<p> The effect of a C-7 substituent on the position of the cycloheptatriene/ norcaradiene equilibrium has been investigated. For this purpose a series of monosubstituted cycloheptatrienes was prepared in which the C-7 substituent was a carbonium ion grouping. From the spectral properties of these systems, it has been concluded that proportion of the norcaradiene valence tautomer present increases as the electron withdrawing ability of the carbonium ion substituent is enhanced.</p> <p> From a comparison of the pmr spectra of 7-norcaradienylmethyl cations with suitable model systems it is suggested that these norcaradienes are aromatic and that they support an induced diamagnetic ring current when in a magnetic field. It would appear that this type of cyclic delocalization is enhanced by the presence of an electron defficient substituent at C-7 of a norcaradiene and possible reasons for this are discussed.</p> <p> The 7-norcaradienylmethyl cations underwent a thermal isomerization to give benzenoid materials at relatively low temperatures. A mechanism for this rearrangement has been proposed and the implication of these results to the general pathways involved in the rearrangements of the C8H9+ family of cations discussed.</p> <p> Several synthetic routes to 9-substituted-3,4-homotropylidenes were investigated. A number of new compounds were isolated and a new synthetic approach to this class of compounds is suggested.</p> <p> Diamagnetic susceptibility exaltations of a series of substituted cycloheptatrienes were determined and used as a criterion of aromaticity. It was concluded that cycloheptatrienes are best regarded as homoaromatic molecules. Moreover it would appear that the substantial diamagnetic susceptibility exaltations observed with these compounds are related to the bulk of a C-7 substituent. One neutral norcaradiene was examined by this technique and was found to be nonaromatic.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The one electron oxidant Mn(OAc)3 has been used for years for the oxidative addition of 1,3-dicarbonyls to alkenes to give dihydrofuranes. Since cycloheptatriene is in equilibrium with its valance isomer norcaradiene, it will be interesting to study the reaction of CHT derivatives with Mn(OAc)3 in the presence of 1,3-dicarbonyls. In our research, we have observed that unsubstituted cycloheptatriene gave CHT based products. However, when electron withdrawing -CN group was attached to C-7 position of CHT we obtained norcaradiene based products. We have also observed that there exist an equilibrium between [3+2] addition products through 1,5-hydride shift. In addition, we obtained dihydrofurane derivatives in the presence of Mn(OAc)3 from compounds which have already formed C-C bond between 1,3- dicarbonyl and alkene. Formation of dihydrofurane derivatives from these compounds brought up two questions / whether cyclization is going over oxygen atom or not and whether reaction involves a cyclopropane intermediate or not. Despite all efforts, we could not manage to synthesize the required material for the investigation of these questions.

Arylsubstituierte Cycloheptatriene unterscheiden sich in ihrer Lichtabsorption, Molekülgeometrie und Elektronen- Donatorstärke gravierend von den korrespondierenden Aryltropyliumionen. Die Änderung der elektronischen Eigenschaften bei der Umwandlung der Arylcycloheptatrien- in die Aryltropyliumspezies ist daher potentiell nutzbar, um nichtkovalente Bindungskräfte in supramolekularen Einheiten mit Cycloheptatrienbausteinen zu beeinflussen. Licht stellt als ein energetisch und mit hoher örtlicher Auflösung selektiv anwendbares Reagenz ein besonders interessantes Werkzeug für die Verwirklichung solcher Schaltprozesse dar. Dies setzt jedoch Kenntnisse über photochemische Methoden der Erzeugung und Reduktion von Aryltropyliumionen und Einblicke in die Reaktionsmechanismen voraus. Die lichtinduzierte Generierung von stabilen Aryltropyliumionen wurde auf verschiedenen Wegen unter Nutzu ng zweier Klassen von Cycloheptatrienderivaten, der Arylcycloheptatriene und der Arylbicycloheptatriene, erreicht. Detaillierte Studien des Redoxverhaltens der Modellverbindungen wurden mit Hilfe von Stationärphotolysen, elektrochemischen Untersuchungen sowie durch Detektion von Intermediaten mittels ESR- und zeitaufgelöster Absorptionsspektroskopie angefertigt. Demnach erfordert die unter formalem Hydridtransfer verlaufende Photooxidation der Arylcycloheptatriene zu den korrespondierenden Aryltropyliumionen den Ablauf einer Sequenz aus photoinduziertem Elektronentransfer (PET), Deprotonierung der Cycloheptatrienradikalkationen