8.2 Rearrangement Reactions

Reactions (5) and (6) from Section 6.3.1 for the production of AC$^{\textrm{+}}$ and AC$^{\textrm{.}}$ from ABC $^{\textrm{+.}}$ are examples of rearrangement reactions. To form these products, several bonds must be broken and others formed; there is no way to form these products from a simple cleavage reaction. Such rearrangements can be very important in structure elucidation and may indicate subtle differences in structure. Furthermore, some functional classes may undergo characteristic rearrangements.