Clayden Organic Chemistry 2nd Edition Ch4 5 463t2c

4

Structure of molecules

Connections Building on

Arriving at

• How organic structures are drawn ch2 • Evidence used to determine organic structure ch3

Looking forward to

• How we know that electrons have different energies

• Reactions depend on interactions between molecular orbitals ch5 & ch6

• How electrons fit into atomic orbitals

• Reactivity derives from the energies of molecular orbitals ch5, ch10, & ch12

• How atomic orbitals combine to make molecular orbitals • Why organic molecules adopt linear, planar, or tetrahedral structures

• Conjugation results from overlap of orbitals ch7 • NMR involves molecular orbitals ch13

• Connection between shape and electronic structure • Picturing the shape and energy of molecular orbitals in simple molecules • Predicting the locations of lone pairs and empty orbitals

Introduction You may recognize the model above as DNA, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for making all life on earth. The helical shape of DNA was discovered in 1953, and the detailed arrangement of atoms in the DNA molecule determines whether it is a recipe for an ant, an antelope, an antirrhinum, or anthrax. You may also have recognized this molecule as buckminsterfullerene, a soccer-ball shaped allotrope of carbon. Buckminsterfullerene, named after the architect of the geodesic dome (which it resembles), was first identified in 1985 and earned its discoverers the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1996.

Online . The icon in the margin indicates that accompanying interactive resources are provided online to help your understanding: just type www.chemtube3d.com/clayden/123 into your browser, replacing 123 with the number of the page where you see the icon. For pages linking to more than one resource, type 123-1, 123-2 etc. (replacing 123 with the page number) for access to successive links.

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INTRODUCTION

Now, our question is this: how did you recognize these two compounds? You recognized their shapes. Molecules are not simply a jumble of atoms: they are atoms held together in a defined three-dimensional shape. A compound’s properties are determined not only by the atoms it contains, but also by the spatial arrangement of these atoms. Graphite and diamond— the two other allotropes of carbon—are both composed only of carbon atoms and yet their properties, both chemical and physical, are completely different because those carbon atoms are arranged very differently. Graphite has carbon atoms arranged in sheets of hexagons; diamond has them arranged in a tetrahedral array. Graphite

Diamond

We know what shapes molecules have because we can see them—not literally of course, but by methods such as atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM reveals the shape of pentacene, the molecule we would usually draw as the structure below, to be as shown on the left. This is the closest we can get to actually ‘seeing’ the atoms themselves.

Interactive structures of buckminsterfullerene, graphite, diamond, and pentacene

pentacene

Most analytical techniques reveal the shapes of molecules less directly. X-ray diffraction gives information about the arrangement of atoms in space, while the other spectroscopic methods you met in Chapter 3 reveal details of the composition of molecules (mass spectroscopy) or the connectivity of the atoms they contain (NMR and IR). From methods such as these, we know what shapes molecules have. This is why we urged you in Chapter 2 to make your drawings of molecules realistic—we can do this because we know what is realistic and what isn’t. But now we need to tackle the question of why molecules have the shapes they do. What is it about the properties of their constituent atoms which dictates those shapes? We will fi nd that the answer not only allows us to explain and predict structure, but also allows us to explain and predict reactivity (which forms the topic of Chapter 5). First of all, we need to consider why atoms form molecules at all. Some atoms (helium, for example) do so only with extreme reluctance, but the vast majority of atoms in the periodic table are much more stable in molecules than as free atoms. Here, for example, is methane: four hydrogen atoms arranged around a carbon in the shape of a tetrahedron. H H

C

H H

tetrahedral methane four bonds and no lone pairs

Interactive structures of methane, ammonia, and water

82

CHAPTER 4   STRUCTURE OF MOLECULES

Molecules hold together because positively charged atomic nuclei are attracted to negatively charged electrons, and this fact allows electrons to act as ‘glue’ between the nuclei. The C and H nuclei of methane are of course positively charged, but the ten electrons (a total of six from C, four from the H atoms) bind those positive charges into a molecular structure. Ammonia (NH3) and water (H2O) also have ten electrons in total, and we know that their molecular shapes are in fact just like that of methane, but with one or two hydrogen atoms removed.

H

N

H H

tetrahedral ammonia three bonds and one lone pair

O

H H

tetrahedral water two bonds and two lone pairs

This tells us something important: it is the number of electrons which determines the shape of a molecule, and not just the number of atoms (or atomic nuclei). But what determines how electrons are arranged? Why do ten electrons give rise to a tetrahedron, for example? Before we can answer this question, we need to simplify our discussion a bit and think about electrons not in molecules but in individual atoms. We can then approximate the electronic structure of molecules by considering how the component atoms combine. It is important to throughout this chapter, however, that molecules are only very rarely ‘made’ directly by ing atoms together. What we are going to present is an analysis of the structure of molecules, not a discussion of ways to build them (to which we will devote much of the later part of this book). Much of what we will cover was worked out in the decades around 1900, and it all came from experimental observation. Quantum theory explains the details, and you can read much more about it in a textbook of physical chemistry. Our aim here is to give you enough of an understanding of the theory to be able to use sound principles to predict and explain the structure of organic molecules. So, first, some evidence.

Atomic emission spectra

■ You met the idea of using energy to move from a lower state to a higher state, and the re-emission of that energy, in the context of NMR in Chapter 3. Here we are talking about much larger differences in energy, and consequently much shorter wavelengths of emitted light. Two elements, caesium and rubidium, were discovered by Robert Bunsen in 1860 and 1861 after studying atomic emission spectra of this type. They are named after the presence of a pair of brightly coloured lines in their spectra—caesium from the Latin caesius meaning bluish grey and rubidium from the Latin rubidus meaning red.

■ You can find details of Balmer’s formula in a textbook of physical chemistry.

Many towns and streets are lit at night by sodium vapour lamps, which emit an intense, pure yellow-orange glow. Inside these lights is sodium metal. When the light is switched on, the sodium metal is slowly vaporized. As an electric current is ed through the sodium vapour, an orange light is emitted—the same colour as the light you get when you put a small amount of a sodium compound on a spatula and place it in a Bunsen flame. Given sufficient energy (from the electric current or from a flame) sodium always emits this same wavelength of light, and it does so because of the way the electrons are arranged in a sodium atom. The energy supplied causes an electron to move from a lower energy state to a higher energy, or excited, state, and as it drops down again light is emitted. The process is a bit like a weight-lifter lifting a heavy weight—he can hold it above his head with straight arms (the excited state) but sooner or later he will drop it and the weight will fall to the ground, releasing energy with a crash, if not a broken toe. This is the origin of the lines in the atomic spectra not only for sodium but for all the elements. The flame or the electric discharge provides the energy to promote an electron to a higher energy level and, when this electron returns to its ground state, this energy is released in the form of light. If you refract the orange sodium light through a prism, you see a series of very sharp lines, with two particularly bright ones in the orange region of the spectrum at around 600 nm. Other elements produce similar spectra—even hydrogen, and since a hydrogen atom is the simplest atom of all, we shall look at the atomic spectrum of hydrogen fi rst.

Electrons have quantized energy levels The absorption spectrum for hydrogen was first measured in 1885 by a Swiss schoolmaster, Johann Balmer, who also noticed that the wavelengths of the lines in this spectrum could be predicted using a mathematical formula. You do not need to know the details of his formula at this stage, instead let’s think about the implications of the observation that a hydrogen atom, with just one electron, has a spectrum of discrete lines at precise wavelengths. It means

83

E L E C T R O N S O C C U P Y ATO M I C O R B I TA L S

Electrons occupy atomic orbitals The popular image of an atom as a miniature solar system, with the electrons behaving like planets orbiting a star—the nucleus—works in some situations, but we are going to have to leave it behind. The problem with this view of the atoms is that electrons can never be precisely located, and instead must be thought of as ‘smeared out’ over the space available to them. The reason for this derives from Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, which you can read about in any book on quantum physics. The Uncertainty Principle tells us that we can never know exactly both the location and the momentum of any particle. If we know the energy of an electron (and with quantized energy levels we do), we know its momentum and therefore we cannot know exactly where it is. As a consequence, we have to think of electrons in atoms (and in molecules) as having a probability of being in a certain place at a certain time, and the sum of all these probabilities gives a smeared out picture of the electron’s habits, a bit like blurred pictures of the vibrating strings. Because an electron is free to move around an atom in three dimensions, not just two, the allowed

energy levels

energy

that the electron can only occupy energy levels with precisely determined values, in other words that the energy of an electron orbiting a proton (a hydrogen nucleus) is quantized. The electron can have only certain amounts of energy, and therefore the gaps between these energy levels (which give rise to the spectrum) likewise can only have certain well-defined values. Think of climbing a flight of stairs—you can jump up one, two, five, or even all the steps if you are energetic enough, but you cannot climb up half or two-thirds of a step. Likewise coming down, you can jump from one step to any other—lots of different combinations are possible but there is a finite number, depending on the number of steps. We mentioned an electron ‘orbiting’ a hydrogen nucleus in the last paragraph deliberately, because that is one way of thinking about an atom—as a miniature (10−23 scale!) solar system with the nucleus as the sun and the electrons as planets. This model breaks down when we look at it in detail (as we shall see shortly), but for the moment we can use it to think about why electrons must exist in quantized energy levels. To do this, we need to introduce a concept from nineteenth century physics—the experimentally observable fact that particles such as photons and electrons can also have the character of a wave as well as a particle. It’s not obvious why the energy of a particle should be quantized, but it makes sense if you allow yourself to think of an electron as a wave. Imagine a taut string—a piano wire or guitar string, for example—fi xed at either end. You may well know that such a string has a fundamental frequency: if you make it vibrate by hitting or plucking it, it will vibrate in a way represented in the diagram on the right. This diagram shows a snapshot of the string; we could also represent a ‘blurred’ image of all the places you might fi nd the string as it vibrates, such as you would get if you took a picture with a slow shutter speed. But this is not the only way the string can vibrate. An alternative possibility is shown on the right, where not only are the ends of the string stationary, but so is the point—known as a ‘node’—right in the middle. The wavelength of the vibration in this string is half that of the one above, so the frequency is double. Musically this vibration will sound an octave higher and is known as the fi rst harmonic of the fi rst vibration we showed you, the fundamental. Third and fourth possibilities for ‘allowed’ vibrations are shown below, and again these correspond musically to further harmonics of the fundamental frequency. Even if you have not met this idea in music or physics before, we hope that you can see that the vibrating string has no choice but to adopt one of these quantized frequencies—the frequency can take on only certain values because the fixed ends to the string means the wavelength has to be an exact divisor of the length of the string. And as we have seen before, frequencies are directly linked to energies: the energy levels of a vibrating string are quantized. If you think of an electron as a wave, it becomes much easier to see why it can have only certain energy values. If you think of an electron orbiting a nucleus as a string looped back on itself, you can visualize from the diagrams below why only certain wavelengths are possible. These wavelengths have associated frequencies and the frequencies have associated energies: we have a plausible explanation for the quantization of the energy of an electron.

precise amounts of energy are released when an electron moves from one level to another

vibrating string

fixed point

fixed point

1 node

"first harmonic" 2 nodes

"second harmonic" 3 nodes

The vibration analogy was first seen by the Danish physicist Niels Bohr, and we hope you can see how it helps to explain why orbitals can only have certain energies. The analogy only works so far—we will have to leave it behind soon—but it can be used to visualize some other aspects of orbitals too, such as nodes and signs of wavefunctions.

84


‘vibrations’ it can adopt are also three dimensional and are known as orbitals, or (because we are just considering electrons in a single atom for now) atomic orbitals. The shapes of these orbitals are determined by mathematical functions known as wavefunctions. The smeared out picture of the simple atomic orbital—the lowest energy state of an electron in a hydrogen atom—looks something like the picture on the left below. We have used shading to indicate the probability of finding an electron at any one point, but a more convenient way to represent an orbital is to draw a line (in reality a three-dimensional surface) encoming the space where an electron spends, say, 95% of its time. This gives something like the picture on the right. This simplest possible orbital—the fundamental orbital of the H atom—is spherical, and is known as a 1s orbital. Higher energy atomic orbitals have different shapes, as you will see soon.

nucleus

probability distribution of electron in 1s orbital

conventional picture of 1s orbital

schematic diagram of 1s orbital

It’s useful to think of the atomic orbitals as a series of possible energy values for an electron, and to think of them as ‘occupied’ if there is an electron (or, as we shall see below, two electrons) at that energy level, and ‘unoccupied’ if there isn’t. In a hydrogen atom in its most stable state, there is only one electron, occupying the lowest energy 1s orbital. So our picture of the 1s orbital makes a good picture of what an H atom looks like too. We can also represent the 1s orbital as an energy level, and the electron which occupies it as a little arrow (which we will explain in a moment). the hydrogen atom occupied 1s orbital energy

electron 1s energy level energy level diagram

This is known as the Pauli exclusion principle.

What happens if you put more than one electron into the orbitals around an atom? Well, for reasons we can’t go into here, each orbital can hold two electrons—and only two, never any more. If you add an electron to the H atom, you get the hydride anion, H−, which has two electrons around an H nucleus (a proton). Both of the electrons occupy the same spherical 1s orbital. the hydride (H–) ion

■ We talked about spinning nuclei in the context of NMR (p. 53). Electron spin is analogous, but different—you can’t observe electrons by NMR, for example, and instead they can be observed by a technique known as electron spin resonance or ESR.

energy

occupied 1s orbital 1s

energy level diagram

We can also represent the orbital occupancy as an energy level (the horizontal line) occupied by two electrons (the arrows). Why do we draw the electrons as arrows? Well, electrons have the property of spin, and the two electrons allowed in each orbital have to spin in opposite directions. The arrows are a reminder of these opposing spins.


