Activation energy nucleophilic substitution

As can be seen from Table 4-2, the relative rates of chlorine substitution in nitrochlorobenzenes under the action of different nucleophilic reagents are in agreement with af of the anion radicals. The constants af and af of the 4-chloronitrobenzene anion radical are close to the af and af constants of the nitrobenzene anion radical. The pair of anion radicals of 2-chloronitrobenzene and nitrobenzene show the same agreement between af and af. In the anion radical of nitrobenzene, af is larger than af. The substitution of ethoxyl for chlorine in 4-chloronitrobenzene proceeds much more easily and requires a lower activation energy than the same substitution in 2-chloronitrobenzene. The spin density in position 4 of the anion radical of 1,3-dinitrobenzene is greater than that in position 2 (af > af). Therefore, l,3-dinitro-4-chlorobenzene is more active in nucleophilic substitution than l,3-dinitro-2-chlorobenzene. 

Equation 8.28 shows only the anionic nucleophile explicitly, since the counterion does not appear to take part in the reaction. Nevertheless, the counterion affects the solubility of a nucleophilic salt, which therefore can influence the polarity of the solvent needed for the reaction. An alternative to the use of a more polar solvent to dissolve a salt for nucleophilic substitution is to use crown ether additives. Crown ethers are cyclic polyethers that can coordinate with cations and therefore increase their solubility in organic solvents. The nomenclature provides the total number of atoms and the number of oxygen atoms in the ring. Compoimd 51 is 12-crown-4, and 52 is 18-crown-6 (Figure 8.32). Coordination of a crown ether with a cation helps to dissolve the salt in a less polar solvent and leaves the anion relatively unsolvated. The activation energy for substitution therefore does not include a large term for desolvation of the nucleophilic anion, and the reactions are fast. For example, adding dicyclohexano-18-crown-6 (53) to a solution of 1-bromobutane in dioxane was found to increase its reactivity with potassium phenoxide by a factor of 1.5 x 10. Moreover, Liotta and Harris were able to use KF solubilized with 18-crown-6 (52) to carry out Sn2 reactions on 1-bromooctane in benzene. ... 

The extent to which rearrangement occurs depends on the structure of the cation and foe nature of the reaction medium. Capture of carbocations by nucleophiles is a process with a very low activation energy, so that only very fast rearrangements can occur in the presence of nucleophiles. Neopentyl systems, for example, often react to give r-pentyl products. This is very likely to occur under solvolytic conditions but can be avoided by adjusting reaction conditions to favor direct substitution, for example, by use of an aptotic dipolar solvent to enhance the reactivity of the nucleophile. In contrast, in nonnucleophilic media, in which fhe carbocations have a longer lifetime, several successive rearrangement steps may occur. This accounts for the fact that the most stable possible ion is usually the one observed in superacid systems. 

In cases where comparable data are available, the activation energy for nucleophilic substitution by anions such as methoxide ion is... 

Electronic effects. Nucleophilic attack is favoured by electron-withdrawing groups on the amide and the acyloxyl side chains. Interpolated bimolecular rate constants at 308 K for the series of para-substituted /V-acetoxy-/V-butoxybenzamides 25c, 26b-g and 26i (Table 5) gave a weak but positive Hammett correlation with a constants ip = 0.13, r = 0.86).42,43 These Sn2 reactions are analogous to those of aniline and substituted pyridines with phenacyl bromides, which have similar Arrhenius activation energies and entropies of activation in methanol (EA= 14-16 kcal mol-1, AS = — 27 to —31 calK-1 mol-1) and 4-substituted phenacyl halides afforded a similar Hammett correlation with pyridine in methanol (cr, p — 0.25).175... 

Kinetic studies of the unnatural 6-a -epimer of ampicillin, fi-ept-ampicillin (154), have revealed an intramolecular process not undergone by ampicillin (or other natural /3-substituted penicillins) At pH 6-9, intramolecular attack of the jS-lactam carbonyl group by the side-chain amino group of (154) yields a stable piperazine-2,5-dione derivative (155). Theoretical calculations show that the intramolecular aminolysis of 6-epi-ampicillin nucleophilic attack occurs from the a-face of the -lactam ring with an activation energy of 14.4kcalmor In other respects, the hydrolysis of the b-a-epimer is unexceptional. 

---