Conformations of transcyclodecene and transcyclodecene oxide

ORGN 130

Eric A. Noe, ean12001@yahoo.com1, Diwakar M Pawar, ean12001@yahoo.com1, Gurvinder Gill, gurvinder@sikhcom.net1, Frank R. Fronczek, ffroncz@lsu.edu2, and William McHenry, ean12001@yahoo.com1. (1) Department of Chemistry, Jackson State University, 1400 J. R. Lynch Street, Jackson, MS 39217-0510, (2) Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-1804
A total of eight peaks were observed earlier for the olefinic carbons of trans-cyclodecene at -154.9 degrees, corresponding to a total of five conformations, three of C1 symmetry and two of C2 symmetry. The range of relative free energies was only 0.6 kcal/mol, which made it impossible to assign conformations on the basis of energies and symmetries alone. Conformational assignments have been made by considering also the NMR chemical shifts obtained from ab initio calculations. An X-ray study of trans-5-cyclodec-1-yl p-nitrobenzoate will be described; the crystal showed disorder. The carbon NMR spectrum of the epoxide of trans-cyclodecene does not show decoalescence at low temperatures, and calculations predict that a C2 conformation resembling twist-boat-chair-chair cyclodecane is of lowest free energy