General acid base catalysis

Much of the study of kinetics constitutes a study of catalysis. The first goal is the determination of the rate equation, and examples have been given in Chapters 2 and 3, particularly Section 3.3, Model Building. The subsection following this one describes the dependence of rates on pH, and most of this dependence can be ascribed to acid—base catalysis. Here we treat a very simple but widely applicable method for the detection and measurement of general acid-base or nucleophilic catalysis. We consider aqueous solutions where the pH and p/f concepts are well understood, but similar methods can be applied in nonaqueous media. 

FIGURE 16.11 Specific and general acid-base catalysis of simple reactions in solution may be distinguished by determining the dependence of observed reaction rate constants (/sobs) pH and buffer concentration, (a) In specific acid-base catalysis, or OH concentration affects the reaction rate, is pH-dependent, but buffers (which accept or donate H /OH ) have no effect, (b) In general acid-base catalysis, in which an ionizable buffer may donate or accept a proton in the transition state, is dependent on buffer concentration. 

The Lysozyme Mechanism Involves General Acid-Base Catalysis... 

Gattermann-Koch reaction 230 Gattermann reaction 230 General acid/base catalysis, see Bronsted catalysis... 

One can test for general acid-base catalysis by varying [BH+] and [B] at constant pH. An easy test is to dilute the buffer progressively at a constant ratio of [BH+]/[B], making up any ionic strength change so as not to introduce a salt effect. If the rate is invariant with this procedure, then general acid-base catalysis is absent under the circumstances chosen. 

Weak acids and bases are, generally speaking, less effective catalysts than H+ and OH at the same concentrations. Proton transfer occurs in all acid-base catalysis, regardless of the detailed mechanism (this aspect is considered in the next section). It is only... 

Acid-base catalysis, 232-238 Brqnsted equation for, 233-236 general, 233, 237 mechanisms for, 237 specific, 232-233, 237 Activated complex (see Transition state) Activation enthalpy, 10, 156-160 for composite rate constants, 161-164 negative, 161 Activation parameters, 10 chemical interpretation of, 168-169 energy of activation, Ea, 10 enthalpy of activation (A// ), 10, 156-160... 

The ionizable functional groups of aminoacyl side chains and (where present) of prosthetic groups contribute to catalysis by acting as acids or bases. Acid-base catalysis can be eithet specific ot general. By specific we mean only protons (HjO ) or OH ions. In specific acid or specific base catalysis, the rate of reaction is sensitive to changes in the concenttation of protons but... 

Carbonyl reactions are extremely important in chemistry and biochemistry, yet they are often given short shrift in textbooks on physical organic chemistry, partly because the subject was historically developed by the study of nucleophilic substitution at saturated carbon, and partly because carbonyl reactions are often more difhcult to study. They are generally reversible under usual conditions and involve complicated multistep mechanisms and general acid/base catalysis. In thinking about carbonyl reactions, 1 find it helpful to consider the carbonyl group as a (very) stabilized carbenium ion, with an O substituent. Then one can immediately draw on everything one has learned about carbenium ion reactivity and see that the reactivity order for carbonyl compounds ... 

Rates of addition to carbonyls (or expulsion to regenerate a carbonyl) can be estimated by appropriate forms of Marcus Theory. " These reactions are often subject to general acid/base catalysis, so that it is commonly necessary to use Multidimensional Marcus Theory (MMT) - to allow for the variable importance of different proton transfer modes. This approach treats a concerted reaction as the result of several orthogonal processes, each of which has its own reaction coordinate and its own intrinsic barrier independent of the other coordinates. If an intrinsic barrier for the simple addition process is available then this is a satisfactory procedure. Intrinsic barriers are generally insensitive to the reactivity of the species, although for very reactive carbonyl compounds one finds that the intrinsic barrier becomes variable. ... 

LaBarbera, D. V. Skibo, E. B. Solution kinetics of CC-1065 A-ring opening substituent effects and general acid/base catalysis, j. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 3722-3727. 

General acid/base catalysis is less significant in natural fresh waters, although probably of some importance in special situations. This phenomenon can be described fairly well via the Bronsted law (relating rate constants to pKa and/or pKb of general acids and bases). Maximum rates of general acid/base catalysis can be deduced from a compound s specific acid/base hydrolysis behavior, and actual rates can be determined from relatively simple laboratory experiments (34). 

In acid-base catalysis there is at least one step in the reaction mechanism that consists of a generalized acid-base reaction (a proton transfer between the catalyst and the substrate). The protonated or deprotonated reactant species or intermediate then reacts further, either with... 

Enzymes are often considered to function by general acid-base catalysis or by covalent catalysis, but these considerations alone cannot account for the high efficiency of enzymes. Proximity and orientation effects may be partially responsible for the discrepancy, but even the inclusion of these effects does not resolve the disparity between observed and theoretically predicted rates. These and other aspects of the theories of enzyme catalysis are treated in the monographs by Jencks (33) and Bender (34). 

Generally, HNLs utilize an acid-base catalysis mechanism. The amino acid residues at active sites of these enzymes differ significantly, but share the common motif for cyanogenesis. 

Acid-base catalysis can be considered in two categories (1) specific acid-base catalysis, and (2) general acid-base catalysis. We illustrate each of these in turn in the next two sections, using aqueous systems as examples. 

In general acid-base catalysis, the observed rate constant depends on the concentrations of all acids and bases present. That is, in aqueous systems,... 

The systematic variation of cH+, cOH-, etc. allows the experimental determination of each rate constant. If the terms in the first summation on the right of equation 8.2-9 predominate, we have general acid catalysis if those in the second summation do so, we have general base catalysis otherwise, the terminology for specific acid-base catalysis applies, as in the previous section. 

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