Addition-elimination reactions catalysis

As we have seen (Section 4, p. 191) the range of effective molarities associated with ring-closure reactions is very much greater than that characteristic of intramolecular general acid-base catalysis the main classification is therefore in terms of mechanism. By far the largest section (I, Tables A-D) gives EM s for intramolecular nucleophilic reactions. These can be concerted displacements (mostly at tetrahedral carbon), stepwise displacements (mostly addition-elimination reactions at trigonal carbon), or additions, and they have been classified in terms of the nucleophilic and electrophilic centres. 

EPSP synthase catalyzes the synthesis of EPSP by an addition-elimination reaction through the tetrahedral intermediate shown in Fig. 2a. This enzyme is on the shikimate pathway for synthesis of aromatic amino acids and is the target for the important herbicide, glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in Roundup (The Scotts Company EEC, Marysville, OH). Transient-state kinetic studies led to proof of this reaction mechanism by the observation and isolation of the tetrahedral intermediate. Moreover, quantification of the rates of formation and decay of the tetrahedral intermediate established that it was tmly an intermediate species on the pathway between the substrates (S3P and PEP) and products (EPSP and Pi) of the reaction. The chemistry of this reaction is interesting in that the enzyme must first catalyze the formation of the intermediate and then catalyze its breakdown, apparently with different requirements for catalysis. Quantification of the rates of each step of this reaction in the forward and reverse directions has afforded a complete description of the free-energy profile for the reaction and allows... 

One of the important mechanistic considerations involved in addition and addition-elimination reactions of carbonyl compounds is the precise sequence of events. In particular, a major focus is on whether specific or general catalysis is involved in these reactions. In Chapter 10 we will consistently state whether the reactions are subject to general or specific catalysis. Let s examine the factors under which these various mechanisms operate. Figure 9.13 A shows a two-step process involving nucleophilic addition followed by protonation. The first step is rate-determining. The acid is not part of the kinetic equation, and therefore there is no acid catalysis of any kind, specific or general. This mechanism occurs for strong nucleophiles. As we will see in Chapter 10, the addition of cyanide to an aldehyde is one example. 

Addition-elimination reactions may also benefit from acid catalysis. The acid functions in two ways First, it protonates the carbonyl oxygen (Step 1), activating the carbonyl group toward nucleophilic attack (Section 17-5). Second, protonation of L (Step 2) makes it a better leaving group (recall Section 6-7 and 9-2). 

SB catalysis has been detected in many nucleophilic addition-elimination reactions in which the nucleophilic site of a nucleophile is bonded to at least one hydrogen. SB catalyst in these reactions inCTeases the nucleophihdty of the nucleophile if the catalysis occurs through a concerted mechanism (Schane 2.31) involving transition state TSjj in the formation of addition intermediate Int,. However, the occurrence of such TS suffers from energetically unfavorable... 

Note that for 4.42, in which no intramolecular base catalysis is possible, the elimination side reaction is not observed. This result supports the mechanism suggested in Scheme 4.13. Moreover, at pH 2, where both amine groups of 4.44 are protonated, UV-vis measurements indicate that the elimination reaction is significantly retarded as compared to neutral conditions, where protonation is less extensive. Interestingy, addition of copper(II)nitrate also suppresses the elimination reaction to a significant extent. Unfortunately, elimination is still faster than the Diels-Alder reaction on the internal double bond of 4.44. 

Fortunately, in the presence of excess copper(II)nitrate, the elimination reaction is an order of magnitude slower than the desired Diels-Alder reaction with cyclopentadiene, so that upon addition of an excess of cyclopentadiene and copper(II)nitrate, 4.51 is converted smoothly into copper complex 4.53. Removal of the copper ions by treatment with an aqueous EDTA solution afforded in 71% yield crude Diels-Alder adduct 4.54. Catalysis of the Diels-Alder reaction by nickel(II)nitrate is also... 

The phase-transfer catalysis method has also been utilized effectively for addition of dichlorocarbene to olefins,4 as well as for substitution and elimination reactions, oxidations, and reductions.18 The preceding procedure in this volume is another example.13... 

Direct nucleophilic displacement of halide and sulfonate groups from aromatic rings is difficult, although the reaction can be useful in specific cases. These reactions can occur by either addition-elimination (Section 11.2.2) or elimination-addition (Section 11.2.3). Recently, there has been rapid development of metal ion catalysis, and old methods involving copper salts have been greatly improved. Palladium catalysts for nucleophilic substitutions have been developed and have led to better procedures. These reactions are discussed in Section 11.3. 

