On the stereochemistry and mechanism of the iron carbonyl promoted ring-opening of 2-phenylmethylenecyclopropane
Abstract
The iron carbonyl promoted ring-opening of 2-phenylmethylene[3-2H1]cyclopropane is found to be stereospecific and disrotatory, a result that rules out a previously proposed zwitterionic mechanism but which is consistent with the frontier molecular orbital predictions for a pericyclic process.