Acid halides proton transfers

The first step of this new mechanism is exactly the same as that seen earlier for the reaction of tert butyl alcohol with hydrogen chloride—formation of an alkyloxonmm ion by proton transfer from the hydrogen halide to the alcohol Like the earlier exam pie this IS a rapid reversible Brpnsted acid-base reaction... 

When applied to the synthesis of ethers the reaction is effective only with primary alcohols Elimination to form alkenes predominates with secondary and tertiary alcohols Diethyl ether is prepared on an industrial scale by heating ethanol with sulfuric acid at 140°C At higher temperatures elimination predominates and ethylene is the major product A mechanism for the formation of diethyl ether is outlined m Figure 15 3 The individual steps of this mechanism are analogous to those seen earlier Nucleophilic attack on a protonated alcohol was encountered m the reaction of primary alcohols with hydrogen halides (Section 4 12) and the nucleophilic properties of alcohols were dis cussed m the context of solvolysis reactions (Section 8 7) Both the first and the last steps are proton transfer reactions between oxygens... 

An alternative view of these addition reactions is that the rate-determining step is halide-assisted proton transfer, followed by capture of the carbocation, with or without rearrangement Bromide ion accelerates addition of HBr to 1-, 2-, and 4-octene in 20% trifluoroacetic acid in CH2CI2. In the same system, 3,3-dimethyl-1-butene shows substantial rearrangement Even 1- and 2-octene show some evidence of rearrangement, as detected by hydride shifts. These results can all be accoimted for by a halide-assisted protonation. The key intermediate in this mechanism is an ion sandwich. An estimation of the fate of the 2-octyl cation under these conditions has been made ... 

As pointed out in Chapter 4, the first step in the reaction is proton transfer to the alcohol from the hydrogen halide to yield an alkyloxonium ion. This is an acid-base reaction. 

The ratio ARH/ARj (monoalkylation/dialkylation) should depend principally on the electrophilic capability of RX. Thus it has been shown that in the case of t-butyl halides (due to the chemical and electrochemical stability of t-butyl free radical) the yield of mono alkylation is often good. Naturally, aryl sulphones may also be employed in the role of RX-type compounds. Indeed, the t-butylation of pyrene can be performed when reduced cathodically in the presence of CgHjSOjBu-t. Other alkylation reactions are also possible with sulphones possessing an ArS02 moiety bound to a tertiary carbon. In contrast, coupling reactions via redox catalysis do not occur in a good yield with primary and secondary sulphones. This is probably due to the disappearance of the mediator anion radical due to proton transfer from the acidic sulphone. 

Two methods for converting carboxylic acids to esters fall into the mechanistic group under discussion the reaction of carboxylic acids with diazo compounds, especially diazomethane and alkylation of carboxylate anions by halides or sulfonates. The esterification of carboxylic acids with diazomethane is a very fast and clean reaction.41 The alkylating agent is the extremely reactive methyldiazonium ion, which is generated by proton transfer from the carboxylic acid to diazomethane. The collapse of the resulting ion pair with loss of nitrogen is extremely rapid. 

A carbonium ion is formed by proton-transfer from the complex acid to the olefin. The polymerisation is initiated by the carbonium ion, and the growing end of the polymer consists of an ion-pair. For reactions in alkyl halide solvents the situation was less clear. Early experiments [8] suggested that the addition of water had little or no effect. This prompted Pepper [8] to suggest that the alkyl halide solvent itself was acting as co-catalyst ... 

An early report (Briscese and Riveros, 1975) revealed that in the gas phase, alkoxide ions can displace fluoride from fluorobenzene (91). Hydroxide ion fails to react because C6H5F is more acidic than H20 and thus proton transfer becomes the most important channel. Similar reactions with other monohalobenzenes are complicated because these substrates usually generate halide ions directly by dissociative electron attachment. 

A greater variety of substituted isocoumarins is available from the reaction of 7r-allylnickel halides with the sodium salts of 2-bromobenzoic acids. Use of the sodium salt is necessary to prevent debromination through an intramolecular proton transfer from the carboxyl group. The initial products, 2-allylbenzoic acids, undergo a palladium-assisted ring closure to isocoumarins. 

Tradition reserves the use of the name acid for substances that transfer protons measurably to water. Thus the carboxylic acids stand out from alkynes, halides, alcohols, and simple aldehydes and ketones in giving water solutions that are acidic to indicator papers or pH meters as the result of proton transfers from the carboxyl groups ... 

Bansal KM, Patterson LK, Schuler RH (1972) Production of halide ion in the radiolysis of aqueous solutions of the 5-halouracils. J Phys Chem 76 2386-2392 Barnes JP, Bernhard WA (1994) One-electron-reduced cytosine in acidic glasses conformational states before and after proton transfer. J Phys Chem 98 887-893 Barvian MR, Greenberg MM (1992) Independent generation of the major adduct of hydroxyl radical and thymidine. Examination of intramolecular hydrogen atom transfer in competition with thiol trapping.Tetrahedron Lett 33 6057-6060... 

The intrinsic acidity of dimethylhalonium ions has been determined, both by theoretical methods and by gas-phase reactions of the isolated ions with pyridine bases.135 The calculated geometry of the dimethylhalonium ions shows a bent structure with the C-X-C angle decreasing in the order Cl > Br > I. Thermochemical calculations for the reaction of the dimethylhalonium ions with pyridine, 2,6-dimethylpyridine, and 2,6-di-r-butylpyridinc indicated that proton transfer, with the formation of the dimethylhalonium ylide, is endothermic, whereas methyl transfer, with formation of methyl halide, is exothermic. The endothermicities for proton transfer are, nevertheless,... 

The solvent isotope effect for the acid catalyzed hydrolysis of ethyl diazoacetate (without halide ions) is much smaller than 1 (Table 19, p. 63) as expected for a pre-equilibrium proton transfer mechanism. Furthermore, according to the findings of Roberts et al. [205] the products of ethanolysis of ethyl diazoacetate in C2HsOD solution are C2HS OCHDCOOEt as well as C2 H5 OCD2 COOEt which indicates that H exchange is faster than ethanolysis. 

The mechanisms of two other reactions described in Sect. 2.2 involve slow proton transfer to unsaturated carbon. The general acid catalysed cleavage of vinyl mercuric halides [42, 50] for example, allyl mercuric iodide, CH2=CHCH2HgI (XXII), gives Bronsted exponents around 0.7. Linear Bronsted plots are obtained with carboxylic acid catalysts but, as observed in other A—SE 2 reactions, general acids of different structural types (for example, hydronium ion or bisulphate ion) show substantial deviations. Bronsted catalysis of the hydrolysis of diazo compounds (N2 =CR X) has been studied by the groups of Albery and Kreevoy. With... 

None of the complexes pairing an amine with a hydrogen halide were computed to be of the pure ion pair variety with a minimal basis set ° . However, there were some that were close. More specifically, since the equilibrium position of the proton need not shift precipitously from one atom to the other, but rather can move gradually as the acidity and basicity increase, a proton-transfer parameter was devised to indicate the degree of transfer of the proton from the acid to the base. The quantity p was defined as... 

Experimental measurements confirm many of the conclusions reached by the calculations. Combination of a hydrogen halide with an amine produces an ion pair in the gas phase for only the strongest acid/base pairs. In concert with spectral information obtained in solid matrix, the transition from neutral to ion pair appears to be a gradual one as the strengths of the acid and base reach threshold values. There are a number of systems examined which do not fall neatly into either the pure neutral or ion pair category, but are better described as having a broad minimum in their proton transfer potential the bottom of this well occurs... 

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