Acid catalysis vs. electron-transfer catalysis via organic cations or cation-radicals as the reactive intermediate. Are these distinctive mechanisms?

Abstract

Proton transfer to aromatic and olefinic donors (D) leads to the facile interchange of transient carbocations (DH+) and cation-radical (D+.). The same types of cation and cation-radical are reactive intermediates in the acid catalysis and the electron-transfer catalysis of such organic transformations as benzylic coupling, epoxide/pinacol rearrangements and cis-trans isomerization of stilbenes when they are both carried out under otherwise identical reaction conditions. However, the rapid exchange of diamagnetic cations and paramagnetic cation-radicals blurs the traditional view of separate electrophilic and homolytic processes, and rigorous experimental evidence is required to establish whether acid catalysis and electron-transfer catalysis actually represent distinct mechanistic categories. © Acta Chemica Scandinavica 1998.