Electrophilic allyl shift
An allylic rearrangement or allylic shift is an organic reaction in which the double bond in an allyl chemical compound shifts to the next carbon atom. It is encountered in nucleophilic substitution.
In reaction conditions that favor a SN1 reaction mechanism the intermediate is a carbocation for which several resonance structures are possible. This explains the product distribution (or product spread) after recombination with nucleophile Y. This type of process is called an SN1' substitution.
Alternatively, it is possible for nucleophile to attack directly at the allylic position, displacing the leaving group in a single step, in a process referred to as SN2' substitution. This is likely in cases when the allyl compound is unhindered, and a strong nucleophile is used. The products will be similar to those seen with SN1' substitution. Thus reaction of 1-chloro-2-butene with sodium hydroxide gives a mixture of 2-buten-1-ol and 3-buten-2-ol:
Nevertheless, the product in which the OH group is on the primary atom is minor. In the substitution of 1-chloro-3-methyl-2-butene, the tertiary 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol is produced in a yield of 85%, while that for the primary 3-methyl-2-buten-1-ol is 15%.
In one reaction mechanism the nucleophile attacks not directly at the electrophilic site but in a conjugate addition over the double bond:
The synthetic utility can be extended to substitutions over butadiene bonds:
In the first step of this macrocyclization the thiol group in one end of 1,5-pentanedithiol reacts with the butadiene tail in 1 to the enone 2 in an allylic shift with a sulfone leaving group which reacts further with the other end in a conjugate addition reaction.
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