We observed ring expansion of 1-methylcyclobutylfluorocarbene at 8 kelvin, a reaction that involves carbon tunneling. The measured rate constants were 4.0 x 10(-6) per second in nitrogen and 4 x 10(-5) per second in argon. Calculations indicated that at this temperature the reaction proceeds from a single quantum state of the reactant so that the computed rate constant has achieved a temperature-independent limit. According to calculations, the tunneling contribution to the rate is 152 orders of magnitude greater than the contribution from passage over the barrier. We discuss environmental effects of the solid-state inert-gas matrix on the reaction rate.

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Irradiation of 3-(3-noradamantyl)-3-chlorodiazirine produced the corresponding noradamantylchlorocarbene, which could be detected in solution with laser flash photolysis via its pyridinium ylide, and in N2 or Ar matrixes at 9 K with IR and UV/vis spectroscopy. At ambient temperatures, or on irradiation in the cryogenic matrixes, the carbene rearranged to 2-chloro-1-adamantene, which could be trapped in solution and which was characterized by IR and UV/vis at low temperatures. In the dark at 9 K, the carbene also slowly ring-expanded to the chloroadamantene, at a rate ca. 10111 times faster than predicted by its B3LYP-calculated activation barrier. It is proposed that the low-temperature rearrangement occurs through carbon quantum mechanical tunneling.