THE KINETICS AND MECHANISM OF THE REACTION OF ONIUM CYCLOPENTADIENYLIDES WITH TETRAHALO-p-BENZOQUINONES

Abstract The reaction of triphenylphosphonium cyclopentadienylide (1) with halogen-substituted p-benzoquinones (4) is shown to give a new class of dipolar (zwitterionic) dyes (5) containing phosphorus. The general structure of these molecules has been investigated by a combination of mass spectrometry and multinuclear (7H, 13C and 31P) nmr using the specialist techniques of DEFT spectroscopy, homonuclear (COSY) and heteronuclear 2-D nmr. In addition, stopped-flow (uv/visible) techniques have been used to study the kinetics of the reactions and hence demonstrate that the rate-limiting step is nucleophilic addition of the ylid nucleophile to the quinone, followed by a rapid loss of halide ion…