The same is true for the helium atom: its two electrons occupy the same orbital. However, the energy of that orbital (and all of the other possible orbitals) will be different from the orbital for hydrogen because it has double the nuclear charge of hydrogen and the electrons are more strongly attracted to the nucleus. We can represent the orbital occupancy like this, with the energy level lower than the one for H because of this stronger attraction. the helium atom

energy

occupied 1s orbital

1s energy level diagram

s and p orbitals have different shapes So far, so good. Now, lithium. The lowest energy 1s orbital around the Li nucleus can contain two electrons, but two only, so the third electron has to go into a higher energy orbital—one of the energy levels whose existence was inferred from atomic absorption spectroscopy. You can think of this orbital as the three-dimensional equivalent of the first harmonic of the guitar string. Like the vibration of the string, this next orbital has a node. On the string the node was the point where no motion was observed. In an atom, a node is a point where the electron can never be found—a void separating the two parts of the orbital. For the orbital containing the third electron of the Li atom, this node is spherical—it divides the orbital into two parts which nestle one within another like the layers of an onion or the stone inside a peach. We call this orbital the 2s orbital—’2’ because we have moved up to an orbital with a node (like the first harmonic) and ‘s’ because the orbital is still spherical. The ‘s’ did not originally stand for ‘spherical’, but as all ‘s’ orbitals are spherical it’s fine to it that way.

nucleus

probability distribution of electron in 2s orbital

spherical node conventional picture of 2s orbital schematic diagram (the node is not usually shown) of 2s orbital

In a lithium atom the 1s orbital, close to the nucleus, is occupied by two electrons, while the 2s orbital, further from the nucleus, contains one. In beryllium, there is a second electron in the 2s orbital. As before the energy levels will change as the nuclear charge increases, so the orbital occupancy in Li and Be can be represented as shown below. the lithium atom

spherical node of 2s orbital

the beryllium atom

1s

energy level diagram

energy

2s energy

occupied 1s orbital occupied 2s orbital

2s 1s energy level diagram

When we get to boron, something a little different happens. It turns out that for an orbital with one node (such as the 2s orbital), the node does not have to be spherical. The node can

85


86

alternatively be a plane. This alternative arrangement for an orbital with a single planar node gives us a new type of orbital, the 2p orbital. A 2p orbital looks something like the picture on the left below, in ‘smeared out’ form. It is often represented as the propeller shape in the middle, and it is conventionally drawn as the shape shown in the diagram to the right.

■ We will explain shortly why only half of the picture of the p orbital on the right has been filled in. nucleus

probability distribution of electron in 2p orbital

schematic diagram of 2p orbital

2px

z

z

2py

2pz

x

The planar node of the three 2p orbitals gives them just slightly more energy than a 2s orbital, with its spherical node. Boron atoms therefore have two electrons in the 1s orbital, two in the 2s orbital, and just one in one of the 2p orbitals. The orbital occupancy is shown in the energy level diagram on the left. You can imagine what shape each of the orbitals has: we won’t need to show a picture of them all superimposed. The next element, carbon, with one more (a sixth) electron, seems to have a choice—it can put its sixth electron paired with the fifth one, in the same 2p orbital, or it can put it into a new 2p orbital, with both electrons unpaired. In fact it chooses the latter: electrons are negatively charged and repel one another, so if there is a choice of equal energy orbitals they occupy different orbitals singly until they are forced to start pairing up. The repulsion is never enough to force an electron to occupy a higher energy orbital, but when the orbitals are otherwise of identical energy, this is what happens. Not surprisingly therefore, the orbitals of atoms of the remainder of the elements of the first row of the periodic table are occupied as shown below. All the while the entire set of orbitals is going down in energy because the nucleus is attracting the electrons more strongly, but otherwise it is a simple matter of fi lling up the 2p orbitals first singly and then doubly. With the ten electrons of neon, all the orbitals with one node are fi lled, and we say that neon has a ‘closed shell’. A ‘shell’ is a group of orbitals of similar energy all with the same number of nodes (in this case all called ‘2’ something—2s or 2p).

2s 1s

This is known as Hund’s rule. An atom adopts the electronic configuration that has the greatest number of unpaired electrons in degenerate orbitals. Whilst this is all a bit theoretical in that isolated atoms are not found very often, the same rule applies to electrons in degenerate orbitals in molecules, as you will see soon. the carbon atom

the nitrogen atom 2p

the oxygen atom

2s 1s

2p energy

energy

2p

the fluorine atom

2s 1s

the neon atom

2p 2s 1s

2p energy

2p

energy

the boron atom

energy

y

x

x

energy

z

y

y

1s

conventional picture of 2p orbital

Unlike the 1s or 2s orbitals, the 2p orbital is directional—it points along an axis, and in three dimensions there are three possible orientations for the axis, each of which gives rise to a new 2p orbital (which we can call 2px, 2py and 2pz if we need to).

Three-dimensional representations of the shapes of atomic orbitals

2s

nucleus

2s 1s


87

The phase of an orbital Look at the diagrams below, which are the same as the ones on p. 83: they represent the first three vibrational frequencies of a string. Now think about the motion of the string itself: in the first vibration, all of the string moves up and down at the same time—each point on the string moves by a different amount, but the direction moved at every point is the same. The same is not true for the second ‘energy level’ of the string—during a vibration like this, the left-hand half of the string moves upwards while the right-hand half moves downwards— the two halves of the string are out of phase with one another, and there is a change of phase at the node. The same is true of the third energy level—again, there is a change of phase at each node. change of phase at the node

all the string moves in the same direction

change of phase at each node

different parts of the string, separated by nodes, move in different directions

The same is true for orbitals. A nodal plane, such as that in the 2p orbitals, divides the orbital into two parts with different phases, one where the phase of the wavefunction is positive and one where it is negative. The phases are usually represented by shading—one half is shaded and the other half not. You saw this in the representation of the 2p orbital above. The phase of an orbital is arbitrary, in the sense that it doesn’t matter which half you shade. It’s also important to note that phase is nothing to do with charge: both halves of a filled 2p orbital contain electron density, so both will be negatively charged. So why is phase important? Well, in a moment we will see that, just as atoms add together to give molecules, we can add together the wavefunctions of atomic orbitals to give molecular orbitals, which tell us where electrons are, and how much energy they have, in molecules.

s, p, d, f Why 2s, 2p. . .? These letters hark back to the early days of spectroscopy and refer to the appearance of certain lines in atomic emission spectra: ‘s’ for ‘sharp’ and ‘p’ for ‘principal’. Later you will meet d and f orbitals, which have other arrangements of nodes. These letters came from ‘diffuse’ and ‘fundamental’. The letters s, p, d, and f matter and you must know them, but you do not need to know what they originally stood for.

Four short clarifications about orbitals before we go on We’re about to develop the idea of orbitals in order to understand how electrons behave in molecules, but before we go on, we should just clarify a few points about orbitals that can sometimes lead to confusion. 1. Orbitals do not need to have electrons in them—they can be vacant (there doesn’t have to be someone standing on a stair for it to exist). Helium’s two electrons fill only the 1s orbital, but an input of energy—the intense heat in the sun, for example—will make one of them hop up into the previously empty 2s, or 2p, or 3s. . . etc. orbitals waiting to receive them. In fact, it was observing, from earth, the energy absorbed by this process which led to the fi rst discovery of helium in the sun. 2. Electrons may be found anywhere in an orbital except in a node. In a p orbital containing one electron, this electron may be found on either side but never in the middle. When the orbital contains two electrons, one electron doesn’t stay in one half and the other electron in the other half—both electrons could be anywhere (except in the node). 3. All these orbitals of an atom are superimposed on each other. The 1s orbital is not the middle part of the 2s orbital. The 1s and 2s orbitals are separate orbitals in their own rights and each can hold a maximum of two electrons but the 2s orbital does occupy some of the same space as the 1s orbital (and also as the 2p orbitals, come to that). Neon, for example, has ten electrons in total: two will be in the 1s orbital, two in the

As it happens, the electron density at any point in the orbital is given by the square of the mathematical function (the wavefunction) which determines the phase, so both positive and negative values of the wavefunction give positive electron densities.

88


(much bigger) 2s orbital, and two in each of the three 2p orbitals. All these orbitals are superimposed on each other.

Three-dimensional representations of d and f orbitals

4. As we move across subsequent rows of the periodic table—starting with sodium—the 1s, 2s, and 2p orbitals are already fi lled with electrons, so we must start putting electrons into the 3s and 3p orbitals, then the 4s, 3d, and 4p orbitals. With d orbitals (and f orbitals, which start to be filled in the lanthanide series) there are yet further new arrangements of nodes. We won’t be discussing these orbitals in detail—you will find detailed consideration in an inorganic textbook—but the principles are just the same as the simple arrangements we have described.

Molecular orbitals—diatomic molecules ■ This way of building up molecular from atomic orbitals is known as the linear combination of atomic orbitals or LCAO.

Now for electrons in molecules. Just as the behaviour of electrons in atoms is dictated by the atomic orbitals they reside in, so electrons in molecules behave in ways dictated by the molecular orbitals which contain them. We think of molecules as being built from atoms (even if that is not actually how you would usually make them), and likewise we can think of molecular orbitals as being built up from a combination of atomic orbitals. As atomic orbitals are wavefunctions, they can be combined in the same way that waves combine. You may be already familiar with the ideas of combining waves either constructively (in phase) or destructively (out of phase):

combine

in phase

constructive overlap

combine

out of phase

destructive overlap

Atomic orbitals can combine in the same ways—in phase or out of phase. Using two 1s orbitals drawn as circles (representing spheres) with dots to mark the nuclei and shading to represent phase, we can combine them in phase (that is, we add them together), resulting in an orbital spread over both atoms, or out of phase (by subtracting one from the other). In this case we get a molecular orbital with a nodal plane down the centre between the two nuclei, where the wavefunctions of the two atomic orbitals exactly cancel one another out and with two regions of opposite phase. 1s

1s

1s

combine

in phase

combine

generates a bonding molecular orbital

1s

out of phase

nodal plane generates an antibonding molecular orbital

The resulting orbitals belong to both atoms—they are molecular rather than atomic orbitals. Now, imagine putting electrons into the fi rst of these orbitals (the bonding orbital). , you can put zero, one, or two electrons into an orbital, but no more. The diagram of the orbital shows that the electrons would spend most of their time in between the two atomic nuclei. Being negatively charged, the electrons will exert an attractive force on each of the nuclei, and would hold them together. We have a chemical bond! For this reason the in-phase molecular orbital is called a bonding orbital.

M O L E C U L A R O R B I TA L S — D I ATO M I C M O L E C U L E S

89

The out-of-phase molecular orbital offers no such attractive possibility—in fact putting electrons into the out-of-phase molecular orbital works against bonding. These electrons are mainly to be found anywhere but between the two nuclei, where there is a node. The exposed positively charged nuclei repel each other, and that is why this orbital is known as an antibonding molecular orbital. The combination of the atomic 1s orbitals to give the two new molecular orbitals can also be shown on a molecular orbital energy level diagram. The two atomic orbitals are shown on the left and the right, and the molecular orbitals which result from combining them in and out of phase are shown in the middle. The diagram as a whole is a sort of ‘before and after’ diagram—the situation before the interaction between the orbitals is shown on the left and the right, and after the interaction is shown in the middle. Notice that the bonding orbital is lower in energy than the constituent 1s orbitals, and the antibonding orbital is higher. combine the atomic orbitals in two ways...

antibonding orbital out of phase

energy

out of phase

1s

1s combine

combine

in phase

in phase

Interactive molecular orbitals for hydrogen

bonding orbital

Now we can actually put the electrons into the orbitals, just as we did on p. 84 when we were building up the picture of atomic orbitals. Each hydrogen atom has one electron and so the resulting hydrogen molecule (shown in the middle) contains two electrons. Always fill up orbitals from the lowest energy first, putting a maximum of two electrons into each orbital, so both of these electrons go into the bonding orbital. The antibonding orbital remains empty. The electrons therefore spend most of their time in between the nuclei, and we have a plausible explanation for the existence of a chemical bond in the H2 molecule.

energy

then put the electrons into the lowest available orbital.

1s

empty antibonding orbital

1s

filled bonding orbital

Diagrams such as these are central to the way we can use molecular orbital theory (MO theory) to explain structure and reactivity, and you will in future meet many more of them. So before we go on it is worth clarifying several points about this one: • Two atomic orbitals (AOs) combine to give two molecular orbitals (MOs). You always get the same number of MOs out as you put AOs in. • Adding the wavefunctions (combining them in phase) of the two AOs makes the bonding orbital; subtracting them (combining them out of phase) makes the antibonding orbital.


• Since the two atoms are the same (both H), each AO contributes the same amount to the MOs (this will not always be the case). • The bonding MO is lower in energy than the AOs. • The antibonding MO is higher in energy than the AOs. • Each hydrogen atom initially had one electron. The spin of these electrons is unimportant. • The two electrons end up in the MO lowest in energy—the bonding MO. • Just as with AOs, each MO can hold two electrons as long as the electrons are spinpaired (shown by opposing arrows). You do not need to be concerned with the details of spin-pairing at this stage, just with the result that any orbital may contain no more than two electrons. • The two electrons between the two nuclei in the bonding MO hold the molecule together—they are the chemical bond. • Since these two electrons are lower in energy in the MO than they were in the AOs, the molecule is more stable than its constituent atoms; energy is given out when the atoms combine. • Or, if you prefer, we must put in energy to separate the two atoms again and to break the bond. From now on, we will always represent molecular orbitals in energy order—the highestenergy MO at the top (usually an antibonding MO) and the lowest in energy (usually a bonding MO and the one in which the electrons are most stable) at the bottom. Before you leave this section, let’s recap how we got to the MO diagram of H2. It’s worth working through these steps to check you can draw your own MO diagram before you leave this section. 1. Draw two H atoms along with the 1s atomic orbitals which contain the electron, one on either side of the page. 2. Sketch the result of adding and of subtracting the wavefunctions of these two 1s orbitals to show the bonding and antibonding MOs. These go one above the other (high energy antibonding orbital on top) in between the AOs. 3. Count up the total number of electrons in the atoms going in to the molecule, and put that number of electrons into the MOs, starting at the bottom and building upwards, two in each orbital.

Breaking bonds The diagram we have studied shows the most stable ground state of a hydrogen molecule, in which the electrons have the lowest possible energy. But what happens if an electron is promoted up from the lowest energy level, the bonding MO, to the next lowest energy level, the antibonding MO? Again, an energy level diagram helps.

antibonding orbital energy

90

put in energy to promote electron

bonding orbital


Now the electron in the antibonding orbital cancels out the bonding of the electron in the bonding orbital. Since there is no overall bonding holding the two atoms together, they can drift apart as two separate atoms with their electrons in 1s AOs. In other words, promoting an electron from the bonding MO to the antibonding MO breaks the chemical bond. This is difficult to do with hydrogen molecules but easy with, say, bromine molecules. Shining light on Br2 causes it to break up into bromine atoms.

