The acid-catalyzed (CH,COOH-0.1 M H,S04) opening of the cyclopropyl ring in nortricyclyl chloride and nortricyclyl bromide gives in each case the anti-7-, syn-7-, exo-5-, and endo-5-halo-exo-2-norbornyl acetates as the major products. When the reactions are carried out in deuterated medium the deuterium is situated endo at C-6 in the anti-and syn-7-haloacetates and establishes that at least 75% of the products arise from inltzal edge protonation of the cyclopropane.L'ouverture acido catalysee (CH,COOH -0.1 M H,S04) du cycle cyclopropyle dans le chlorure et bromure de nortricyclyle, donne dans chaque cas comme produits majeurs les acetates d'anti-7, syn-7, exo-5, et endo-5-halo exo-2-norbornyl. Quand les reactions sont faites en milieu deuttrie, le deuterium est situe en endo sur le C-6 dans les 7-haloadtates anti et syn et montre ainsi que 75% au moins de produits proviennent d'une protonation initiale sur le site cyclopropane.Canadian Journal of Chemistry, 50,2163Chemistry, 50, (1972 The chemistry of protonated cyclopropane has commanded much interest. Electrophilic ' cleavage of a strained cyclopropane o bond by i the reagents DOAc-D,S04, DCl, DBr, and 1 Br, (2-6) has been studied extensively to determine the site of attack of the electrophile and : the stereochemistry of the addition of the electrophile and nucleophile. The nature of the products and the stereochemical information obtained from the D'X-additions were then used to establish the nature of the first formed intermediate resulting either from initial edge or corner protonation. Results from studies on the nortricyclane systems l a (1) and b (2) have been interpreted in terms of corner-protonated nortricyclane intermediates but did not establish whether initial protonation occurred cornerwise or edge-wise.Our interest in the preparation of the 7-haloexo-2-norbornyl brosylates-6-dl for y-deuterium isotope effect studies has led us to a study of the electrophilic cleavage (HOAc-H2S04; DOAc-D2S04) of the cyclopropane ring in 3-bromoand 3-chloro-nortricyclane (lc and d). We report results which establish that (a) the o I bond farthest removed from the electron-withdrawing halogen is cleaved preferentially via initial edge protonation, (b) the ring opening occurs with retention and inversion at the carbon atoms bearing the electrophile and nucleophile, respectively, and (c) the pathways of product formation are as described in Scheme 1.Reaction of nortricyclyl bromide (lc) in CH3COOD, 0.1 M D2S04 at 75" for 70 h gives anti-7-bromo-exo-2-norbornyl acetate-dl (4973, syn-7-bromo-exo-2-norbornyl acetate-dl (26%), exo-5-bromo-exo-2-norbornyl acetate-d, (1 Ox), endo-5-bromo-exo-2-norbornyl acetate-dl (873, 3% of unidentified mate~-ial,~-~ and 4% un-,The syn-and anti-bromoacetates, obtained from a nondeuterated-run, were identified by spectral comparison and by the melting points of the 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones of the corresponding bromoketones (7, 8). The syn-and antichloroacetates were identified by comparison of spectral data to those of authentic sampl...