und Grund zustandsoxidation der resultierenden Cycloheptatrienylradikale. Während die Energiebilanz des PET selbst in Gegenwart schwacher Elektronenakzeptoren stark negativ ist, bestimmt die Natur der Arylsubstituenten den weiteren Reaktionsverlauf. Entscheidend ist einerseits, daß die Deprotonierung der Arylcycloheptatrienradikalkationen mit dem thermodynamisch begünstigten Rückelektronentransfer (BET) konkurrieren kann und andererseits, daß die durch Deprotonierung gebildeten Arylcycloheptatrienylradikale im Grundzustand durch den verwendeten Akzeptor oxidiert werden. Eine hinsichtlich der Produkt- und Quantenausbeuten sehr effiziente Methode stellt die sensibilisierte Photooxidation in Gegenwart sehr starker Grundzustandselektronenakzeptoren, wie etwa Triplettsauerstoff oder Benzochinon, dar. Die Aktivierung der Arylbicycloheptatriene kann via PET oder durch photochemische Homolyse der zentralen C-C-Bindung erfolgen. Die im ersten Fall gebildeten Bicycloheptatrienradikalkationen fragmentieren mit hoher Geschwindigkeit unter Bildung eines Tropyliumions und eines Cycloheptatrienylradikals. Unabhängig von der Art der Photoreaktion stellt somit die Grundzustandsoxidation der Cycloheptatrienylradikale den Schlüsselschritt auf dem Wege der Generierung der Aryltropyliumionen dar. Mit Hilfe starker Akzeptoren, z.B. N-Methyl-acridiniumperchlorat oder weniger stabilisierten Tropyliumionen, lassen sich die Arylbicycloheptatriene oxidieren. Die Photoreduktion der Aryltropyliumionen ist in Gegenwart von Hydrid- und Zweielektronendonatoren möglich. Entgegen den Erwartungen werden auch in Gegenwart der Hydriddonatoren die Arylbicycloheptatriene erhalten. Als Grund hierfür kann das Ausbleiben der Protonierung der intermediär gebildeten Arylcycloheptatrienylradikale angesehen werden. Prinzipiell ist daher ein photochemisches Schalten zwischen den Redoxpartnern Aryltropyliumion und Arylbicycloheptatrien möglich. Ein Beispiel hierfür stellt das System N- Methyl- acridiniumion/Bis(4-Dimethylamino-phenyl) bicycloheptatrien bzw. 4-Dimethylamino- phenyltropyliumion/ 10,10'-Dimethyl-9,9'- tetrahydrobiacridinyl dar. Die Richtung der photochemisch induzierten Redoxreaktion (Oxidation des Arylbicycloheptatriens bzw. Reduktion des Tropyliumsalzes) wird hierbei bestimmt durch die Konzentrationsverhältnisse der Reaktanden. Aufgrund dieser Ergebnisse stellt die vorliegende Arbeit eine Basis für künftige Untersuchungen von lichtinduzierten Schaltprozessen in supramolekularen Aggregaten dar. / Compared with their corresponding tropylium ions, arylsubstituted cycloheptatrienes possess quite different behaviour in light absorption, shape and electronic donor strength. Therefore, those redox couples are useful candidates for influencing non-covalent bonding within supramolecular units, containing cycloheptatriene building blocks. The tool light was chosen due to its characteristics such as high energetic selectivity and even high optical resolution, to reach this goal. The planned light driven switching requires new photochemical methods of generation and reduction of the aryltropylium ions as well as insight in their mechanistic details. The photochemical formation of stable aryltropylium ions has been reached on different pathways using two classes of cycloheptatriene derivativs, the arylcycloheptatrienes and the arylbitropyls, respectively. The redox behaviour of the model compounds was subject of detailed studies by means of stationary photolysis and electrochemical measurements. The EPR and the time resolved absorption spectroscopy have been utilized to get further information about the electronic structure and reactivity of short-living species involved in the phototransformation. Accordingly, the photooxidation of arylcycloheptatrienes is possible in a sequence consisting of photoinduced electron transfer (PET), followed by deprotonation of the cycloheptatriene radical cations and subsequent oxidation of the resulting cycloheptatriene type radicals in the ground state (overall hydride transfer). Due to the fast PET, even in the presence of weak electron acceptors, the success of the reaction course depends on the nature of the aryl substituents. On one hand, the deprotonation step has to compete with the energetically favoured back electron transfer (BET). On the other hand, the used acceptors must be able to oxidize the cycloheptatrienyl type radicals. With regard to chemical and quantum yields, t he most efficient procedure is the sensitized photooxidation in the presence of strong ground state oxidants, such as dioxygen or benzoquinone. The photochemical activation