Please explain the beta elimination?

1 Answer
Truong-Son N.
Jan 30, 2016

I actually don't think this is about beta decay.

#\mathbf(beta)#-elimination is another name for second-order elimination, or #\mathbf(E2)#, where, for example, a hydrogen on a #beta#-carbon and the adjacent leaving group could be eliminated to generate a #pi# bond.

An example one-step #"E2"# reaction mechanism looks like this, where on the substrate, the proton is antiperiplanar to the leaving group #("Br")#:

The proton was eliminated from the #beta#-carbon, cleaving the #sp^2 "C"_(beta)-"H"# and #sp^2 "C"_(alpha)-"Br"# #sigma# bonds, and generating an #sp^2 "C"_(alpha)="C"_(beta)# #pi# bond. Therefore, this might also be known as #beta#-elimination.

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