The sec-butyl cation; reaction with 2-butene

Abstract

The products from the reaction of 2-butene with BF3.CH3OH are olefins in the range C8 to above C20; about 60% of the product is the normal dimer–trimer–tetramer material but the remaining 40% is rearranged product. We have identified most of the skeletal structures up to C13 and suggest that the rearrangements are most easily interpreted by postulating that akyl transfers can occur in the same way as proton transfers.