Why hydrogen is diatomic but helium is not Like H atoms, He atoms have their electrons in 1s orbitals, so we can construct an energy level diagram for He2 in a similar way. But there is one big difference: each helium atom has two electrons so now both the bonding MO and the antibonding MO are full! Any bonding due to the electrons in the bonding orbital is cancelled out by the electrons in the antibonding orbital, and the He2 molecule falls apart. He2 does not exist.

energy

Trying to make a He2 molecule...

filled antibonding orbital

1s

1s


Bond order Only if there are more electrons in bonding MOs than in antibonding MOs will there be any bonding between two atoms. In fact, we define the number of bonds between two atoms as the bond order (dividing by two since two electrons make up a chemical bond). bond order =

(no. of electrons in bonding MOs) − (no. of electrons in antibonding MOs) 2

Hence the bond orders for H2 and He2 are 2−0 = 1, i.e. a single bond 2 2−2 = 0, i.e. no bond bond order (He2 ) = 2

bond order (H2 ) =

Forming bonds using 2s and 2p atomic orbitals: σ and π orbitals Atoms in the row of the periodic table running from Li to F have electrons in 2s and 2p orbitals, and as all molecules of interest to organic chemists contain at least one such atom we now need to think about how 2s and 2p orbitals interact. We also need to introduce you to a useful piece of terminology that is used to describe the symmetry of molecular orbitals. We can do all of this by thinking about the bonding in another ubiquitous diatomic gas, N2. N atoms have electrons in 1s, 2s, and 2p orbitals, so we need to consider interactions between pairs of each of these orbitals in turn.

91


92

1s orbitals we have already dealt with. Combining 2s orbitals is essentially just the same; they form bonding and antibonding orbitals just as 1s orbitals do and with similar shapes too, but higher energies, because the 2s orbitals are higher in energy that the 1s orbitals. The 2s orbitals are also bigger than 1s orbitals, and because of their ‘onion skin’ form, the exact nature of the MOs they give rise to is more complex than those which come from 1s AOs, but you can represent them in sketches in just the same way:

1s or 2s

combine

1s or 2s

1s or 2s

view from end-on

combine

in phase

cylindrically symmetrical bonding molecular orbital

1s or 2s

view from end-on

out of phase

cylindrically symmetrical

nodal plane antibonding molecular orbital

σ orbital

σ∗ orbital

The bonding orbitals formed from 1s–1s and 2s–2s interactions have another important feature in common: they are all cylindrically symmetrical. In other words, if you look at the molecular orbital end-on, you can rotate it around the axis between the two atoms by any amount and it looks identical. It has the symmetry of a cigar, a carrot, or a baseball bat. Bonding orbitals with cylindrical symmetry like this are known as σ (sigma) orbitals, and the bonds which result from putting two electrons into these orbitals are known as σ bonds. The single bond in the H2 molecule is therefore a σ bond. The antibonding orbitals which result from combining these AOs are also cylindrically symmetrical and are called σ* orbitals, with the * denoting their antibonding character. Now for the 2p orbitals. As described on p. 86 each atom has three mutually perpendicular 2p atomic orbitals. In a diatomic molecule, such as N2, these 2p orbitals must combine in two different ways—one p orbital from each atom (shown in red here) can overlap end-on, but the other two p orbitals on each atom (shown in black) must combine side-on. these two pairs of p orbitals must combine side-on each atom has three mutually perpendicular 2p orbitals

only these two p orbitals can overlap end-on

We’ll deal with the end-on overlap first. This is what happens if we combine the two 2p orbitals out of phase: as with the 2s orbitals, we have a node between the atoms, and any electron in this MO would spend most of its time not between the nuclei—as you can guess, this is an antibonding orbital. combine out of phase

nodal plane antibonding σ* molecular orbital

93


If we combine the orbitals in phase, this is what we get. combine in phase

bonding σ molecular orbital

There is a nice rich area of electron density between the nuclei, and somewhat less outside, so overall filling this orbital with electrons would lead to an attraction between the atoms and a bond would result. Both of these MOs have cylindrical symmetry and are therefore designated σ and σ* orbitals, and a bond formed by fi lling the MO made from interacting two 2p orbitals end-on is called a σ bond.

σ bonds can be made from s or p atomic orbitals, provided they form a cylindrically symmetrical molecular orbital.

●

Each atom presents its other two 2p orbitals for side-on overlap. This is what the antibonding MO formed by out-of-phase combination of two side-on p orbitals looks like: view from end-on combine out of phase

no cylindrical symmetry

nodal plane antibonding π* molecular orbital

π∗ orbital

And this is the bonding, in-phase combination view from end-on combine

no cylindrical symmetry

in phase

bonding π molecular orbital

These MOs do not have cylindrical symmetry—in fact you have to rotate them 180° about the axis between the nuclei before you get back something looking like what you started with but with opposite phase—and as a result the symmetry of these orbitals is given the symbol π: the bonding orbital is a π orbital and the antibonding orbital is a π* orbital. Bonds which are formed by filling π orbitals are called π bonds, and you’ll notice that because of the π symmetry the electron density in these bonds does not lie directly between the two nuclei but rather to either side of the line ing them. Since an atom has three mutually perpendicular 2p orbitals, two of which can interact sideon in this way, there will exist a pair of degenerate (equal in energy) mutually perpendicular π orbitals and likewise a pair of degenerate mutually perpendicular π* orbitals. (The third p orbital interacts end-on, forming a σ orbital and a σ* orbital, of course). The two sorts of MOs arising from the combinations of the p orbitals are, however, not degenerate—more overlap is possible when the AOs overlap end-on than when they overlap side-on. As a result, the 2p–2p σ orbital is lower in energy than the 2p–2p π orbitals. We can now draw an energy level diagram to show the combinations of the 1s, 2s, and 2p AOs to form MOs, labelling each of the energy levels with σ, σ*, π, or π* as appropriate.

π orbital

■ Because it can be difficult to represent exactly the result of adding and subtracting p orbitals, you will often see π and π* orbitals represented in diagrams simply as their ‘uncombined’ p orbitals—the structures on the left above. For an example, see p. 105.


94

molecular orbitals of N2 molecule σ* atomic orbitals of N atom

atomic orbitals of N atom

π*

2p

2p

energy

π σ σ*

side-on interaction of 2p is weaker end-on overlap of 2p orbitals gives better interaction

2s

2s

big gap in energy here: the 1s orbitals are much lower in energy than the 2s

σ σ*

1s

1s σ

Now for the electrons. Each nitrogen atom contributes seven electrons to the molecule, so we have to fill this stack of orbitals with 14 electrons, starting at the bottom. The result is: σ*

■ The 2sσ, 2pσ, and 2pπ orbitals fall very close in energy: for a more detailed discussion of their relative energies, consult an inorganic chemistry textbook.

empty antibonding orbitals π* 2p

2p

energy

two π bonds

π filled bonding orbitals

σ one σ bond σ*


2s big gap in energy here: the 1s orbitals are much lower in energy than the 2s

Interactive molecular orbitals for nitrogen

2s σ σ*


bonding and antibonding cancel out


1s

1s σ


The σ and σ* MOs formed from interactions between the two 1s orbitals, and the two 2s orbitals are all filled: no overall bonding results because the fi lled bonding and antibonding orbitals cancel each other out. All the bonding is done with the remaining six electrons. They fit neatly into a σ bond from two of the p orbitals and two π bonds from the other two pairs.

95

B O N D S B E T W E E N D I F F E R E N T ATO M S

The electrons in the σ bond lie between the two nuclei, while the electrons in the two π bonds lie in two perpendicular clouds flanking the central σ bond. σ bond

π bond

π bond N nucleus

N nucleus

N nucleus

N nucleus

N nucleus

N nucleus

all three bonds superimposed:

Calculating the bond order in N2 is easy—a total of ten bonding electrons and four antibonding electrons gives a credit of six, or a bond order of three. N2 has a triple-bonded structure. We can’t, however, ignore the electrons that are not involved in bonding: there are eight of them altogether. These non-bonding electrons can be thought of as being localized on each of the N atoms. The four 1s electrons are low-energy inner shell electrons that are not involved in the chemistry of N2, while the four 2s electrons provide the non-bonded lone pairs located one on each N atom. In the structure shown here we have drawn them in: you don’t have to draw lone pairs of every molecule that has them, but sometimes it can be useful to emphasize them—for example if they are taking part in a reaction scheme.

Bonds between different atoms Up to now we have only considered combining two atoms of the same element, which makes things simpler because the same orbitals on each of the two atoms have the same energy. But when the two atoms are different two things change. The first is obvious—the number of electrons contributed by each atom is different. This is easy to accommodate since it just affects the total number of electrons we need to put into the MO diagram when we fill up the energy levels. So, for example, if you were constructing an MO diagram for NO, the gas nitric oxide (NO, a rather remarkable biological messenger in the human body) rather than N2, you simply put in a total of 15 rather than 14 electrons because O contributes eight electrons and N seven.

Nitric oxide, NO Nitric oxide was for a long time known only as one of the villains of urban air pollution, being formed during the combustion of petroleum and other fossil fuels. In the last 20 years, however, it has become evident that it is much more than that—one unexpected role, which earned its discoverers the Nobel Prize in physiology in 1998, is as a biological messenger, managing the contraction of smooth vessels and hence regulating blood flow.

The second thing that changes when you have two different atoms bonded together is the relative energies of the AOs being combined. It may seem natural to assume that a 2p orbital has the same energy whatever atom it finds itself in, but of course the difference is that an electron in a 2p (or any other) orbital feels an attraction to the nucleus which depends on the nuclear charge. The greater the number of protons in the nucleus, the greater the attraction, and hence the more tightly held, more stable, and lower in energy the electron becomes. This is the origin of electronegativity. The more electronegative an atom is, the more it attracts electrons, the lower in energy are its AOs, and so any electrons in them are held more tightly.

2s electrons form non-bonding lone pairs

one σ bond

N

N

two π bonds


96 Electronegativity increases across each row but decreases down each column even though the nuclear charge increases. This is because once electrons start filling a new shell they are shielded from the nucleus by all the electrons in the lower energy filled shells. You can find more detailed information in an inorganic chemistry textbook.

As you move across each row of the periodic table, therefore, electronegativity increases as the energy of each orbital drops. From Li (electronegativity 0.98) across to C (2.55), and on to N (3.04), O (3.44), and F (3.98), the elements steadily become more electronegative and the AOs lower in energy. So our diagram of the orbitals of NO actually looks like this. Molecular orbital diagram for nitric oxide (NO) (1s orbitals not shown) orbitals of N

σ* orbitals of O π*

2p

orbitals lower in energy as a consequence of greater nuclear charge (greater electronegativity) 2p

energy

π fill molecular orbitals with 15 electrons (seven from N and eight from O)

σ σ*

2s 2s σ

■ We have here the beginnings of an explanation for both the structure and reactivity of polarized bonds. In Chapter 6 we will revisit the idea that a carbonyl C=O bond is polarized towards O, but that the asymmetry of the antibonding π* orbital leads to attack on the C=O group at C.

unpaired electron

one σ bond

N

O

one π bond

three lone pairs

■ We haven’t considered what happens in the second row of the periodic table yet, but it will come as no surprise to you to learn that the electronic structure of the elements of Na to Cl arises from filling 3s and 3p orbitals. You might like to think about what shape these orbitals have: a textbook on inorganic chemistry will tell you more.

We have shown only the 2s and 2p orbitals as the 1s orbitals are much lower in energy, and as you saw in the diagram of N2 on p. 94 their bonding and antibonding interactions cancel each other out. The orbitals on O are lower in energy than the orbitals on N, but they still interact just fi ne. However, there is one interesting consequence: if you look at each bonding orbital, you will see that it is closer in energy to the contributing orbital on O than the contributing orbital on N. Likewise, each antibonding orbital is closer in energy to the contributing orbital on N than the contributing orbital on O. The result is that the MOs are unsymmetrical, and while all the bonding orbitals have a greater contribution from the oxygen AOs, all the antibonding orbitals have a greater contribution from the nitrogen AOs. Overall the diagram shows eight electrons in bonding orbitals and three electrons in antibonding orbitals, so the overall electron distribution is skewed (polarized) towards O, just as you would expect from a comparison of the electronegativities of N and O. The eight electrons in bonding orbitals and three electrons in antibonding orbitals means that NO has a bond order of 2½. It also has an unpaired electron—it is a radical. We can’t easily represent half a bond in valence bond , so we usually draw NO with a double bond, representing four bonding electrons. The remaining seven electrons can be shown as three lone pairs and one unpaired electron. Where do we put them? Well, our MO diagram tells us that the unpaired electron occupies an orbital closer in energy to N than to O, so we put that on N. N and O differ only slightly in electronegativity (electronegativity of N 3.04; O 3.44): their orbitals are quite close in energy and form stable covalent bonds. But we also need to consider what happens when two atoms forming a bond differ hugely in electronegativity. We can take sodium (electronegativity 0.93) and chlorine (electronegativity 3.16) as our example. We know from observation that the product of reacting these two elements (don’t try this at home) is the ionic solid Na+Cl−, and the MO energy level diagram tells us why. The AOs we need to consider are the 3s and 3p orbitals of Na (all its lower energy 1s, 2s, and 2p orbitals are fi lled, so we can ignore those, as we did with the 1s orbitals of N2 and NO above) and the 3s and 3p orbitals of Cl (again, the 1s, 2s, and 2p orbitals are all fi lled). Here is the diagram, with the Na orbitals much higher in energy than the Cl orbitals.

