High temperature bromination Part XXIII: Bromination of octahydro-1H-indene and octahydro-1H-4,7-methanoindene

Thermal and photobromination of octahydro-1H-indene and octahydro-1H-4,7-methanoindene were investigated. Three isomeric tetrabromides (1,3,4,7-tetrabromo-2,3,4,5,6,7-hexahydro-1-H-indene) were formed along with a smaller amount of tribromoindane and a pentabromide by thermal bromination of octahydro-1H-indene. The thermodynamically most stable isomers were formed. Morover, thermal and photochemical bromination of octahydro-1H-4,7-methanoindene furnished bromides resulting regiospecifically from the allylic bromination of the five-membered ring. Furthermore, the double bond formed as the intermediate functional group was also brominated due to its pyramidalization. The mechanism proposed for the formation of product distribution was discussed.