Using nucleophilic substitution reactions to understand how a remote alkyl or alkoxy substituent influences the conformation of eight-membered ring oxocarbenium ions

A remote alkoxy substituent strongly stabilizes one particular conformer of an eight-membered ring oxocarbenium ion by a through-space electrostatic effect. X-ray crystallographic analysis of a crystalline derivative proves that kinetically controlled nucleophilic substitution favors the 1,4-trans product. Nucleophilic substitution of the corresponding alkyl-substituted acetate, however, is unselective. A computational model has been developed and experimentally validated to predict the low-energy conformers of C3-, C4-, or C5-alkyl- or alkoxy-substituted eight-membered ring oxocarbenium ions.