B O N D S B E T W E E N D I F F E R E N T ATO M S

Trying to construct a molecular orbital diagram for NaCl

Three-dimensional structure of sodium chloride

orbitals of Na

3p Na has no electrons in its 3s or 3p orbitals: it exists as Na+

energy

3s

No interaction orbitals of Cl orbitals much lower in energy as a consequence of greater nuclear charge (greater electronegativity) 3p All eight electrons (one from Na, seven from Cl) fill Cl atomic orbitals: NaCl is an ionic solid

3s

But these AOs are too far apart in energy to combine to form new MOs and no covalent bond is formed. The orbitals which get fi lled are simply the 3s and 3p orbitals of the Cl atom. The electrons available to fill these orbitals are the seven provided by Cl plus the one from Na: we end up with Na+ and Cl−. The ionic bonding in NaCl is due simply to the attraction between two oppositely charged ions—there is no orbital overlap. These three different cases where the two combining orbitals differ greatly in energy, only a little, or not at all are summarized below. Energies of AOs both the same

AO on atom B is a little lower in energy than AO on atom A

AO on atom B is a lot lower in energy than AO on atom A

large interaction between AOs

less interaction between AOs

AOs are too far apart in energy to interact

bonding MO much lower in energy than AOs

bonding MO is lowered by a small amount relative to AO on atom B

the filled orbital on the same energy as the AO on atom B

antibonding MO is much higher in energy than the AOs

antibonding MO is raised in energy by a small amount relative to AO on atom A

the empty orbital on the cation has same energy as the AO on atom A

both AOs contribute equally to the MOs

the AO on B contributes more to the bonding MO and the AO on A contributes more to the antibonding MO

Only one AO contributes to each MO

electrons in bonding MO are shared equally between the two atoms

electrons in bonding MO are shared between atoms but are associated more with B than A

electrons in the filled orbital are located only on atom B

bond between A and B would classically be described as purely covalent

bond between A and B is covalent but there is also some electrostatic (ionic) attraction between atoms

bond between A and B would classically be described as purely ionic

easiest to break bond into two radicals (homolytic fission)

easiest to break bond into two ions, A+ and B−, although it is also possible to give two radicals

compound already exists as ions A+ and B−

heterolytic fission of the bond is possible and could give either A+ and B− or A− and B+ (this point is discussed more fully in Chapters 24 and 37)

97


98

Other factors affecting degree of orbital interaction Having similar energies is not the only criterion for good interaction between two AOs. It also matters how the orbitals overlap. We have seen that p orbitals overlap better in an end-on fashion (forming a σ bond) than they do side-on (forming a π bond). Another factor is the size of the AOs. For best overlap, the orbitals should be the same size—a 2p orbital overlaps much better with another 2p orbital than it does with a 3p or 4p orbital.

efficient overlap between orbitals of similar size (e.g. 2p–2p)

inefficient overlap between orbitals of different size (e.g. 3p–2p)

A third factor is the symmetry of the orbitals—two AOs must have the appropriate symmetry to combine. Thus a 2px orbital cannot combine with a 2py or 2pz orbital since they are all perpendicular to each other (they are orthogonal). Depending on the alignment, there is either no overlap at all or any constructive overlap is cancelled out by equal amounts of destructive overlap. Likewise, an s orbital can overlap with a p orbital only end-on. Sideways overlap leads to equal amounts of bonding and antibonding interactions and no overall gain in energy.

pz py px these two p orbitals cannot combine because they are perpendicular to each other

H

H

P H

a molecule of methane enclosed in a cube

px

s px

here any constructive overlap is cancelled out by equal amounts of destructive overlap

p

s

however, s and p orbitals can overlap end-on

Molecular orbitals of molecules with more than two atoms We now need to look at ways of combining more than two atoms at a time. For some molecules, such as H2S and PH3, which have all bond angles equal to 90°, the bonding should be straightforward—the 3p orbitals (which are at 90°) on the central atom simply overlap with the 1s orbitals of the hydrogen atoms. Now, you might imagine it would be similar for ammonia, NH3, since N lies above P in the periodic table. The trouble is, we know experimentally that the bond angles in ammonia, as in water and methane, are not 90°, but instead 104°, 107°, and 109°, respectively. All the covalent compounds of elements in the row Li to Ne raise this difficulty. How can we get 109° angles from orbitals arranged 90° apart? To see what has to happen, we’ll start with a molecule of methane enclosed in a cube. It is possible to do this since the opposite corners of a cube describe a perfect tetrahedron. The carbon atom is at the centre of the cube and the four hydrogen atoms are at four of the corners. Now let’s consider each of the carbon’s 2s and 2p AOs in turn. The carbon’s 2s orbital can overlap with all four hydrogen 1s orbitals at once with all the orbitals in the same phase.

H Y B R I D I Z AT I O N O F ATO M I C O R B I TA L S

99

Each of the 2p orbitals points to a pair of opposite faces of the cube. Once more all four hydrogen 1s orbitals can combine with each p orbital, provided the hydrogen AOs on the opposite faces of the cube are of opposite phases.

the carbon 2s AO can overlap with all four hydrogen 1s AOs at once 2pz

2py

2px

the hydrogen 1s orbitals can overlap with the three 2p orbitals

The three MOs generated in this way are degenerate, and this gives us four bonding orbitals. Along with four associated antibonding orbitals this gives us a total of eight MOs, which is correct since there were eight AOs (C gave us 2s and 3 × 2p, while 4 × H gave us 4 × 1s). Using this approach, it is possible to construct a complete MO picture of methane—and indeed for very much more complex molecules than methane. There is experimental evidence too that these pictures are correct. But the problem is this: the four filled, bonding orbitals of methane are not all the same (one came from the interaction with the C 2s orbital and three from the C 2p orbitals). But we also know from experimental observations all four C–H bonds in methane are the same. Something seems to be wrong, but there is in fact no contradiction. The MO approach tells us that there is one MO of one kind and three of another but the electrons in them are shared out over all five atoms. No one hydrogen atom has more or fewer electrons than any other— they are all equivalent. Techniques that tell us the structure of methane do not tell us where bonds are; they simply tell us where the atoms are located in space—we draw in bonds connecting atoms together. Certainly the atoms form a regular tetrahedron but exactly where the electrons are is a different matter entirely. So, do we have to give up the idea that methane has four bonds, each made of two electrons, linking the C with an H? If we choose to, then for every reaction, even of the simplest molecules, we are going to need to calculate, by computer, a full set of MOs and all of their interactions. That would be using physics to do chemistry. It might be accurate but it would kill creativity and invention. So here is an alternative: we keep our tried and tested practical picture of molecules made from discrete bonds, each containing a pair of electrons, but we make it compatible with MO theory. To do this we need a concept known as hybridization.

Hybridization of atomic orbitals To get a picture of methane with four equivalent pairs of electrons we need to start with four equivalent AOs on C, which we don’t have. But we can get them if we combine the carbon 2s and 2p orbitals fi rst to make four new orbitals, each composed of one-quarter of the 2s orbital and three-quarters of one of the p orbitals. The new orbitals are called sp3 (that’s said s-p-three, not s-p-cubed) hybrid orbitals to show the proportions of the AOs in each. This process of mixing is called hybridization. The hybrid orbitals are mathematically equivalent to the 2s and 2p orbitals we started with, and they have the advantage that when we use them to make MOs the orbitals correspond to bonding pairs of electrons.

+

+

2s

2px

add together then divide into four equivalent hybrid orbitals:

+

2py

2pz

s+p+p+p 4

4 x (1/4s + 3/4p) sp3 orbital


100

What do the four hybrid orbitals look like? Each sp3 orbital takes three-quarters of its character from a p orbital and one-quarter from an s orbital. It has a planar node through the nucleus like a p orbital but one lobe is larger than the other because of the extra contribution of the 2s orbital: the symmetry of the 2s orbital means that adding it to a 2p orbital will increase the size of the wavefunction in one lobe, but decrease it in the other.

H

1/

4

+

3/

four sp3 on one C atom point to the corners of a tetrahedron 4

C an sp3 orbital

C H

H methane

The four sp3 orbitals point to the corners of a tetrahedron and we build up a molecule of methane by overlapping the large lobe of each sp3 orbital with the 1s orbital of a hydrogen atom, as shown in the margin. Each overlap forms an MO (2sp3 + 1s) and we can put two electrons in each to form a C–H σ bond. There will of course also be an antibonding MO, σ* (2sp3 – 1s) in each case, but these orbitals are empty. Overall, the electrons are spatially distributed exactly as they were in our previous model, but now we can think of them as being located in four bonds.

H

Interactive bonding orbitals in methane molecular orbitals of methane C 2p energy

σ∗

mix to make 4 x sp3 orbitals

combine with 2 x 1s orbitals from H

2s

1s x 4

C–C σ bond made from overlap of sp3 orbital on each C atom H H C H

Hx4

C ethane

H

H

C–H σ bonds made from overlap of sp3 orbital on C and 1s orbital on H

four C–H σ bonds

H

σ

The great advantage of this method is that it can be used to build up structures of much larger molecules quickly and without having to imagine that the molecule is made up from isolated atoms. Take ethane, for example. Each carbon uses three sp3 AOs orientated towards the three hydrogen atoms, leaving one sp3 orbital on each carbon atom for the C–C bond. In the MO energy level diagram we now have both C–H bonding σ and antibonding σ* orbitals (made from combining sp3 orbitals on C with 1s orbitals on H) and also a C–C bonding σ and antibonding σ* orbital, made from two sp3 orbitals on C. The diagram below just shows the C–C bond.

molecular orbitals of ethane (just C–C bond shown) C

C

empty antibonding C–C σ∗ orbital

2p

2p

energy

mix to make 4 x

2s

sp3

orbitals

mix to make 4 x

3 x sp3 used in bonds to 3 x H

sp3

orbitals


2s

filled bonding C–C σ orbital ethene (ethylene) H H C–H bonds 108 pm 117.8° C–C bond H H 133 pm

For ethene (ethylene), the simplest alkene, we need a new set of hybrid orbitals. Ethene is a planar molecule with bond angles close to 120°. Our approach will be to hybridize all the

101


orbitals needed for the C–H framework and see what is left over. In this case we need three equivalent bonds from each carbon atom (one to make a C–C bond and two to make C–H bonds). Therefore we need to combine the 2s orbital on each carbon atom with two p orbitals to make the three bonds. We could hybridize the 2s, 2py, and 2pz orbitals (that is, all the AOs in the plane) to form three equal sp2 orbitals, leaving the 2pz orbital unchanged. These sp2 hybrid orbitals will have one-third s character and only two-thirds p character. plus remaining 2px orbital add together then divide into three equivalent hybrid orbitals:

+

+ 2py

2s

s+p+p 3

2pz

3 x (1/3s + 2/3p) sp2 orbital

2px

The three sp2 hybrid AOs on each carbon atom can overlap with three other orbitals (two hydrogen 1s AOs and one sp2 AO from the other carbon) to form three σ MOs. This leaves the two 2px orbitals, one on each carbon, which combine to form the π MO. The skeleton of the molecule has five σ bonds (one C–C and four C–H) in the plane and the central π bond is formed by two 2px orbitals above and below the plane. C–C π bond made from overlap of p orbital on each C atom

each C atom has three sp2 orbitals plus a p orbital

H C

+

H

H

H

H

H C

C

C

H

H

Interactive bonding orbitals in ethene

C–C σ bonds made from overlap of sp2 orbital on each C atom

This is the first MO picture we have constructed with a C=C double bond, and it is worth taking the time to think about the energies of the orbitals involved. We’ll again ignore the C–H bonds, which involve two of the sp2 orbitals of each C atom. , we mixed two of the three 2p orbitals in with the 2s orbital to make 3 × sp2 orbitals on each C atom, leaving behind one unhybridized 2p orbital. Now, first we need to generate the σ and σ* orbitals by interacting one sp2 orbital on each atom. Then we need to deal with the two p orbitals, one on each C, which interact side-on. The unhybridized p orbitals are a bit higher in energy than the sp2 orbitals, but they interact less well (we discussed this on p. 93) so they give a π orbital and a π* orbital whose energies are in between the σ and σ* orbitals. Each C atom donates two electrons to these orbitals (the other two electrons are involved in the two bonds to H), so the overall picture looks like this. Two AOs give two MOs. σ∗

molecular orbitals of ethene (ethylene)

π∗

C keep one p orbital unhybridized

2p

energy

C keep one p orbital 2p unhybridized

2p


2p


filled bonding C–C π orbital sp2


unfilled antibonding orbitals

sp2 2 x sp2 used in bonds to 2 x H

2s

2s filled bonding C–C σ orbital


102

The fact that the sideways overlap of the p orbitals to form a π bond is not as effective as the head-on overlap of the orbitals to form a σ bond means that it takes less energy to break a C–C π bond than a C–C σ bond (about 260 kJ mol−1 compared to about 350 kJ mol−1).

C

C

C C

overlap of orbitals is more efficient in a σ bond than in a π bond ethyne (acetylene)

H

Ethyne (acetylene) has a C≡C triple bond. Each carbon bonds to only two other atoms to form a linear CH skeleton. Only the carbon 2s and 2px have the right symmetry to bond to the two atoms at once so we can hybridize these to form two sp hybrids on each carbon atom, leaving the 2py and 2pz to form π MOs with the 2p orbitals on the other carbon atom. These sp hybrids have 50% each s and p character and form a linear carbon skeleton.

H

plus two remaining 2p orbitals add together then divide into two equivalent hybrid orbitals:

+

s+p 2

2pz

2s

2 x (1/2s + 1/2p) sp orbital

2px

2py

We could then form the MOs as shown below. Each sp hybrid AO overlaps with either a hydrogen 1s AO or with the sp orbital from the other carbon. The two sets of p orbitals combine to give two mutually perpendicular π MOs. C–C π bonds each made from overlap of one p orbital on each C atom

each C atom has two sp orbitals plus two p orbitals

H

C

+

C

H H

H 5

H

H 4 3

2

hex-5-en-2-yne

CH3 1

H

C

C

H C–C σ bond made from overlap of sp orbital on each C atom

Interactive bonding orbitals in ethyne

6

H

Hydrocarbon skeletons are built up from tetrahedral (sp3), trigonal planar (sp2), or linear (sp) hybridized carbon atoms. Deciding what sort of hybridization any carbon atom has, and hence what sort of orbitals it will use to make bonds, is easy. All you have to do is count up the atoms bonded to each carbon atom. If there are two, that carbon atom is linear (sp hybridized), if there are three, that carbon atom is trigonal (sp2 hybridized), and if there are four, that carbon atom is tetrahedral (sp3 hybridized). Since the remaining unhybridized p orbitals are used to make the π orbitals of double or triple bonds, you can also work out hybridization state just by counting up the number of π bonds at each carbon. Carbon atoms with no π bonds are tetrahedral (sp3 hybridized), those with one π bond are trigonal (sp2 hybridized), and those with two π bonds are linear (sp hybridized). There’s a representative example on the left. This hydrocarbon (hex-5-en-2-yne) has two linear sp carbon atoms (C2 and C3), two trigonal sp2 carbon atoms (C5 and C6), a tetrahedral sp3 CH2 group in the middle of the chain (C4), and a tetrahedral sp3 methyl group (C1) at the end of the chain. We had no need to look at any AOs to deduce this—we needed only to count the bonds.