of the arylbitropyls is either possible via PET or by homolytic cleavage of the central C-C-bond (direct excitation). The bitropyl radical cations resulting from the PET are subjected to a fast fragmentation process yielding tropylium ions and cycloheptatriene type radicals.Therefore, the ground state oxidation of the latter is the key-step in the photooxidation of arylbitropyls. Acco rdingly, strong acceptors such as acridinium ions or even weaker stabilized tropylium ions are capable to transform the bitropyls into tropylium ions. The photoreduction of the aryl tropylium ions can be achieved by using hydride or two electron donors. It is noteworthy that the arylbitropyls are the photo-products even in the presence of hydride donors. Evidently, this effect is caused by the impossible proton transfer between the donor radical cations and the cycloheptatriene type radicals. Therefore, the light induced switching is possible in the redox couple arylbitropyl and aryl tropylium ion. The system N-methylacridinium ion /bis (4-dimethylaminophenyl)bitropyl and 10,10'-dimethyl-9,9'-tetrahydrobiacridinyl / 4-dimethylaminophenyl tropylium ion should be announced in this context. Hereby, the direction of this photoinduced redox reaction (oxidation of the bitropyl or reduction of the tropylium ion) depends on the concentrations of the reactands. The present work should be understand as a basis for future research dealing with light driven molecular machines.

Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Erschließung eines neuen, synthetischen Zugangs zu linearen und makrocyclischen Systemen, die als Strukturelement eine Cycloheptatrieneinheit besitzen. Hierbei kann das Cycloheptatrien aufgrund seiner zahlreichen Transformationsmöglichkeiten als ein molekularer Schalter angesehen werden. Durch photochemische Reaktionen könnte auf diese Weise der Informationsgehalt supramolekularer Systeme verändert werden. Um eine verbesserte Photoschaltbarkeit zu gewähren, werden bisarylsubstituierte Cycloheptatriene benötigt. Verbrückte Aryltropyliumsalze werden durch Umsetzung mit Anilinderivaten in verbrückte Bisarylcycloheptatriene überführt. Die Makrocyclisierung mit verbrückten Carbonsäurechloriden führt, unter den Bedingungen des Verdünnungsprinzips, zu amidischen Ringverbindungen. / The object of the following thesis is the development of a new synthetic approach to linear or makrocyclic systems, which contain cycloheptatriene as a structural element. Cyclohepta-triene could be used as a molecular switch, due to the fact that there are several possible transformations. Using photochemical reactions there could be an easy change of order and involed information in supramolecular systems. Bisarylcycloheptatrienes enables the photo-active system to switch more easy. Bridged arylcycloheptatrienylium salts react with anilines to bridged bisarylcycloheptatrienes. Makrocyclisation under high dilution conditions with bridged chlorocarbonacids leads to cyclic systems containing the needed structural element.

Photoelectron Photoion Coincidence (PEPICO) spectroscopy is a robust tool for elucidating complex unimolecular dissociation mechanisms and for determining thermochemical and kinetic data of gas-phase ion dissociations with high accuracy. In this work, the dissociative photoionization of two sets of isomeric systems were analyzed with PEPICO: 1) C7H7+ ions of toluene (Tol) and 1,3,5-cycloheptatriene (CHT), and 2) two butyl alcohol isomers, 1-butanol and isobutanol. Threshold dissociative photoionization data on these four molecules of interest were collected on the imaging PEPICO apparatus at the VUV beamline of the Swiss Light Source. Data analysis was aided by ab initio calculations and Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) statistical rate theory was employed to model the complex dissociation pathways of each system. Finally, thermochemical, reaction mechanism, and dissociation kinetics data were extracted from the modeled data and are reported here. In the first project, the dissociation of energy-selected 1,3,5-cycloheptatriene (CHT) and toluene (Tol) cations was investigated by imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence spectroscopy. In the measured energy ranges of 10.30−11.75 eV for CHT and 11.45−12.55 eV for Tol, only the hydrogen atom loss channels open up, leading to C7H7+ from both molecular ions, which are both metastable at the H-loss threshold. Our quantum chemical calculations showed that these ions can interconvert below their dissociation thresholds. Therefore, we constructed a single statistical model to describe both