Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Will methylenecyclohexane rearrange in acid?

ad.infinitum - 22-11-2013 at 00:59

If left to stand in acid (a guess for suitable acid would be acetic acid), would methylenecyclohexane rearrange to give methlycyclohex-1-ene?

My thought being that the most substituted double bond would be more favorable thermodynamically. I have attempted the reaction mechanism and it seems possible (since an acid will reversibly allow conversion between the two)

Thanks in advance for any responses

200px-Exocyclic.png - 4kB

Dany - 22-11-2013 at 05:17

Yes this is totally feasible. It has been tried with species that act like Lewis acid (SO2) see [1]. Also the isomerization of olefin to the more thermodynamically stable isomer has been described with ammonium hypophosphite NH4H2PO2 see [2]

Dany.

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ad.infinitum - 22-11-2013 at 08:18

Thanks for the info! Looks like a lewis acid is a better way to go from the research, I would like to give it a go with glacial AcOH at some point though.