We can hybridize any atoms We can use the same ideas with any sort of atom. The three molecules shown on the next page all have a tetrahedral structure, with four equivalent σ bonds from the central tetrahedral sp3

103


atom, whether this is B, C, or N, and the same total number of bonding electrons—the molecules are said to be isoelectronic. The atoms contribute different numbers of electrons so to get the eight bonding electrons we need we have to add one to BH4 and subtract one from NH4 —hence the charges in BH4− and NH4+. In each case the central atom can be considered to be sp3 hybridized, using an sp3 orbital to bond to each of the four H atoms, each resulting σ bond being made up of two electrons. Compounds of the same three elements with only three bonds take more thinking about. Borane, BH3, has only three pairs of bonding electrons (three from B and three from the three H atoms). Since the central boron atom bonds to only three other atoms we can therefore describe it as being sp2 hybridized. Each of the B–H bonds results from the overlap of an sp2 orbital with the hydrogen 1s orbital. Its remaining p orbital is not involved in bonding and must remain empty. Do not be tempted by the alternative structure with tetrahedral boron and an empty sp3 orbital. You want to populate the lowest energy orbitals for greatest stability and sp2 orbitals with their greater s character are lower in energy than sp3 orbitals. Another way to put this is that, if you have to have an empty orbital, it is better to have one with the highest possible energy since it has no electrons in it and so it doesn’t affect the stability of the molecule. Borane is isoelectronic with the methyl cation, CH3+ or Me+. All the arguments we have just applied to borane also apply to Me+ so it too is sp2 hybridized with a vacant p orbital. This will be very important when we discuss the reactions of carbocations in Chapters 15 and 36. Now what about ammonia, NH3? Ammonia is not isoelectronic with borane and Me+! It has a total of eight electrons—five from N and three from 3 × H. As well as three N–H bonds, each with two electrons, the central nitrogen atom also has a lone pair of electrons. We have a choice: either we could hybridize the nitrogen atom sp2 and put the lone pair in the p orbital or we could hybridize the nitrogen sp3 and have the lone pair in an sp3 orbital. This is the opposite of the situation with borane and Me+. The extra pair of electrons does contribute to the energy of ammonia so it prefers to be in the lower-energy orbital, sp3, rather than pure p. Experimentally the H–N–H bond angles are all 107.3°. Clearly, this is much closer to the 109.5° sp3 angle than the 120° sp2 angle. But the bond angles are not exactly 109.5°, so ammonia cannot be described as pure sp3 hybridized. One way of looking at this is to say that the lone pair repels the bonds more than they repel each other. Alternatively, you could say that the orbital containing the lone pair must have slightly more s character while the N–H bonding orbitals must have correspondingly more p character.

H

H B H H H borohydride anion

H

C H H

H

methane

H N H H

ammonium cation vacant p orbital

H

B H H

trigonal borane: B is sp2 vacant p orbital

H

C H H

lone pair in p orbital

H

N H H

trigonal ammonia

vacant sp3 orbital

H

B H

H

tetrahedral borane

trigonal methyl cation

lone pair in sp3 orbital

H

N H H

pyramidal ammonia N is sp3

The carbonyl group The C=O double bond is the most important functional group in organic chemistry. It is present in aldehydes, ketones, acids, esters, amides, and so on. We shall spend several chapters discussing its chemistry so it is important that you understand its electronic structure from this early stage. We’ll use the simplest carbonyl compound, methanal (formaldehyde), as our example. As in alkenes, the carbon atom needs three sp2 orbitals to form σ bonds with the two H atoms and the O atom. But what about oxygen? It needs only to form one σ bond to C, but it needs two more hybrid orbitals for its lone pairs: the oxygen atom of a carbonyl group is also sp2 hybridized. A p orbital from the carbon and one from the oxygen make up the π bond, which also contains two electrons. This is what the bonding looks like:

each atom has three sp2 orbitals plus a p orbital

H

C–O π bond made from overlap of p orbital on C and on O

H C

+

C

O

H

O

How do we know the O has its lone pairs in sp2 orbitals? Well, whenever carbonyl compounds form bonds using those lone pairs—hydrogen bonds, for example—they prefer to do so in a direction corresponding to where the lone pairs are expected to be.

H two lone pairs occupy two of O's sp2 orbitals

C–O σ bond made from overlap of sp2 orbital on each of C and O

Interactive bonding orbitals in formaldehyde


104

For the MO energy diagram, we’ll again just consider the bonding between C and O. First, we hybridize the orbitals of both atoms to give us the 3 × sp2 orbitals and 1 × p orbital we need. Notice that we have made the AOs at O lower in energy than the AOs at C because O is more electronegative. Once we have ed for the non-bonding sp2 orbitals at O and the two C–H bonds, we allow the two remaining sp2 orbitals to interact and make a σ and a σ* orbital, and the two p orbitals to make a π and a π* orbital. σ∗

orbitals of the C=O group

π∗

C keep one p orbital unhybridized

energy

2p

unfilled antibonding orbitals

2p

O keep one p orbital 2p unhybridized

mix to make 3 x sp2 orbitals sp2


filled bonding C–C π orbital


2p

sp2

2s

2 x sp2 are nonbonding lone pairs filled bonding C–C σ orbital

■ Alkenes have nucleophilic π bonds while carbonyl compounds have electrophilic π bonds. If you are not yet familiar with these , you will meet them in Chapter 5.

We will develop this idea in Chapter 6.

2s

The fact that oxygen is more electronegative than carbon has two consequences for this diagram. Firstly it makes the energy of the orbitals of a C=O bond lower than they would be in the corresponding C=C bond. That has consequences for the reactivity of alkenes and carbonyl compounds, as you will see in the next chapter. The second consequence is polarization. You met this idea before when we were looking at NO. Look at the filled π orbital in the MO energy level diagram. It is more similar in energy to the p orbital on O than the p orbital on C. We can interpret this by saying that it receives a greater contribution from the p orbital on O than from the p orbital on C. Consequently the orbital is distorted so that it is bigger at the O end than at the C end, and the electrons spend more time close to O. The same is true for the σ bond, and the consequent polarization of the C=O group can be represented by one of two symbols for a dipole—the arrow with the cross at the positive end or the pair of δ+ and δ– symbols.

formaldehyde

H C

O

C

O

δ+

O δ–

H the consequence: a dipole electronegativity difference means C=O π orbital is distorted towards O

C

O

electronegativity difference means C=O π∗ orbital is distorted towards C

electronegativity difference means C–O σ orbital is also distorted towards O

Conversely, if you look at the antibonding π* orbital, it is closer in energy to the p orbital on C than the p orbital on O and therefore it receives a greater contribution from the p orbital on C. It is distorted towards the carbon end of the bond. Of course, being empty, the π* orbital has no effect on the structure of the C=O bond. However, it does have an effect on its reactivity—it is easier to put electrons into the antibonding π* orbital at the C end than at the O end.

105

R OTAT I O N A N D R I G I D I T Y

Rotation and rigidity

×

To end this chapter, we deal with one more question which MOs allow us to answer: how flexdo not ible is a molecule? The answer depends on the molecule of course, but more importantly it trans (E) interconvert cis (Z) but-2-ene but-2-ene depends on the type of bond. You may be aware that many alkenes can exist in two forms, cis and trans, also called Z and E (see Chapter 17). These two forms are not usually easy to interIt is in fact possible to interconconvert—in other words the C=C double bond is very rigid and cannot rotate. vert cis and trans alkenes, but it If we look at the bonding in but-2-ene we can see why. The π bond is made up of two parallel requires a considerable amount p orbitals. To rotate about the π bond requires those orbitals to lose their interaction, of energy—around 260 kJ mol−1. One way to break the π through a state in which they lie perpendicular, and finally line up again. That transitional, bond is to promote an electron perpendicular state is very unfavourable because all of the energy gained through π bonding from the π orbital to the π* is lost. Alkenes are rigid and do not rotate. orbital. If this were to happen, there would be one electron in Alkenes are rigid... try to rotate one the bonding π orbital and one in end of π bond the antibonding π* orbital, and CH3 hence no overall bonding. The H H H CH3 H energy required to do this correH3C H3C very H3C CH3 sponds to light in the ultraviolet H unfavourable H (UV) region of the spectrum. process Shining UV light on an alkene trans alkene cis alkene overlap between p orbitals is lost can break the π bond (but not π bond is broken the σ bond) and allows rotation to occur.

Alkene isomers Maleic and fumaric acids were known in the nineteenth century to have the same chemical composition and the same functional groups, and yet they were different compounds—why remained a mystery. That is, until 1874 when van’t Hoff proposed that free rotation about double bonds was restricted. This meant that, whenever each carbon atom of a double bond had two different substituents, isomers would be possible. He proposed the cis (Latin meaning ‘on this side’) and trans (Latin meaning ‘across or on the other side’) for the two isomers. The problem was: which isomer was which? On heating, maleic acid readily loses water to become maleic anhydride so this isomer must have both acid groups on the same side of the double bond. H

O

COOH heat

H H

fumaric acid trans-butenedioic acid

COOH

H

heat

no change

H

HOOC

COOH

O

– H2O

H

maleic acid cis-butenedioic acid

O maleic anhydride

Compare that situation with butane. Rotating about the middle bond doesn’t break any bonds because the σ bond is, by definition, cylindrically symmetrical. Atoms connected only by a σ bond are therefore considered to be rotationally free, and the two ends of butane can spin relative to one another. Alkanes rotate freely... rotate one end of σ bond

H H H3C

H H

■ In fact not all orientations about a σ bond are equally favourable. We come back to this aspect of structure, known as conformation, in Chapter 16.

cylindrically symmetrical σ bond remains intact througout

H H3C

CH3 very easy process

H3 C

HH

H HH

H very easy process

H3C

H

H CH3

The same comparison works for ethylene (ethene) and ethane: in ethylene all the atoms lie in a plane, enforced by the need for overlap between the p orbitals. But in ethane, the two ends of the molecule spin freely. This difference in rigidity has important consequences throughout chemistry, and we will come back to it in more detail in Chapter 16.

H

H H

ethylene is flat and rigid

H H H

H

H H

ethane spins freely


106

Conclusion We have barely touched the enormous variety of molecules, but it is important that you realize at this point that these simple ideas of structural assembly can be applied to the most complicated molecules known. We can use AOs and combine them into MOs to solve the structure of very small molecules and to deduce the structures of small parts of much larger molecules. With the additional concept of conjugation in Chapter 7 you will be able to grasp the structure of any organic compound. From now on we shall use like AO and MO, 2p orbital, sp2 hybridization, σ bond, energy level, and populated orbital without further explanation. If you are unsure about any of them, refer back to this chapter.

Looking forward We started the chapter with atomic orbitals, which we combined into molecular orbitals. But what happens when the orbitals of two molecules interact? This is what happens during chemical reactions, and it’s where we are heading in the next chapter.

Further reading An excellent introduction to orbitals and bonding is Molecular Orbitals and Organic Chemical Reactions: Student Edition by Ian Fleming, Wiley, Chichester, 2009.

Check your understanding To check that you have mastered the concepts presented in this chapter, attempt the problems that are available in the book’s Online Resource Centre at http://www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/orc/clayden2e/

5

Organic reactions Connections Building on • Drawing molecules realistically ch2 • Ascertaining molecular structure spectroscopically ch3 • What determines molecular shape and structure ch4

Arriving at • Why molecules generally don’t react with each other

Looking forward to • Reactions of the carbonyl group ch6 • The rest of the chapters in this book

• Why sometimes molecules do react with each other • How molecular shape and structure determine reactivity • In chemical reactions electrons move from full to empty orbitals • Identifying nucleophiles and electrophiles • Representing the movement of electrons in reactions by curly arrows

Chemical reactions Most molecules are at peace with themselves. Bottles of sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide, water, or acetone can be safely stored in a laboratory cupboard for years without any change in the chemical composition of the molecules inside. Yet if these compounds are mixed, chemical reactions, in some cases vigorous ones, will occur. This chapter is an introduction to the behaviour of organic molecules: why some react together and some don’t, and how to understand reactivity in of charges, orbitals, and the movement of electrons. We shall also be introducing a device for representing the detailed movement of electrons—the mechanism of the reaction—called the curly arrow. To understand organic chemistry you need to be fluent in two languages. The fi rst is the language of structure: of atoms, bonds, and orbitals. This language was the concern of the last three chapters: in Chapter 2 we looked at how to draw structures, in Chapter 3 how to fi nd out what those structures are, and in Chapter 4 how to explain structure using electrons in orbitals. But now we need to take up a second language: that of reactivity. Chemistry is first and foremost about the dynamic features of molecules—how to create new molecules from old ones, for example. To understand this we need new terminology and tools for explaining, predicting, and talking about reactions. Molecules react because they move. Atoms have (limited) movement within molecules— you saw in Chapter 3 how the stretching and bending of bonds can be detected by infrared spectroscopy, and we explained in Chapter 4 how the σ bonds of alkanes (but not the π bonds of alkenes) rotate freely. On top of that, in a liquid or a gas whole molecules move around continuously. They bump into each other, into the walls of the container, maybe into solvent

Online . The icon in the margin indicates that accompanying interactive resources are provided online to help your understanding: just type www.chemtube3d.com/clayden/123 into your browser, replacing 123 with the number of the page where you see the icon. For pages linking to more than one resource, type 123-1, 123-2 etc. (replacing 123 with the page number) for access to successive links.

Marcellin Berthelot (1827– 1907) pointed out in 1860 that ‘chemistry’s creative capability, resembling that of art itself, distinguishes it from the natural and historical sciences’.

CHAPTER 5   ORGANIC REACTIONS

108

in a solution. It is all this incessant motion which drives reactions, and we first need to look at what happens when molecules collide.

Not all collisions between molecules lead to chemical change Molecules are coated with a layer of electrons which occupy bonding and maybe nonbonding orbitals. As a result the surface of each molecule is negatively charged and by and large molecules repel each other. Reactions can occur only if a pair of molecules have enough energy to overcome this superficial repulsion. If they don’t, they will simply bounce off one another like two balls in pool or snooker, exchanging energy and moving off with new velocities, but remaining chemically unchanged. That minimum energy requirement for reaction—a barrier over which molecules must if they are to react—is known as the activation energy. In any sample of a compound, the molecules will have a range of energies, but at least some must have more than the activation energy if they are to react.

We’ll discuss this more in Chapter 12.