systems simultaneously. We determined 0 K appearance energies (E0) for the tropylium and benzyl fragment ions from CHT to be 9.520 ± 0.060 eV and 9.738 ± 0.082 eV, and from Tol to be 10.978 ± 0.063 eV and 11.196 ± 0.080 eV, respectively. Using the experimentally determined benzyl ion appearance energy, its 0 K heat of formation was calculated to be 937.9 ± 7.7 kJ mol–1. On the basis of this value and the recently determined benzyl ionization energy, we point out discrepancies concerning the benzyl radical thermochemistry. For the second project, the fragmentation processes of two internal energy-selected C4H10O+• cations, 1-butanol and isobutanol, were investigated. For both isomers, the first dissociation channel leads to the formation of C4H8+• ions (m/z = 56) by a water loss. Using statistical energy distribution and rate models, which include isomerization of the molecular ions, the 0 K appearance energies (E0) were determined to be 10.347 ± 0.015 eV and 10.566 ± 0.050 eV, for 1-butanol and isobutanol, respectively. The second dissociation channel, the formation of CH3OH2+, quickly overtakes the water-loss channel in isobutanol, with an E0 of 10.612 ± 0.020 eV, but appears only as a minor channel in 1-butanol with an E0 of 10.738 ± 0.080 eV. The methanol-loss channel, forming propylene ion, opens up at E0 = 10.942 ± 0.040 eV and 10.723 ± 0.020 eV in 1-butanol and isobutanol, respectively. The next two fragmentation pathways correspond to a complementary pair of C3H7+ through the loss of CH2OH, and CH2OH+ through the loss of C3H7. From both isomers, C3H7+ is the isopropyl ion, which is readily formed in isobutanol via a simple bond cleavage at E0 = 10.970 ± 0.050 eV and its pair, CH2OH+, at E0 = 11.11 ± 0.20 eV. However, there is an internal hydrogen shift necessary in 1-butanol and, therefore, the complementary ions appear at the same E0 of 11.104 ± 0.030 eV, which most likely corresponds to their common transition state. Finally, C3H5+, a product of sequential dissociation from m/z = 56, appears above 11.6 eV as a minor channel for both isomers.

Le travail rapporté dans ce manuscrit s'attache à comprendre l'influence des groupements silylés en position C7 sur l'équilibre de valence entre cycloheptatriène (CHT) et norcaradiène (NCD) et sa réactivité afin de développer de nouvelles approches synthétiques. Nous avons ainsi synthétisé 3 nouveaux cycloheptatriènes silylés et réalisé des réactions de cycloaddition [3+2] et [4+2] visant à les désymétriser. Bien qu'une rationalisation complète n'ait pu être établie, ces travaux ont mis en évidence les réactivités complexes des CHT/NCD silylés. Selon les substituants portés par le silicium, des structures cycliques à 7 chainons ou bicycliques à 6 chainons sont rapidement accessibles. De plus, les groupements silylés permettent aussi une bonne discrimination diastéréofaciale. L'utilisation de composés issus de la désymétrisation de cyloheptatriènes silylés pour la synthèse de mimes de sucres constitue un aspect majeur de nos travaux. La réaction de dihydroxylation appliquée aux CHT silylés a conduit à l’obtention de diols qui ont pu être fonctionnalisés pour conduire à trois aminoheptitols originaux. Les endoperoxides issus des réactions de photo-oxygénation ont été désymétrisés par réaction de Kornblum-DeLaMare asymétrique et une étude des différentes fonctionnalisations possibles, notamment par voie radicalaire, a également été réalisée. / This work sets out to understand the influence of the silyl group at the C7 position on the valence equilibrium and reactivity of the cycloheptatriene (CHT) - norcaradiène (NCD) system, and to use this knowledge to develop new synthetic methodologies. Three new cycloheptatrienes have been synthesized and we have undertaken [3+2] and [4+2] cycloaddition reactions with the aim of desymetrizing them. Although a complete rationale could not be established, this study has highlighted the complex reactivities of silylated CHTs/NCDs. Depending on the nature of the silyl group, 7-membered rings or bicyclic 6-membered rings can be rapidly obtained, and the silyl groups also allow diastereofacial discrimination. The application of the desymetrization reaction of silylated cycloheptatrienes to the synthesis of sugar mimics constitutes a major aspect of this work. Dihydroxylation of silylated CHTs has afforded diols which could be functionalized into three novel aminoheptitols. Endoperoxides from photooxygenation have been desymmetrized by an asymmetric Kornblum-DeLaMare reaction, and a study of possible further functionalization (notably by radical processes) has also been carried out.