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Questions tagged [carbocation]

Carbocations are species bearing a positive charge on carbon. They are intermediates generally formed during organic reactions, which can be stabilised by various electronic effects. Less stable carbocations are capable of undergoing rearrangements to form more stable carbocations in the course of a reaction.

54 votes
3 answers
27k views

What is the reason for the exceptional stability of the cyclopropylmethyl carbocation?

Can someone explain this to me by drawing resonance structures for the cyclopropylmethyl carbocation please? Also one more question, is the tricyclopropylmethyl carbocation more stable than tropylium ...
Shubham's user avatar
  • 1,545
39 votes
1 answer
50k views

What is a non-classical carbocation?

What is a non-classical carbocation? How is it different from a classical carbocation? I am confused as I have come across this term many times on Chem.SE but there seems to be nothing for my level ...
Karan Singh's user avatar
  • 3,805
35 votes
1 answer
4k views

Unusual Friedel–Crafts alkylation with pivaloyl chloride

In class we were told of an anomalous Friedel–Crafts reaction with a tertiary acid chloride — $\ce{(CH3)3CCOCl}$, or pivaloyl chloride. When this reacts with benzene in the presence of $\ce{AlCl3}$, ...
Charles's user avatar
  • 2,725
30 votes
5 answers
65k views

Why are tertiary carbocations the most reactive, if they're already stable?

This may seem silly, but doesn't it seem weird for a compound that's stable (in this context, the tertiary carbocation) to be the most reactive? I mean, wouldn't it be the least, given that it's ...
Yash Chowdhary's user avatar
30 votes
2 answers
19k views

Which carbocation is more stable, the ethyl- or 1-propyl-carbocation?

$\ce{C2H5+ vs \ C3H7+}$ There are two conflicting trends here. Inductive effect of ethyl will be higher than that of methyl so carbocation attached to ethyl (3 carbons in total) should be more stable....
Help needed's user avatar
29 votes
2 answers
28k views

Carbocation stability order

I was wondering whether the following order (from here) is correct: In the first inequality, why did 9 hyperconjugations dominated resonance effect of benzene ring? In the last inequality doesn't ...
pikachu's user avatar
  • 801
28 votes
5 answers
17k views

Is the t-butyl carbocation more stable than the benzyl carbocation?

Various authors have different views regarding stability order of the benzyl and t-butyl carbocations. $$\ce{PhCH2+ ; (CH3)3C+}$$ In my opinion, resonance effect dominates, so the benzylic ...
Arvind Tiwari's user avatar
28 votes
2 answers
3k views

Which of the following is the more stable carbocation?

Which of the following is the more stable carbocation? I thought the 1st carbocation would be the more stable one as the pi-electron density of phenyl group can overlap with the vacant orbital on ...
ksr's user avatar
  • 459
26 votes
1 answer
24k views

Stability Comparison between the Tropylium and Tricyclopropylcarbinyl Carbocation

Why is the Tropylium carbocation less stable than the tricyclopropylcarbinyl carbocation? The tricyclopropylcarbinyl carbocation undergoes a sigma-tropic rearrangement whereas tropylium is highly ...
Anubhab Das's user avatar
26 votes
1 answer
1k views

Do vinyl cations adopt a classical or non-classical structure?

Whilst reading this question today, I remembered something that I had seen previously here. In the second linked question, @Martin provided a reference to suggest that vinyl cations actually adopt a ...
bon's user avatar
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25 votes
3 answers
26k views

Why are vinylic and arylic carbocations highly unstable?

I have checked the internet and read quite a few books, but I still am not able to understand why vinylic and arylic carbocations are highly unstable. What I found while surfing the internet is: For ...
user34304's user avatar
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24 votes
1 answer
3k views

Ring contraction in a carbocation due to ring strain and back bonding

Today our teacher told us that the following carbocation rearrangement occurs due to back bonding. I could not really follow what he meant. Can someone please explain what is actually happening during ...
user avatar
24 votes
2 answers
15k views

Stability of carbocations: CF3+ vs CH3+

Is $\ce{CF_3+}$ more stable than $\ce{CH_3+}$? In $\ce{CF_3+}$, there is $\ce{C-F}$ back bonding that increases stability of the carbocations. But -I effect of $\ce{F}$ dominates +R effect and this ...
Aditya Dev's user avatar
  • 7,804
22 votes
3 answers
51k views

Migratory aptitude in pinacol-pinacolone rearrangement

I am confused about the migratory aptitude of various groups, as there are many different orders for the same given in different places, especially about -Ph and -H. I would like to know if someone ...
RE60K's user avatar
  • 3,884
21 votes
1 answer
578 views

Precedence of 1,2 carbocation rearrangement

How can one choose which group has more shifting tendency in 1,2 carbocation rearrangement? The obvious order is via the stability of the carbocation of the group. But, phenylic groups have high ...
ManishEarth's user avatar
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