In the December 1999 issue of this Journal, author David Lewis proposes a nine-category classification of organic electrophilic-nucleophilic reactions based on the bonding and symmetry characteristics of the reactants' frontier orbitals (1). In support of this proposal, I would like to point out that others have suggested closely related classifications in the past. Indeed, an identical classification (see table) appeared 20 years ago as the basis of a book-length monograph on the Lewis acid-base concepts (2), as well as in numerous review articles dealing with the same subject (3-6). This classification was, in turn, largely anticipated by the work of Robert Mulliken and Günther Briegleb on the classification of molecular charge-transfer complexes, which had appeared almost 30 years earlier (7-9). As noted in the article by Lewis, organic electrophilic and nucleophilic reactions are special cases of Lewis acid-base interactions and were treated as such using frontier orbital theory in the monograph in question.
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| Table 4.3 from ref 2, illustrating the nine-category classification of donor-acceptor interactions: n is nonbonding, b is bonding, and a is antibonding. Lewis uses "a" instead of "n" to denote a nonbonding acceptor orbital. |
Of special relevance is the fact that interactions involving antibonding acceptor LUMOs and/or bonding donor HOMOs need not necessarily result in bond rupture, as implied in Lewis's table. If the degree of interaction is weak enough, a donor-acceptor addition complex will result instead in which one or more bonds within the acceptor and/or donor species are elongated or weakened relative to the isolated reactants. Even when the degree of interaction is strong enough to lead to bond rupture within the original species, the initial stage of the reaction can still be thought of as a weak donor-acceptor complex (10).
Also of interest to chemical educators is Viktor Gutmann's introduction of the acronyms "EPA agent" and "EPD agent" as abbreviations for the terms "electron-pair acceptor" and "electron-pair donor", respectively (11). Adoption of these terms would eliminate the objectionable anthropomorphisms of the electrophilic-nucleophilic terminology currently used by organic chemists, on the one hand, and the confusion resulting from the overuse of the acid-base terminology by inorganic chemists, on the other.
Not only is it possible to talk about n-EPD species, s*-EPA species, s·p*-EPDA interactions, etc., the terminology is easily extended to include reactions involving free radicals, which interact via singly occupied MOs or SOMOs. Radicals simultaneously function as both electron donors and electron acceptors or as EDA agents and may be further classified as n-EDA agents, p-EDA agents, s*-EDA agents, etc., depending on the bonding and symmetry properties of the SOMO in question.
Finally, it should be noted that BF3is a p*-EPA agent rather than an n-EPA agent (or an a-EPA agent in Lewis's symbolism) as stated in the article. This is a result of back-donation between the boron atom and the three fluorine ligands (12). In keeping with this, the B-F bond lengths found in EPD-BF3 complexes are always longer than those found in the isolated BF3 molecule.
Literature Cited
- Lewis, D. E. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76, 1718, Table 1.
- Jensen, W. B. The Lewis Acid-Base Concepts: An Overview; Wiley-Interscience: New York, 1980; Tables 4.1 and 4.3-4.5.
- Jensen, W. B. Chem. Rev. 1978, 78, 1, Table II.
- Jensen, W. B. Rubber Chem. Techn. 1982, 55, 881, Tables II-V.
- Jensen, W. B. Chemtech 1982, 12, 755, Tables 2-5.
- Jensen, W. B. In Surface and Colloid Science in Computer Technology; Mittal, K L., Ed.; Plenum: New York, 1987; pp 27-59, Tables I-IV, and Figure 3.
- Mulliken, R. S. J. Phys. Chem. 1952, 56, 801.
- Mulliken, R. S. J. Chim. Phys. 1964, 61, 20.
- Briegleb, G. Elektronen-Donator-Acceptor-Komplexe; Springer: Berlin, 1961; pp 5-7.
- Andrews, L. J.; Keefer, R. M. Molecular Complexes in Organic Chemistry; Holden-Day: San Francisco, 1964; pp 146-180.
- Gutmann, V. Chemische Funktionslehre; Springer: Wien, 1971.
- Gray, H. B. Electrons and Chemical Bonding; Benjamin: New York, 1965; pp 106-119.
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