The reactivity of strained carbocycles

Thesis

The idea that increasing a reaction driving force will increase its rate is a central principle of chemistry. This principle has been used to great effect for the design of ‘strain-release’ reactions, in which a driving force is provided by building strain energy into the reactant. However, strain release alone is unable to account for the contrasting reactivity of even the simplest of systems, such as cyclopropane and cyclobutane which release near-identical amounts of strain energies but di...

Expand abstract

Authors: Sterling, AJ

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: reactivity; strain; electronic structure; chemistry
• Subjects: Reaction mechanisms (Chemistry); Chemistry