Abstract: The deoxygenation reaction of heptanones, cycloheptanone, cycloheptatrienone or substituted cycloheptatrienone with dihalo-carbene results in carbon monoxide and corresponding halides. The yield of CO produced by 2, 4, 6-triphenylcycloheptatrienone is 2.6-3.5 times as high as that produced by the saturated heptanones. The structures, energies, charge distributions, bond orders, and other relative parameters of the dihalocarbonyl glides were calculated by using the SCF-MNDO method. The obtained data reveal that the ylides from cycloheptatrienone have aromatic structure and are different from those produced from saturated cycloheptanone. The reactivities of the dihalocarbonyl ylides are discussed. It is proposed that this aromatic structure should be responsible for the high yield of CO from the reaction of cycloheptatrienone with dihalocarbene.

Key words: Carbonyl ylide, Deoxygenation, Aromaticity.