Charge attraction brings molecules together

■ Stable organic anions more usually carry their negative charge on an atom that is not carbon—on oxygen, for example, as in the acetate ion, CH3CO2−. cyanide formaldehyde electrostatic attraction H N C δ+ O δ– charged H reagent C=O dipole water formaldehyde electrostatic H attraction H δ+ O δ– O

H

H lone pairs of electrons

ethylene

H

C=O dipole

H

orbital interaction bromine

H

no charges, no dipoles

Br

H

Br

If you mix a solution of sodium chloride with a solution of silver nitrate, electrostatic attraction between the Ag+ cations and Cl− anions is enough to bring them together into a stable, crystalline ionic lattice of silver chloride, which precipitates from solution. Both ions are of course surrounded by electrons, but the deficit of negative charge in the Ag+ cation (one electron short of the full Ag complement of 47) is enough to overcome the repulsion between the rest of the electrons. Direct reaction of a cation and an anion is rare with organic molecules because there are relatively few stable organic anions, and even fewer stable organic cations. A more common cause of organic reactions is attraction between a charged reagent (a cation or anion) and an organic compound that both possess a dipole. An example that we shall explore in this chapter (and which decorates the cover of this book) is the reaction between a carbonyl compound such as formaldehyde (methanal) and one of those few stable organic anions, cyanide (−CN, in the form of its salt NaCN). The carbonyl group of formaldehyde is polarized because oxygen is more electronegative than carbon (see p. 103). The negative cyanide ion is attracted to the positive end of the carbonyl group dipole. Actually, it isn’t necessary for either reagent to be charged. Water also reacts with formaldehyde and this time it is the lone pair of electrons—the non-bonding pair of electrons located on the oxygen atom of the uncharged water molecule—that is attracted to the positive end of the carbonyl dipole.

Orbital overlap brings molecules together Charges and dipoles can help bring molecules together for reaction, helping them to overcome their electronic repulsion and lowering their activation energy. But reactions can still take place even between completely uncharged molecules with no dipole, provided their molecular orbitals can interact. One of the old ‘tests’ for unsaturation was to treat a compound with bromine water. If the brown colour disappeared, the molecule was unsaturated (contained double bonds). Spectroscopy means we rarely need to use such tests now, but the reaction is still an important one. An alkene reacts with bromine, even though the alkene and the bromine molecule have neither charge nor dipole. The attraction between these molecules is not electrostatic; instead, their electronic repulsion is overcome because the bromine molecule has an empty orbital available—the σ* orbital of the Br–Br bond— which can accept electrons from the alkene. Unlike the repulsive interaction between filled orbitals, the interaction between a filled and an unfilled orbital can lead to attraction and reaction. In fact, orbital interactions are also involved in the other two reactions on this page, but in those cases the orbital interactions are augmented by electrostatic attraction.

C H E M I C A L R E AC T I O N S

●

109

To summarize the situation: • In general, molecules repel each other, and need to overcome a barrier with a minimum amount of activation energy in order to react. • Most organic reactions involve interactions between full and empty orbitals. • Many, but not all, also involve charge interactions, which help overcome electronic repulsion. • Some ionic reactions involve nothing but charge attraction.

We don’t need to analyse whether charge or orbital interaction is the most important factor in bringing molecules together, but you do need to be aware that both may be involved to varying degrees.

Reactions happen when electrons flow between molecules When, as a result of these interactions, a pair of molecules fi nd themselves close together, a reaction can take place provided electrons move from one molecule to another. This is what we call the mechanism of the reaction—the detailed description of the pathway the electrons take. In most organic reactions, the electrons start in one molecule and move towards another. We call the molecule that accepts the electrons the electrophile (electron-lover) for obvious reasons. The molecule that donates the electrons is called the nucleophile. ●

A bond forms when electrons move from a nucleophile to an electrophile: from nucleophile (Nu or Nu–)

electron movement

to electrophile (E or E+)

The nucleophile donates electrons. The electrophile accepts electrons. Here’s a very simple example where the nucleophile is an anion (Cl−) and the electrophile is a cation (H+). The two are brought together by charge attraction, and the new bond is formed by electrons donated by the nucleophile. Since we are representing the formation of a new bond by the movement of electrons, it’s natural to use an arrow to show the way the electrons flow. Arrows used to show electron flow are always curved: we call them ‘curly arrows’. The arrow showing the reaction itself is straight. nucleophile

Cl electrostatic attraction

curly arrow showing electron movement

nucleophile

new bond

Cl H

Cl

H

H

H

electrophile

Cl

straight reaction arrow

electrophile

In the next example, neither the nucleophile (ammonia, NH3) nor the electrophile (borane, BH3) are charged, but they are drawn together by the interaction between the electrons of the non-bonding lone pair at N and the empty p orbital on B. Electrons flow from the nucleophile (NH3) to the electrophile (BH3) and a new bond is formed. nucleophile has lone pair (filled H H H non-bonding N orbital) orbital overlap

H H B H

electrophile has an empty p orbital

H H

H N B H

H H new σ bond

H

H N

H H

curly arrow

H H B H

H

H N B H

H H

Bonding in BH3 and NH3 was discussed on p. 103.

110 A ‘dative covalent bond’ is just an ordinary σ bond whose electrons happen to come from one atom. Most bonds are formed by electron donation from one atom to another and a classification that makes it necessary to know the history of the molecule is not useful. The only important distinction you need to make between types of covalent bonds is between σ bonds and π bonds.


The charges on the B and the N are necessary simply to correctly for the electrons. Usually, we think of the pair of electrons in a bond as coming one from each of the bonded atoms. But here, since nitrogen donates both electrons (such bonds used to be called ‘dative bonds’) we have to for the fact that boron ends up with one electron extra, and nitrogen one electron too few. The bond that forms is just a normal σ bond.

Orbital overlap is essential for successful reaction In the reaction of ammonia with borane, not only do the molecules have to collide with enough energy to react, but they must also collide with the orbitals aligned correctly for them to interact. As you saw in Chapter 3, the lone pair of the nitrogen atom resides in a filled, nonbonding sp3 orbital. This orbital has to overlap with the empty p orbital on B to form a bond. So, a collision like this H

filled non- H H bonding N sp3 orbital bonding interaction empty p

H H B H

orbital

will do just fi ne for making a bond, but collisions like these

H

H B H H

N H

H

N H

H H

H B H H

H

N H

H H H

B H

will not do at all. Of course we can also draw a molecular orbital energy level diagram for the constructive, end-on interaction of the orbitals: look back to Chapter 4 to remind yourself of how to do this. Here, we need the filled sp3 orbital on N to interact with the empty p orbital on B to give a new σ bonding orbital and an empty σ* antibonding orbital. Finally, putting in the two electrons from the N’s lone pair gives us a full picture of the new B–N bond. empty antibonding B–N σ∗ orbital B energy

■ We’ve ignored the N–H and B–H bonds as they are not involved in the reaction. The sp3 orbital on N is lower in energy than the p orbital on B for two reasons—firstly it has more s-character and secondly N is more electronegative than B.

N

2p sp3

bonding leads to this much gain in energy

filled bonding B–N σ orbital

The energy level diagram makes it clear why bonding is favourable too: the electrons have dropped down from the non-bonding sp3 orbital to the new lower energy bonding σ orbital. We don’t need to consider what has happened to the energy of the unfilled orbitals because they’re empty and don’t contribute to the energy of the molecule as a whole. We can generalize this idea to work out what makes a good nucleophile and a good electrophile. We’ll use an imaginary, generic nucleophile Nu, with a pair of electrons in some sort of filled orbital (it doesn’t matter what this orbital is) which it can donate to the empty orbital of a generic electrophile E. Here are three versions of the molecular orbital energy level diagram:

111

NUCLEOPHILES AND ELECTROPHILES

new molecular orbitals

E



energy

E E

Nu Nu large energy gain

Nu

interacting orbitals close in energy

interacting orbitals differ greatly in energy

On the left, the energies of the filled Nu orbital and the empty E orbital are almost the same. There is a significant gain in energy when the new bond forms between them. On the right, there is a large difference between the energies of the fi lled Nu orbital and the empty E orbital, and the energy gain is negligible. This tells us something: the best reactions are ones in which the energies of the interacting orbitals are similar in energy. ●

For a reaction to take place, molecules must: • overcome their electronic repulsion by charge attraction and/or orbital overlap • have orbitals of appropriate energy to interact—a filled orbital on the nucleophile and an empty orbital on the electrophile • approach each other such that these orbitals can overlap to form a bonding interaction.

Nucleophiles and electrophiles What does this mean for nucleophiles and electrophiles? Well, in general, filled orbitals tend to be low in energy—that is after all why they are fi lled! Conversely, empty orbitals tend to be high in energy. So the best interaction (the one that gains the new molecule the most energy) is likely to be between the highest in energy of all the fi lled orbitals—an orbital we can term the ‘highest occupied molecular orbital’ or HOMO for short—and the lowest in energy of all of the unfi lled orbitals—the ‘lowest unoccupied molecular orbital’ or LUMO for short. This diagram may help clarify this idea—it’s a repeat of the best interaction above (the one on the left), but with other orbitals sketched in. we ignore the empty orbitals of Nu because they are too high in energy to interact with the filled orbitals of E

energy

many other higher energy empty orbitals which we can ignore because they interact poorly with the filled orbitals of Nu

E

this is the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) Nu large energy gain

this is the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) we ignore the filled orbitals of E because they are too low in energy to interact with the empty orbitals of Nu

negligible energy gain

many other lower energy filled orbitals which we can ignore because they interact poorly with the empty orbitals of E


112

, we can ignore all interactions between pairs of fi lled orbitals (bonding and antibonding cancel out, see p. 94) and pairs of unfi lled orbitals (they don’t contain electrons so don’t contribute to the stability of the molecule). Of the interactions that are left, the one that gains the molecule the most energy is between the LUMO of the electrophile and the HOMO of the nucleophile. To make these orbitals as close as possible in energy, we want the nucleophile to have a high-energy HOMO and the electrophile to have a low-energy LUMO.

• The best nucleophiles have high-energy occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs). • The best electrophiles have low-energy unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs). The very first stage in understanding any reaction is to work out which of the reacting molecules is the nucleophile and which is the electrophile. It is impossible to stress too much how important it is to be able to identify nucleophiles and electrophiles correctly. For this reason we’ll now conduct an identity parade of each class. We’ll show you some of the top performing nucleophiles and top performing electrophiles, with a few comments on why they are so good at what they do, before we move on to see them in action.

Identifying a nucleophile nucleophiles with a lone pair

N

H

H

H

R

ammonia

O

H

R

R

an amine

H

R

water

O

H

an alcohol

HOMO = non-bonding sp3 orbital

N

H

N

Nucleophiles are either negatively charged or neutral species with a pair of electrons in a high-energy orbital (the HOMO). The most common type of nucleophile has a non-bonding lone pair of electrons. Non-bonding electrons are typically high in energy because they do not benefit from the stabilization bonding electrons get from being shared between two nuclei. Typical neutral nucleophiles with lone pairs are ammonia, amines, water, and alcohols, all of which have lone pairs (one for N, two of equal energy for O) occupying sp3 orbitals. Other atoms later in the periodic table which carry lone pairs, such as phosphines, thiols, and sulfides, also make good nucleophiles, especially since their lone pairs are of even higher energy occupying orbitals made up of 3s and 3p atomic orbitals.

H

H

Me

P Me

Me

trimethylphosphine nucleophiles with a negative charge

H

O

Br

hydroxide

bromide

usually drawn simply as:

Br

HO

H

O

Ph

S

H

thiophenol

Me

S

Me

dimethylsulfide

Anions which have lone pairs are often good nucleophiles too, partly because they can be attracted electrostatically by positively charged electrophiles. The anionic centre is usually O, S, or halogen, each of which can have several identical lone pairs. For example, hydroxide has three lone pairs—the negative charge cannot be assigned to one of them in particular. It’s convenient just to draw the negative charge, and not the lone pairs as well. Negative charges like this actually represent a pair of electrons—both the ‘extra’ electron and its partner in the lone pair—so we normally write mechanisms with an arrow starting on the negative charge.

HOMO = non-bonding sp3 orbital

hydroxide

C

usually drawn simply as:

N

cyanide ion

HOMO = sp lone pair on C

C C

N

N sp lone pair

The most important carbon nucleophile with a lone pair of electrons is the cyanide ion. Although linear cyanide (which is isoelectronic with N2 ) has a lone pair on nitrogen and a lone pair on carbon, the nucleophilic atom is usually anionic carbon rather than neutral nitrogen as the sp orbital on carbon is of higher energy than that on the more electronegative nitrogen, and therefore constitutes the HOMO.

113


Molecules can still be nucleophilic without non-bonding lone pairs. The next highest set of =C double bonds, since they are higher in orbitals are bonding π orbitals, especially C= energy than σ orbitals (see p. 93). Simple alkenes are weakly nucleophilic and react with strong electrophiles such as bromine. Note, however, that molecules with π bonds can also be electrophiles, particularly when the π bond involves an electronegative atom. The only common π nucleophiles are alkenes and aromatic rings. Finally, it is possible for the σ bond of a nucleophile to donate electrons, provided it is a σ bond associated with electropositive atoms such as B, Si, or the metals, along with C or H. You saw on p. 97 how the weak hold these atoms have over their electrons means that their atomic orbitals (and hence the molecular orbitals they contribute to) are high in energy. You met the borohydride anion BH4− in Chapter 4. Borohydride is a good nucleophile—it attacks electrophilic carbonyl compounds, as you will see shortly. It donates electrons from its HOMO, the B–H σ bond. Notice that in this case the negative charge does not represent a pair of electrons: you cannot start a curly arrow from it. In later chapters you will see organometallics—compounds with carbon–metal bonds, for example methyllithium—acting as nucleophiles. They do so because the σ orbital generated from electropositive C and even more electropositive Li is high in energy.

a nucleophile with a C=C double bond

H

H HOMO =

H

H π orbital

bonding

ethylene nucleophiles with a σ bond between electropositive atoms HOMO = B–H σ orbital

H B

H

H

H

H

borohydride anion

Li H

C H H

H

B H H Li

HOMO = C–Li σ orbital C

H

methyllithium

H

Nucleophiles donate electrons from available, high-energy orbitals represented by one of the following:

●

NH3

H2C

Br

a lone pair

a negative charge

Li

CH2

a double bond

CH3

a σ bond to an electropositive atom

The curly arrows in the box above represent electron movement away from the nucleophile. But the electrons have to go somewehere: they are donated to an electrophile.

