摘要:
The acyltrimethylsilanes 4-RC(6)H(4)C(O)SiMe(3) (R = H, Me, MeO) and beta-naphthylC(O)SiMe(3), upon photolysis in acetonitrile with 20 ns pulses of 248 nm light from an KrF* excimer laser, give rise to the corresponding alpha-siloxycarbenes ArC:OSiMe(3), whose absorption spectra (lambda(max) between 270 and 310 nm), lifetimes (between 130 and 260 ns), and reactivities with proton donors (ROH, mainly alcohols) are reported. With highly acidic ROH, such as 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropyl alcohol (HFIP), the reaction is of simple second order, rate constants being in the 10(9) M(-1) s(-1) range and virtually independent of the nature of the aromatic moiety of the carbene. Isotopic substitution of H in ROH by D has no effect on the rate constant for reaction with carbene. For less acidic alcohols such as, e.g., methanol, the reactivity of the carbenes increases with increasing [ROH]. This behavior is interpreted in terms of reversible adduct formation between carbene and alcohol followed by reaction with further alcohol molecule(s) to give product. On the basis of experiments in the acidic and only weakly nucleophilic solvents 2,2,2-trifluorethanol (TFE) and HFIP, protonation of the carbenes leads to the corresponding carbenium ions, whose absorption spectra (lambda(max) between 305 and 355 nm), Lifetimes (100 ns-5 mu s in TFE), and reactivities with nucleophiles (halides, alcohols, and ethers) are reported. In the solvent HFIP, the reactivities of the carbenium ions with the alcohols and ethers increase with their concentration, in a way analogous to that observed in the reaction of the carbenes with the alcohols. This is explained as resulting from reversible formation of a cation-nucleophile complex followed by reaction of the complex with a second nucleophile molecule which acts as a base. In solvents more basic than HFIP, it is presumably the solvent which serves this function.