Carbanions: formation, structure and thermochemistry

This chapter deals with even-electron carbanions: their formation, structure and thermochemical properties in the gas phase. There are a number of excellent reviews already available on the chemistry of carbanions: these discuss in the main, reactivity and anion molecule chemistry.1-4 In this chapter we focus primarily on the formation, structure and thermochemistry of simple hydrocarbon anions while other chapters in this encyclopaedia cover the broader aspects of carbanion chemistry (see Volume 1, “Strained Ring and Highly Basic Carbanions” and this volume, Reactions of Organic Molecules with Organic Ions: “Reactions of Anions with Carbonyl Centres: C–C Bond Forming Reactions”, and Unimolecular Dissociations of Organic Ions: “Fragmentations of Carbanions and Enolate Anions Directed From the Anionic Centre: an Aid to Structure Determination”, and “Negative Ion Mass Spectra of Underivatised Peptides: an Aid to Sequence Determination”).