Identifying an electrophile Electrophiles are neutral or positively charged species with an empty atomic orbital (such as the empty p orbital in borane) or a low-energy antibonding orbital that can easily accept electrons. The simplest electrophile is the hydrogen cation, H+, usually named for what it is, a proton. H+ is a species without any electrons at all and a vacant, very low energy, 1s orbital. It is so reactive that it is hardly ever found and almost any nucleophile will react with it. Acid solutions containing H+ are neutralized by the nucleophile hydroxide, for example, and strong acid goes on to protonate water as well, the water acting as a nucleophile and the proton as the electrophile. The product is the hydronium ion, H3O+, the true acidic species in all aqueous strong acids. Here’s the reaction between hydroxide and H+ with the electron movement from the nucleophile to the electrophile represented by curly arrows. The arrows start on the hydroxide’s negative charge, which represents one of the oxygen’s pairs of electrons: H+ as electrophile

H

O

hydroxide as nucleophile

H

H+ as electrophile

H O

H

H water as

nucleophile

H O H H hydronium ion, H3O+

Other electrophiles with empty atomic orbitals include borane, which you met on p. 103, and related compounds such as boron trifluoride and aluminium trichloride. BF3 reacts with ethers, as shown below, to form stable complexes. This time the arrow starts on the lone pair.

electrophiles with an empty atomic orbital

H proton

H

LUMO = empty 1s orbital

H


114 F

Cl

B

Al Cl

Cl

F

F

BF3 as electrophile

LUMO = empty p orbital

F O

aluminium boron trichloride trifluoride

F

B F

diethyl ether as nucleophile

B

O F

F

F

boron trifluoride etherate or Et2O.BF3

new σ bond

Few organic compounds have vacant atomic orbitals and in most organic electrophiles the LUMOs are instead low-energy antibonding orbitals associated with electronegative atoms. These antibonding orbitals can be either π* orbitals or σ* orbitals—in other words, molecules which make good electrophiles might have a double or a single bond to an electronegative atom such as O, N, Cl, or Br. It’s important that an electronegative atom is involved in order to lower the energy of the orbital (see p. 96) and make it ready to accept electrons.

Carbon's place in the electronegativity scale Here is a summary of electronegativities for atoms commonly involved in organic reactions. 4.5

4

3.98 Electropositive elements

Electronegative elements 3.44

3.5 2.96 3.04

3 2.55 2.58

2.5

2

1.9

2.04

2.19

2.2

P

H

3.16

2.66

1.61 1.5

1

1.31 0.98

0.5

0 Li

electrophiles with a double-bonded electronegative atom

O

O

NMe

carbonyl compound LUMO is π* orbital of C=O bond

Mg

Al

Si

B

C

S

I

Br

N

Cl

O

F

This bar chart makes it clear why carbon is just so special: it can form strong bonds to almost anything, especially itself. Elements at either end of the scale form weak bonds to similar elements (metal–metal bonds are weak, as are halogen– halogen or O–O bonds), but elements in the middle can form strong bonds to other elements at either end of the scale or elements in the middle. Being in the middle also gives C versatile reactivity: it is electrophilic when bonded to a more electronegative element and nucleophilic when bonded to a more nucleophilic element.

The most important molecules with a double bond to an electronegative atom are carbonyl compounds. In fact carbonyl groups are the most important functional groups in organic chemistry. We looked at their orbitals on p. 103 and we devote the next chapter, Chapter 6, to a detailed study of their reactivity. The low-energy π* orbital is available to accept electrons, and its electrophilicity is further enhanced by the partial positive charge at carbon which arises from the C=O dipole. Here’s an example of a carbonyl compound, acetone, reacting with an anionic nucleophile—we’ll choose borohydride in this case. Notice

115


how the arrow does not start on the negative charge, as the charge does not represent a pair of electrons here. this curly arrow shows the π bond breaking as electrons interact carbonyl with the antibonding π* orbital compound as electrophile

H H

H B

H

O

H B

H

H

borohydride anion as nucleophile

+

H

new σ bond

O

π bond is broken but σ bond remains

The arrows showing electron movement are a little more involved this time, but the explanation is straightforward. The first arrow shows the electrons moving from the nucleophile’s HOMO (the B–H σ orbital) to the electrophile’s LUMO (the C=O π* orbital). The new feature in this mechanism is a second arrow showing the electrons moving from the double bond onto the oxygen atom. This is easy to explain. Since the reaction is putting electrons into an antibonding orbital (the π*), a bond has to break. That breaking bond is the C=O π bond (the σ bond remains intact). The electrons in the bond have to go somewhere and they end up as an extra lone pair (represented by the negative charge) on oxygen. The product has a new C–H σ bond in place of the C=O π bond. Molecules with a single bond to electronegative atoms can also make good electrophiles. In compounds such as HCl or CH3Br, the σ* orbital is low in energy because of the electronegative Cl or Br (see p. 95) and the dipole attracts the electrons of the nucleophile to the H or C atom. Here’s an example of hydrogen chloride acting as an electrophile with ammonia as the nucleophile. As with the carbonyl example above, we are putting electrons into an antibonding orbital, so a bond must break. This time the antibonding orbital is the H–Cl σ*, so the bond which breaks is the H–Cl σ bond.

ammonia as nucleophile H

Cl

hydrogen chloride as electrophile

H

Cl

hydrogen chloride

Br

H H

H

electrophiles with a single bond to an electronegative atom

H3C

Br

methyl bromide

Br

Cl

LUMO is σ* orbital

H N

■ In the carbonyl group, the C= O π bond breaks, rather than the σ bond, because the π* is lower in energy than the σ* orbital.

bromine

this curly arrow shows the σ bond breaking as electrons interact with the antibonding σ* orbital

H

We shall come back to this very important reaction at the beginning of Chapter 6.

H

N

H

+

Cl

H new σ bond

You may recognize this reaction, and the one on p. 113, as the reaction between a base and an acid. All acid–base reactions are reactions between a nucleophile (the base) and an electrophile (the acid). We call an electrophile an acid if is has an X–H bond (X being any atom) that loses H+ in its reactions. We call a nucleophile a base when it uses a lone pair to donate electrons to the X–H bond. There is a little more to the definition of an acid, which we shall discuss in Chapter 8, where you will meet the term ‘Lewis acid’.

Some σ bonds are electrophilic even though they have no dipole at all. The bonds in the halogens I 2 , Br2 , and Cl 2 are a case in point. Bromine, for example, is strongly electrophilic because it has a weak Br–Br bond with a low energy σ* orbital. Why is the σ* low in energy? Well, bromine is slightly electronegative, but it is also large: it has to use 4s and 4p atomic orbitals for bonding, but these orbitals are large and diffuse, and overlap poorly, meaning the σ* molecular orbital is not raised far in energy and can easily accept electrons. How different the situation is with a C–C bond: C–C single bonds are almost never electrophilic.


116 bonding in Br–Br

C–C σ∗ orbital

bonding in H3C–CH3 low-energy LUMO: easy to put electrons into Br–Br σ∗ orbital

Br small energy gain: weak bond

high-energy LUMO: hard to put electrons into

Br

C

C

Br–Br σ orbital large energy gain: strong bond C–C σ orbital

The unreactivity of C–C bonds is why we think of structures in of a hydrocarbon skeleton and functional groups: the hydrocarbon framework is made up of strong C–C bonds with unreactive low-energy filled and high-energy empty orbitals, while the functional groups tend to involve electronegative and electropositive atoms, which react because they contribute to more accessible low-energy LUMOs or high-energy HOMOs.

Bromine reacts with many nucleophiles, for example in the reaction shown below between a sulfide and bromine. Lone pair electrons are donated from sulfur into the Br–Br σ* orbital, which makes a new bond between S and Br, and breaks the old Br–Br bond. S has two lone pairs but here we show only the one involved in the reaction

dimethyl sulfide as nucleophile

Me

Me Br

S

Br

S

bromine as electrophile

Me

Br

+

Br

Me new σ bond

Electrophiles accept electrons into empty low-energy orbitals represented by one of the following:

●

F H a positive charge representing an empty orbital

B

F

O

F

a neutral molecule with an empty p orbital

a double bond to an electronegative element

H

Cl

a single bond to an electronegative element

Curly arrows represent reaction mechanisms You have now seen several examples of curly arrows representing the movement of electrons during a reaction, and it is time to discuss them in detail. It is no exaggeration to say that this simple device is the one most powerful tool chemists have for explaining simply and accurately how reactions work—in other words the mechanisms of reactions. Curly arrows are to reactions what structural diagrams are to molecules. We discussed the guidelines for drawing structures in Chapter 2, explaining that although the structure of a molecule may be very complex, a good structural diagram will represent all of its important features without unnecessary detail. Curly arrows are similar: you have seen how reactions involve the overlap and summation of molecular orbitals to make new molecular orbitals, and the movement of electrons within those orbitals. Curly arrows allow us to represent all the important features of those interactions and electron movements very simply, without being concerned with unnecessary detail. It’s now time to outline some guidelines for writing mechanisms with curly arrows.

Curly arrows show the movement of electrons A curly arrow represents the movement of a pair of electrons from a fi lled orbital into an empty orbital. You can think of the curly arrow as representing a pair of electrons thrown, like a

C U R LY A R R O W S R E P R E S E N T R E AC T I O N M E C H A N I S M S

117

climber’s grappling hook, across from where he is standing to where he wants to go. In the simplest cases, the result of this movement is to form a bond between a nucleophile and an electrophile. Here are two examples we have already seen in which lone pair electrons are transferred to empty atomic orbitals. BF3 as electrophile

H+ as electrophile

H

O

hydroxide as nucleophile

H

H

F O

H

O F

new σ bond

F

B

O F

B

F

F

diethyl ether as nucleophile

new σ bond

A curly arrow always starts with its tail resting on the symbol representing a pair of electrons in a filled orbital—in this case the lone pair or the negative charge (which actually represents a lone pair). The head of the arrow indicates the final destination of the pair of electrons—the new bond between oxygen and hydrogen or oxygen and boron in these examples. As we are forming a new bond, the head of the arrow should be drawn to a point somewhere on the line between the two atoms. Why does a curly arrow represent two electrons? Well, as you saw in Chapter 4, it takes two electrons to make a bond, and in these two cases those electrons come from a lone pair. We use a different sort of arrow for movements of one electron, as you will see in Chapters 24 and 37. When the nucleophile attacks an antibonding orbital, such as the weak Br–Br bond we have just been discussing, we need two arrows, one to make the new bond and one to break the old.

dimethyl sulfide as nucleophile

Me

■ Some chemists prefer to place this point halfway between the atoms but we think it is clearer and more informative if the arrowhead is closer to the atom to which the new bond is forming. For these examples the difference is minimal and either method is completely clear, but in more complex situations our method prevents ambiguity, as we shall see later. We shall adopt this convention throughout this book: that the arrow ends close to the electrophile.

Me Br

S

Br

Br

S

bromine as electrophile

Me

+

Br

Me new σ bond

The bond-making arrow is the same as before—it starts on the nucleophile’s lone pair and ends near the electrophile—but the bond-breaking arrow is new. This arrow shows that the two electrons in the bond move to one end (a bromine atom) and turn it into an anion. As always the arrow starts on something representing a pair of electrons in a filled orbital—the Br–Br σ bond. It should start in the centre of the bond and its head should rest on the atom (Br in this case) the electrons are heading for. Another example is the attack of a base on the strong acid HBr. H Br

H

H H

N

Br

+

H

H

H

N H

It is not important how much curvature you put into the arrows—as long as they curl enough to distinguish them from straight reaction arrows, they can be as curly as you like. Neither does it matter whether they go to the left or the right, or whether they curve up or down as long as they begin and end in the right places. The mechanism below is just as correct: H H

H N

H

H

Br

N

H H

H

+

Br

■ Notice that the final arrow ends up delivering the electrons to an electronegative atom, satisfying its desire for electron density. This is part of the reason why double or single bonds to electronegative atoms are often a feature of good electrophiles.


118

●

Curly arrows always start on something representing a pair of electrons: • a negative charge • a lone pair • or a bond

and end at the point those electrons are moving to.

Charge is conserved in each step of a reaction Charge cannot be created or destroyed. If the starting materials have no overall charge, then neither must the products. In the last example above, it is obvious why the bromine becomes negatively charged—it takes both electrons from the bond even though only one of them formally ‘belongs’ to it. It may be less obvious to you why the ammonium cation has to have a positive charge, but it must, in order to maintain overall neutrality. One way to think about it is to note that both of the electrons in the new N–H bond come from N, so N is one electron down on the deal. If the starting materials are charged, then the products must have, overall, the same charge. Here’s ammonia being protonated by H3O+ —both starting materials and products must have overall charge 1+. starting materials have one positive charge between them

H3O+ (the hydronium ion) is of course the electrophile here: it accepts electrons into the H–O σ*. Why doesn’t this reaction happen though? H H

N

H O

H

H

?

H The answer is that the oxygen atom already has eight electrons—six from the three bonds to H and two from the other lone pair. It can’t receive any more unless one of those bonds breaks. The positive charge here does not represent an empty orbital in the way that H+ has an empty orbital. H3O+ is electrophilic at H and not electrophilic at O.

We discussed the simplest carbocation, CH3+, on p. 103. ■ We’ve drawn in the new C–H bond in the product to make it clear what has happened in the reaction: there are also two other C–H bonds at this C atom, which as usual we haven’t drawn in.

H

H O

H

H

H

H H

N H

O

+

H

H

N H

H

products must also have one positive charge overall

When it is a π bond that is being broken rather than a σ bond, only the π bond is broken and the σ bond should be left in place. This is what commonly happens when an electrophilic carbonyl group is attacked by a nucleophile. Just as in the breaking of a σ bond, start the arrow in the middle of the π bond and end by putting the arrowhead on the more electronegative atom, in this case oxygen rather than carbon. O H

HO

O

C–O σ bond remains

O π bond is broken

In this case the starting materials had an overall negative charge and this is preserved in the anionic product. The charge disappears from the hydroxide ion because it is now sharing a pair of electrons with what was the carbonyl carbon atom and a charge appears on what was the carbonyl oxygen atom because it now has one of the electrons in the old π bond.

