Mechanisms of Intramolecular Rearrangements of Cyclic Siloxycarbenes

Intramolecular rearrangements of 3-sila-2-oxacyclohexylidene have been investigated using hybrid density functional theory calculations, the quantum theory of atoms in molecules, and the electron localization function. Mechanisms for 1,2-H migration, ring contraction, and decarbonylation have been examined. The mechanism for 1,2-H migration was shown to involve a typical hydride-like shift from the migration origin to the “vacant” carbene p orbital, while ring contraction was found to occur via a concerted pathway involving a front-side nucleophilic attack by the carbene lone pair at silicon as opposed to a stepwise pathway involving an acyl-silyl biradical intermediate. Decarbonylation, on the other hand, was shown to be a stepwise reaction that preferentially occurs via the intermediacy of silacyclopentanone rather than acyl-silyl and alkyl-silyl biradicals. Computed energetics and thermodynamics indicate that 1,2-H migration and ring contraction are considerably more favorable than decarbonylation. Finally, AIM analysis reveals that the changes in molecular structure associated with 1,2-H migration involving a hydride-like shift to the “vacant ” carbene p orbital occur via a conflict mechanism, whereas those associated with ring contraction (or 1,2-silyl migration) involving front-side nucleophilic attack by the carbene lone pair at silicon occur via a bifurcation mechanism. The latter findings further suggest that AIM analysis may be a viable approach to unambiguously distinguish between reaction mechanisms