Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Vibronic coupling

Cage-breaking cascade

One-electron oxidation is generally expected to weaken a bond in a molecule or, on rare occasions, break it. Removing one electron from a small propellane cage has now been shown to break three lateral bonds, opening it up into an acyclic cation after a cascade of rearrangements, initiated by vibronic coupling.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Oxidation of [1.1.1]propellane 1, leading to a primary radical cation 1+, which further rearranges to 3+ through a three-step process.

References

  1. Newton, M. D. & Schulman, J. M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 94, 773–778 (1972).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Feller, D. & Davidson, E. R. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 109, 4133–4139 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Luger, P. et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 44, 3925–3928 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Polo, V., Andres, J. & Silvi, B. J. Comput. Chem. 28, 857–863 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Shaik, S. et al. ChemPhysChem 10, 2658–2669 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Müller, B., Bally, T., Pappas, R. & Williams, F. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132, 14649–14660 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Honneger, E., Huber, H., Heilbronner, E., Dailey, W. P. & Wiberg, K. B. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 107, 7172–7174 (1985).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hiberty, P. Cage-breaking cascade. Nature Chem 3, 96–97 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.971

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.971

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing