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Draw all important contributing structures for the following allylic carbocation.

User ElBel
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Final answer:

The student's request involves drawing contributing resonance structures for an allylic carbocation. These structures demonstrate the delocalization of the positive charge adjacent to a double bond by shifting pi electrons between different forms.

Step-by-step explanation:

Drawing Contributing Structures for an Allylic Carbocation

To address the student's request, we need to discuss allylic carbocations and their contributing resonance structures. The given question assumes knowledge of basic organic chemistry concepts such as resonance and carbocation stability.

An allylic carbocation is a positively charged carbon atom that is adjacent to a carbon-carbon double bond. Stable allylic carbocations can resonate between equivalent structures, thus delocalizing the positive charge.

For example, if we have an allylic carbocation with the double bond initially at the 2-position and the positive charge at the 1-position (next to the double bond), we can draw a contributing structure with the double bond moving to the 1-position and the positive charge moving to the 2-position. This is possible because the pi electrons in the double bond can shift to form the new double bond where the carbocation previously was, leaving the positive charge at the other end of the original double bond's location. It's important to note that these structures are not separate entities, but rather representations of the same molecule where the electrons are delocalized across the p-orbital.

Keep in mind that when drawing these structures, one must ensure that the overall connectivity and the number of electrons remain consistent. Each contributing structure contributes to the overall resonance hybrid, which represents a more accurate depiction of the molecule's electron distribution.

User Frank Roth
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