Acyl compounds relative reactivity

Electronically, we find that strongly polarized acyl compounds react more readily than less polar ones. Thus, acid chlorides are the most reactive because the electronegative chlorine atom withdraws electrons from the carbonyl carbon, whereas amides are the least reactive. Although subtle, electrostatic potential maps of various carboxylic add derivatives indicate the differences by the relative blueness on the C-O carbons. Acyl phosphates are hard to place on this scale because they are not used in the laboratory, but in biological systems they appear to be somewhat more reactive than thioesters. 

Substrates 47 and 48 have also been used to study the relative reactivities of selenophene and thiophene and of selenophene and benzene.71 The higher reactivity of the selenophene ring was demonstrated by the fact that upon formylation 59% of compound 49a was formed and upon acylation 63% of derivative 49b. Acylation of 48 gave exclusively 2-acetyl-5-benzylselenophene. Structures of the products were determined by H NMR. 

The depressed reactivity of the CO bond in metal carbonyls relative to organic carbonyls is not apparent in the case of BH3 and A1H3. For example, Masters and coworkers have observed that I B THF reduces metal acyl compounds to the corresponding alkyls, eq. 16. Although no mechanistic studies have been reported, it... 

Dehalogenation.1 DMBI effects dehalogenation of a-halo carbonyl compounds in a variety of ethereal solvents with formation of DMBI+X in generally high yield. The order of relative reactivity is Br > Cl > F (halides) and primary > secondary > tertiary (for the a-substituted position). In combination with HO Ac (1 equiv.) the reagent also reduces acyl chlorides to aldehydes (70-90% yield). 

These substitutions are facilitated by electron release from the heteroatom pyrroles are more reactive than furans, which are in turn more reactive than thiophenes. Quantitative comparisons of the relative reactivities of the three heterocycles vary from electrophile to electrophile, but for trifluoroacetylation, for example, the pyrrole furan thiophene ratio is 5 x 10 1.5 x 10 I " in formylation, furan is 12 times more reactive than thiophene, and for acetylation, the value is 9.3. In hydrogen exchange (deuteriodeproton-ation), the partial rate factors for the a and p positions of A-methylpyrrole are 3.9 x 10 ° and 2.0 x 10 ° respectively for this same process, the values for furan are 1.6 x 10 and 3.2 x l(f and for thiophene, 3.9 X 10 and 1.0 x 10 respectively, and in a study of thiophene, a P ratios ranging from 100 1 to 1000 1 were found for different electrophiles. Relative substrate reactivity parallels positional selectivity i.e. the a P ratio decreases in the order furan > thiophene > pyrrole. ° Nice illustrations of these relative reactivities are found in acylations of compounds containing two different systems linked together. ... 

Curved Brpnsted plots or other structure-reactivity correlations are often taken as evidence for changes in transition-state structure with changing properties of the reactant that might be described by the Marcus equation (24) or other equations. However, it is important to evaluate other possible explanations for such curvature, including solvation effects that could decrease the reactivity of basic nucleophiles without any change in the structure of the transition state for nucleophilic attack. For example, solvation effects could provide a relatively simple explanation for the curvature of structure-reactivity correlations for reactions of basic oxygen anion nucleophiles with acyl compounds and carbon acids. 

As mentioned before, all acyl compounds participate in the addition-elimination process. Acid chlorides are especially reactive toward nucleophiles. Their carbonyl groups, being the least stabilized by resonance, have the highest energy and are the most reactive. So, an initial addition reaction with a nucleophile is relatively easy. The chloride atom of acid chlorides is an excellent leaving group, and sits poised, ready to depart once the tetrahedral intermediate has been formed... 

The relative reactivities toward nucleophilic addition-elimination are acyl chlorides > acid anhydrides > esters carboxylic acids > amides > carboxylate ions. Hydrolysis, alcoholysis, and aminolysis are reactions in which water, alcohols, and amines, respectively, convert one compound into two compounds. 

On the basis of the reactions presented in this chapter, write reaction summary charts for esters and amides similar to the chart for acyl halides (Figure 20-1). Compare the number of reactions for each of the compound classes. Is this information consistent with your understanding of the relative reactivity of each of the functional groups ... 

Acyl chlorides are reactive compounds. The carbonyl carbon has electrons drawn away from it by the Cl atom as well as by its O atom, and both are strongly electronegative atoms. This gives the carbonyl carbon a relatively large partial positive charge and makes it particularly open to attack from nucleophiles. 

Arenediazonium ions are relatively weak electrophiles, and therefore react only with electron-rich aromatic substrates like aryl amines and phenols. Aromatic compounds like anisole, mesitylene, acylated anilines or phenolic esters are ordinarily not reactive enough to be suitable substrates however they may be coupled... 

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