Abstract
IT has recently been suggested by Walsh1 that the structures I and II represent the properties of ethylene oxide and cyclopropane better than do the classical formulæ III and IV. In these new structures the oxygen atom in I, and the CH2 group in II, are attached to the double bond by a dative link formed from the Ï-electron pair of the 'ethylene' portion of the molecule. These ideas were apparently put forward because Zimakov2 has lately pointed out that the classical Würtz formula for ethylene oxide does not adequately account for its high reactivity; also because formula IV gives no indication of the characteristic reactivity of cyclopropane.
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References
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MCDOWELL, C. Structures of Ethylene Oxide and Cyclopropane. Nature 159, 508–509 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/159508b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/159508b0
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Structures of Ethylene Oxide and Cyclopropane
Nature (1947)
