H-Coupled Electron Transfer in Alkane C−H Activations with Halogen Electrophiles

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Abstract
The mechanisms for the reactions of isobutane and adamantane with polyhalogen electrophiles (HHal2+, Hal3+, Hal5+, and Hal7+, Hal = Cl, Br, or I) were studied computationally at the MP2 and B3LYP levels of theory with the 6-31G** (C, H, Cl, Br) and 3-21G* (I) basis sets, as well as experimentally for adamantane halogenations in Br2, Br2/HBr, and I+Cl-/CCl4. The transition structures for the activation step display almost linear C···H···Hal interactions and are characterized by significant charge transfer to the electrophile; the hydrocarbon moieties resemble the respective radical cation structures. The regiospecificities for polar halogenations of the 3° C−H bonds of adamantane, the high experimental kinetic isotope effects (kH/kD = 3−4), the rate accelerations in the presence of Lewis and proton (HBr) acids, and the high kinetic orders for halogen (7.5 for Br2) can only be understood in terms of an H-coupled electron-transfer mechanism. The three centered-two electron (3c-2e) electrophilic mechanistic concept based on the attack of the electrophile on a C−H bond does not apply; electrophilic 3c-2e interactions dominate the C−H activations only with nonoxidizing electrophiles such as carbocations. This was shown by a comparative computational analysis of the electrophilic and H-coupled electron-transfer activation mechanisms for the isobutane reaction with an ambident electrophile, the allyl cation, at the above levels of theory.

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