RAD level. The calculated rate coefficients show excellent agreement with experiment (to within a factor of 5 or better), although this might be due, in part, to a systematic cancelation of order-of-magnitude errors in the corresponding Arrhenius parameters. The intramolecular cyclizations at selenium were found to be energetically favorable processes that occur with synthetically accessible rate coefficients on the order of 10(4)-10(6) s(-1) at 294 K. These values are largely governed by the stabilization energy of the leaving radical, though with contributions from steric and polar effects.

Comparison of carbon-silicon hyperconjugation at the 2- and 4-positions of the N-methylpyridinium cation.

[structure: see text] N-Methyl-2-trialkylsilylmethylpyridinium cations 6a-c and 4-trialkylsilylmethylpyridinium cations 5a-c were prepared and investigated using (29)Si and (13)C NMR and single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Systematic differences in the (29)Si chemical shifts and (29)Si-(13)C one-bond coupling constants for these cations suggested that the Si-CH(2) bond interacts more strongly at the 2-position of the electron-deficient pyridinium ring than at the 4-position. This result is supported by the X-ray structures of the pyridinium cations 5b and 6b.