Reactivities of Methylenetriangulanes and Spirocyclopropanated Bicyclopropylidenes toward Bromine. Relative Stabilities of Spirocyclopropanated versus Methyl-Substituted Bromonium Ions

The bromine additions to methylenecyclopropane (1), bicyclopropylidene (2), and spirocyclopropanated methylenecyclopropanes and bicyclopropylidenes 3−6 in methanol at 25 °C proceed essentially with the same rate as those to the corresponding oligomethyl-substituted ethylenes. An increasing number of spiroannelated three-membered rings enhances the rate of bromination and stabilizes the intermediate cyclopropyl bromonium cations against ring opening in the course of bromine addition. Calculations at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level show that unsymmetrical bromonium ions are the intermediates, and that they are stabilized by the spiroannelation with cyclopropane rings. The bromonium ion derived from 1 is less stable by 6.3 kcal mol-1 than that from isobutene. One or two spirocyclopropane rings as in 3 and 4 stabilize the corresponding bromonium ion by 9.6 and 16.4 kcal mol-1, respectively, while one or two α-cyclopropyl substituents as in ethenylcyclopropane (7) and 1,1-dicyclopropylethene (8) stabilize the corr...