π bonds as nucleophiles As you saw above, alkenes can be nucleophiles. The reaction of an alkene with HBr is a simple example: the C–C π bond is the HOMO of the nucleophile. The fi rst arrow therefore starts in the middle of the π bond and goes into the gap between one of the carbon atoms and the hydrogen atom of HBr. The second arrow takes the electrons out of the H–Br σ bond and puts them onto the bromine atom to make bromide ion. Overall charge is conserved, so we must generate a positively charged species called a carbocation. The carbocation has a positive charge and an empty p orbital (you can count the electrons to make sure). new σ bond

H H

Br

+ carbocation

Br

C U R LY A R R O W S R E P R E S E N T R E AC T I O N M E C H A N I S M S

119

Notice that it was important to draw the two reagents in the right orientation since we need the arrow to show which end of the alkene reacts with which end of HBr. If we had aligned them differently we would have had trouble drawing the mechanism. Here is a less satisfactory representation, in which the H doesn’t seem to transfer to the correct end of the alkene:

H

Br

H

+

Br

If you find yourself making an ambiguous drawing like this, it is worth having another go to see if you can be clearer. When the nucleophile is a π (or σ) bond rather than a lone pair or a charge there is always the question of which end of the bond actually reacts. One way to make this clear is to draw an atom-specific curly arrow actually ing through the atom that reacts. Something like this will do: curly arrow es through atom forming new bond

■ In Chapter 19 we will explain why the new C–H bond forms at this end of the alkene.

H H

Br

+

Br

This reaction does not, in fact, stop here as the two ions produced now react with each other to form the product of the reaction. The anion is the nucleophile and the carbocation, with its empty p orbital, is the electrophile. Br

Br

σ bonds as nucleophiles When σ bonds act as nucleophiles, the electrons also have to go to one end of the σ bond as they form a new bond to the electrophile. We can return to an earlier example, the reaction of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) with a carbonyl compound, and complete the mechanism. In this example, one of the atoms (the hydrogen atom) moves away from the rest of the BH4 anion and becomes bonded to the carbonyl compound. The LUMO of the electrophile is, of course, the π* orbital of the C=O double bond. H

H B

H

H

O

H B

H

+

H

O

H

The arrow from the nucleophile should start in the middle of the bond that breaks and show which atom is transferred to the electrophile. You could use an atom-specific arrow if you wanted to make it absolutely clear that the electrons in the σ bond act as a nucleophile through the hydrogen and not through the boron atom: H H

H B

H

O

H B

H

+

H

O

O

■ (p. 115) you can’t start a curly arrow on the negative charge of BH4− because it does not represent a lone pair: all eight electrons around the B atom are shown as the four B–H bonds. This negative charge is conceptually similar to the positive charge of H3O+, which does not represent an empty orbital. Contrast them with the negative charge of HO− (representing an sp3 lone pair) or the positive charge of H+ (representing the empty 1s orbital).

H

The anion which forms is an intermediate, not the final product. The reaction is often carried out in water and the anion acts as a nucleophile to remove a proton from water. Water is the electrophile: its LUMO is the O–H σ*.

H

■ Notice the contrast with the reaction of H3O+ above: unlike the O atom in H3O+, the C atom in the carbocation has only six electrons and so can accept two more.

H

O

H

H

OH

+

HO

■ In common with some other molecules, water can be either a nucleophile or an electrophile. In cases like this you can work out which it must be by looking at the other reagent: here, the anion has to be a nucleophile. Negatively charged molecules are never electrophiles.

120


●

Summary: Curly arrow health check • A curly arrow shows the movement of a pair of electrons. • The tail of the arrow shows the source of the electron pair, which will be a filled orbital (HOMO) and can be represented by: – a lone pair – or a negative charge – or a π bond – or a σ bond. • The head of the arrow indicates the destination of the electron pair, which will be: – an empty atomic orbital where a new bond will be formed – or a π* or σ* antibonding orbital where a new bond will be formed and an old bond will break – or an electronegative atom that can a negative charge. • Overall charge is always conserved in a reaction.

Drawing your own mechanisms with curly arrows When you meet a new reaction, you must do two things: 1. identify which bonds have been formed and broken, and 2. decide which molecule is the nucleophile and which is the electrophile. Once you have done that, you are well on the way to writing a reasonable mechanism using curly arrows. We’ll take as an example the reaction of triphenylphosphine with methyl iodide. Me + I

Ph3P

MeI + Ph3P

First observe what has happened: a new bond has been formed between the phosphorus atom and the methyl group, and the carbon–iodine bond has been broken. So we need to draw the two reagents in such a way that a curly arrow can be used to represent this new bond. You’ll also need to make sure that you draw out all of the bonds that are actually involved in the reaction (too much detail is better than too little): Ph P

Ph

Ph

H3C

I

Now the all-important question: which is the nucleophile and which is the electrophile? For the nucleophile we are looking for a high-energy pair of electrons such as a lone pair, which the phosphorus has. Likewise, methyl iodide fits the bill as a plausible electrophile, with its bond between C and an electronegative element (I). All that remains is to draw the arrows. The first one starts on the source of the electrons, the phosphorus lone pair, and finishes near the C atom to indicate the new P–C bond. The second one breaks the old C–I bond and moves electrons onto the I atom. Ph Ph

P

Ph Ph

H3C

I

Ph

P

CH3 + I

Ph

ittedly, that was quite an easy mechanism to draw but you should still be pleased if you succeeded at your first try.

121

D R AW I N G YO U R O W N M E C H A N I S M S W I T H C U R LY A R R O W S

Watch out for five-valent carbons We now ought to spell out one thing that we have never stated but rather assumed. Most atoms in stable organic molecules have a full complement of electrons (two in the case of hydrogen, eight in the cases of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen) and so, if you make a new bond to one of those elements, you must also break an existing bond. Suppose you just ‘added’ Ph3P to MeI in this last example without breaking the C–I bond: what would happen?

Ph3P

×

I

H3C

wrong mechanism

H Ph3P

I

C H

H

impossible structure carbon has five bonds

This structure must be wrong because carbon cannot have five bonds—if it did it would have ten electrons in the 2s and the three 2p orbitals. Four orbitals can contain only eight electrons.

B, C, N, and O never have more than four bonds. If you make a new bond to uncharged H, C, N, or O you must also break one of the existing bonds in the same step.

●

Mechanisms with several steps At the beginning of the chapter, we mentioned the fact that carbonyl compounds react with cyanide. We are now going to deduce a mechanism. This is the reaction: O

HO

NaCN H2O

H

CN H

We must decide what happens. NaCN is an ionic solid so the true reagent must be cyanide ion, whose structure was discussed on p. 112. As it is an anion, it must be the nucleophile and the carbonyl group must be the electrophile. Starting the arrow on the nucleophile’s negative charge and heading for the C=O group, and then using a second arrow to break the C=O bond gives us this: O

O N

C

H

This reaction is presented in a style with which you will become familiar. The organic starting material is written first and then the reagent and solvent over and under the reaction arrow. We call this a reaction scheme. It is not an ‘equation’: it is not balanced, and we use a (straight) reaction arrow , not an ‘equals’ sign.

CN H

This is a good mechanism but it doesn’t quite produce the product. There must be a second step in which the anionic oxygen picks up a proton from somewhere. The only source of protons is the solvent, water, so we can write the full mechanism in one sequence:

H

O H

C

N

O

H

O

CN H

HO

CN H

Try a more complicated example: primary alcohols can be converted into symmetrical ethers in acid solution. Suggest a mechanism for this acid-catalysed conversion of one functional group into another.

H OH ethanol

O diethyl ether


122 O

H

H

O H

H oxonium ion

The acid must do something, so we need to start with the reaction between ethanol and H+. H+ has to be an electrophile, so the nucleophile must be ethanol, using its HOMO, one of the O lone pairs, as the source of electrons. The first intermediate we get is called an oxonium ion. The positively charged oxonium ion has to be the electrophile in the second step of the reaction, and the only possible nucleophile is another molecule of ethanol. But how do they react? It’s tempting to allow the ethanol’s lone pair to attack the positively charged oxygen atom, but that would give us an oxygen atom with ten electrons—as with H3O+ this positive charge is not an empty orbital. Attacking the H–O bond is a good alternative, but that just takes us back to where we started. this mechanism gives back the starting materials

O O

H

H

oxonium ion

H this mechanism is impossible:

H

the positive charge is not an empty orbital

O

What we need is a new C–O bond, so the lone pair must attack at carbon, putting electrons into the C–O σ* and expelling a molecule of water. Here’s the full mechanism. The last step is loss of the proton to give the ether.

O O

H

electrons enter σ* breaking C–O bond and expelling water

H

O

H O

H

O diethyl ether

H + H2O

H

oxonium ion

+ H

Now for something completely new: try drawing a mechanism for this reaction.

new bond formed between these atoms

H this bond is broken

S

O this bond is broken

S

NaOH

HS

OH

O

You might well protest that you don’t know anything about the chemistry of either of the functional groups, the thiol or the cyclic ether. Be that as it may, you can still draw a mechanism. Ask first of all: which bonds have been formed and which broken? Clearly the S–H bond has been broken and a new S–C bond formed. The three-membered ring has gone by the cleavage of one of the C–O bonds. The main chain of carbon atoms is unchanged. All this is sketched in the diagram in the margin. We suggest you now cover the rest of this page and try to work out a mechanism yourself before reading further. The hydroxide must do something, and since it is negatively charged, a reasonable starting point is going to be to use it as a nucleophile to break the S–H bond. Hydroxide is after all a base; it likes to remove protons. So here’s the fi rst step: H HO

S

S

O

O

Now we have a negatively charged sulfur atom, which must be the nucleophile. We want to make a bond to carbon, so the C–O bond in the three-membered ring must be the electrophile. So … just draw the arrows and see what happens. Here goes … S

O

S

O

D R AW I N G YO U R O W N M E C H A N I S M S W I T H C U R LY A R R O W S

123

That is not quite the product: we need to let this anion pick up a proton from somewhere. Where can the proton come from? It must be the proton originally removed by the hydroxide. The anion attacks water and the hydroxide is regenerated. S

O

H

OH

S

OH +

HO

Your mechanism possibly didn’t look as neat as the printed version, but if you got it roughly right, you should be proud. This is a three-step mechanism involving chemistry that is new to you and yet you could draw a mechanism for it.

Curly arrows are vital for learning organic chemistry Curly arrows can be used to explain the interaction between the structure of reactants and products, and their reactivity in the vast majority of organic reactions, regardless of their complexity. When used correctly they can even be used to predict possible outcomes of unknown processes and hence to design new synthetic reactions. They are a powerful tool for understanding and developing organic chemistry and it is vital that you become proficient in their use. They are the dynamic language of organic reaction mechanisms and they will appear in every chapter of the book from now on. Another equally important reason for mastering curly arrows now, as we start the systematic study of different types of reactions, is that the seemingly vast number of ‘different reactions’ turn out not to be so vast after all. Most organic reactions involve the movement of pairs of electrons between nucleophiles and electrophiles. And with relatively few types of organic nucleophiles and electrophiles involved in all these reactions, the similarity between seemingly unrelated reactions will become immediately apparent if you understand and can draw mechanisms. Learning to draw mechanisms means you can understand groups of related reactions rather than having to learn them individually. Drawing curly arrow mechanisms is a bit like riding a bike. Before you’ve mastered the skill, you keep falling off. Once you’ve mastered the skill, it seems so straightforward that you wonder how you ever did without it. You’ll come across busy streets and complex traffic junctions, but with care you’ll get through safely.

Step-by-step guide to drawing mechanisms with curly arrows If you still feel you are at the wobbly stage, and need a helping hand, this step-by-step guide may help you. You’ll soon find you won’t need to follow it through in detail. 1. Draw out the reagents as clear structures following the guidelines in Chapter 2. Check that you understand what the reagents and the solvent are under the conditions of the reaction, for example if the reaction is in a base, will one of the compounds exist as an anion? 2. Inspect the starting materials and the products, and assess what has happened in the reaction. What new bonds have been formed? What bonds have been broken? Has anything been added or removed? Have any bonds moved around the molecule? 3. Identify the nucleophilic centres in all the reactant molecules and decide which is the most nucleophilic. Then identify the electrophiles present and again decide which is the most electrophilic. 4. If the combination of these two centres appears to lead to the product, draw the reactants, complete with charges, so as to position the nucleophilic and electrophilic centres within bonding distance, ensuring that the angle of attack of the nucleophile is more or less consistent with the orbitals involved. 5. Draw a curly arrow from the nucleophile to the electrophile. It must start on a representation of electrons—a fi lled orbital or negative charge (show this clearly by just touching the bond or charge)—and fi nish where the electrons are heading for (show this clearly by the position of the head).

■ We will generally show mechanisms using black arrows on red diagrams but the only point of that is to make the arrows stand out. We suggest that when you write mechanisms you consider using a colour for your arrows that contrasts with the structures.

The few reaction types that don’t involve nucleophiles and electrophiles are discussed in Chapters 34, 35, 37, and 38.

You will see a great example of this in Chapter 10: carboxylic acids, amides, esters, anhydrides … many functional groups, but all the same mechanisms.


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6. Consider whether any atom that has been changed now has too many bonds; if so one of them must be broken to avoid absurd structures. Select a bond to break. Draw a curly arrow from the centre of the chosen bond, the filled orbital, and terminate it in a suitable place, such as an electronegative atom. 7. Write out the structures of the products specified by the curly arrows. Break the bonds that are the sources of the arrows and make those that are the targets. Consider the effect on the charges on individual atoms and check that the overall charge is not changed. Once you have drawn the curly arrows, the structure of the products is already decided and there is no room for any further decisions. Just write what the curly arrows tell you. If the structure is wrong, then the curly arrows were wrong so go back and change them. 8. Repeat stages 5–7 as required to produce a stable product. Now you have met the language of mechanism it’s time to look in detail at the reactions of some functional groups, and we start with the most important functional group of all, the carbonyl group.

Further reading S. Warren, Chemistry of the Carbonyl Group: A Programmed Approach to Organic Reaction Mechanisms, Wiley, Chichester, 1974. Our recommendation for the last chapter, Molecular Orbitals and Organic Chemical Reactions: Student Edition by Ian Fleming, Wiley, Chichester, 2009, also gives guidance on using orbitals in chemical reactions and drawing mechanisms.

For a theoretical/physical approach to the question of reactivity, see J. Keeler and P. Wothers, Why Chemical Reactions Happen, OUP, Oxford, 2003.

Check your understanding To check that you have mastered the concepts presented in this chapter, attempt the problems that are available in the book’s Online Resource Centre at http://www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/orc/clayden2e/

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