Norbornene adds acetic acid slowly at 100' to yield 2-norbornyl acetate with a remarkable stereoselectivity, 99.98% exo. The acetolysis of exo-norbornyl tosylate at 100" proceeds with comparable stereoselectivity: 99.95% exo-norbornyl acetate. The similarity in the stereoselectivities of the two reactions indicates that they must be proceeding through similar intermediates. Yet this intermediate cannot be the symmetrical a-bridged (nonclassical) 2-norbornyl cation since the addition of perdeuterioacetic acid to norbornene gives 67% of unrearranged exo-3-d acetate. Concerted cyclic addition of acetic acid was also excluded because the addition of acetic acid to 7,7-dimethylnorbornene is only slightly slower, knorbornene/k7,7.dimethylno~~o~n~n~ = 2.8, and exhibits a solvolytic-like stereoselectivity of 99.92% exo. The addition of perdeuterioacetic acid to 7,7-dimethylnorbornene reveals that the deuterium also adds exo to the double bond. Previous studies demonstrated that cyclic addition reactions to 7,7-dimethylnorbornene are both very slow and prefer endo attack because of the bulky 7,7-dimethyl substituents. Therefore, both the rate and the formation of cis exo product indicate a two-stage addition process. The results are not compatible with an addition process involving the formation of a-bridged (nonclassical) cations as the sole intermediate. It is proposed that the capture by acetic acid of the rapidly equilibrating unsymmetrical (classical) cations is the most likely pathway to the observed products.The addition of deuterated acetic acid to norbornene (1)3 and several of its derivative^^,^ yields products with a distribution of the tag that is not compatible with an addition process proceeding through the formation of a symmetrical nonclassical ion as the sole intermediate. The data can be accommodated by a mechanism involving the capture of rapidly equilibrating classical ions6 before they have attained full equilibration, as proposed for the addition of hydrogen chloride' and trifluoroacetic acid.8However, it has been argued that such results could also be rationalized in terms of competing concurrent mechanisms, such as (a) an ionic addition proceeding through the a-bridged symmetrical (nonclassical) 2-norbornyl cation and (b) a concerted cyclic molecular addition which places the tag exclusively a t the exo-3 p o~i t i o n~,~ (eq 1).
IIWe have proposed the use of norbornene (1) and 7,7-dimethylnorbornene (2) as diagnostic tools to test for the importance of such cyclic addition processes.l09' Thus, both the rates and the stereochemistry of cyclic addition processes are greatly affected by the presence of the 7,7-dimethyl substituents, whereas the rates and stereochemistry of two stage noncyclic additions are generally influenced to a much lesser degree by these substituents." Consequently, we undertook a detailed study of the addition of acetic acid and perdeuterioacetic acid to norbornene (1) and 7,7-dimethylnorbornene (2) in order to test the importance of the postulated cyclic process in the mechani...