A Quantitative Model for Alkane Nucleophilicity Based on C-H Bond Structural/Topological Descriptors

A first quantitative model for calculating the nucleophilicity of alkanes is described. A statistical treatment was applied to the analysis of the reactivity of 29 different alkane C-H bonds towards in situ generated metal carbene electrophiles. The correlation of the recently reported experimental reactivity with two different sets of descriptors comprising a total of 86 parameters was studied, resulting in the quantitative descriptor-based alkane nucleophilicity (QDEAN) model. This model consists of an equation with only six structural/topological descriptors, and reproduces the relative reactivity of the alkane C-H bonds. This reactivity can be calculated from parameters emerging from the schematic drawing of the alkane and a simple set of sums.