The quantitation of products that form in low yields requires special care with HPLC analyses. In cases where the product yield is <1%, it is generally not feasible to obtain sufficient material for a detailed physical characterization of the product. Therefore, the product identification is restricted to a comparison of the UV-vis spectrum and HPLC retention time with those for an authentic standard. However, if a minor reaction product forms with a UV spectrum and HPLC chromatographic properties similar to those for the putative substitution or elimination reaction, this may lead to errors in structural assignments. Our practice is to treat rate constant ratios determined from very low product yields as limits, until additional evidence can be obtained that our experimental value for this ratio provides a chemically reasonable description of the partitioning of the carbocation intermediate. For example, verification of the structure of an alkene that is proposed to form in low yields by deprotonation of the carbocation by solvent can be obtained from a detailed analysis of the increase in the yield of this product due to general base catalysis of carbocation deprotonation.14,16... 

Reaction (9) generates methyl iodide for the oxidative addition, and reaction (10) converts the reductive elimination product acetyl iodide into the product and it regenerates hydrogen iodide. There are, however, a few distinct differences [2,9] between the two processes. The thermodynamics of the acetic anhydride formation are less favourable and the process is operated much closer to equilibrium. (Thus, before studying the catalysis of carbonylations and carboxylations it is always worthwhile to look up the thermodynamic data ) Under standard conditions the AG values are approximately ... 

Acylation reactions can also be greatly improved in this way, with t-alkyl- or sec-alkyl-manganese reagents reacting with acid chlorides in excellent yields [123]. The related addition-elimination to 3-ethoxy-2-cyclohexenone is also improved, resulting after acidic aqueous workup in 3-methyl-2-cyclohexenone [125]. The perilla-ketone 126 was prepared in an improved yield using copper(I) catalysis (Scheme 2.58) [129]. 

Typical phase transfer catalysis in liquid-liquid systems combines processes in which Na+ or K+ salts of inorganic and organic anions derived from strong adds (phenolates, thiolates, carboxylates, etc.) are continuously transferred from aqueous (often alkaline) solutions to the organic phase by the phase transfer catalysts. Applications include nucleophilic substitution, addition, elimination, oxidation, and reduction reactions. 

Elimination. Two kinds of elimination reaction are important in homogeneous catalysis. A catalytic cycle which has involved an oxidative addition generally ends with the reverse process of reductive elimination (equation 6). Rhodium-catalyzed hydrogenations end with this step. 

Addition of hydrogen sulfide and thiols is qualitatively similar to reaction with alcohols in that there are two stages, formation of hemithioacetal (or hemithio-ketal) followed by acid-catalyzed elimination of the hydroxy group and substitution of a second —SR (Equations 8.47 and 8.48). The transformation has been studied less extensively than hydration and acetal formation, and relatively little information on mechanism is available. The initial addition appears to be specific base-catalyzed, an observation that implies that RS is the species that adds. The situation is thus similar to cyanide addition. General acid catalysis has, however, been found at pH 1 to 2 for addition of weakly acidic alkyl thiols, and the reaction rate as a function of pH has a minimum and rises both on the... 

Attempts have been made to mimic proposed steps in catalysis at a platinum metal surface using well-characterized binuclear platinum complexes. A series of such complexes, stabilized by bridging bis(diphenyl-phosphino)methane ligands, has been prepared and structurally characterized. Included are diplati-num(I) complexes with Pt-Pt bonds, complexes with bridging hydride, carbonyl or methylene groups, and binuclear methylplatinum complexes. Reactions of these complexes have been studied and new binuclear oxidative addition and reductive elimination reactions, and a new catalyst for the water gas shift reaction have been discovered. 

Probing C—H addition/elimination in Pt(ll)/Pt(IV) systems The importance of oxidative addition of aromatic and aliphatic C—H bonds to Pt(II) centers and its microscopic reverse, reductive elimination of C—H from Pt(IV) species, is ubiquitous in the context of both catalysis and synthesis. It is thus inevitable that the chemical, mechanistic, and kinetic facets of such reactions have become a prominent focus of group 10 poly(pyrazolyl)borate research, although this remains a relatively nascent area. 

An additional interesting example is the conjugate addition of 1 to activated allylic acetates 18 under the chiral phase-transfer catalysis of 4d, and subsequent elimination reaction, as reported by Ramachandran and coworkers, as this enables the synthesis of various enantiomerically enriched glutamic add derivatives [39]. The utility of this process has been demonstrated by the transformation of (S)-19 (R = Ph) into 4-substituted pyroglutamate (2S,4S)-20, as illustrated in Scheme 2.17. 

As the OH addition reactions are controlled by kinetics rather than by thermodynamics, the primary OH adduct radicals are not necessarily the thermodynamically most stable radicals. Thus, a number of rearrangement and water elimination reactions take place. For example, Thy60H is more stable than ThySOH by 42 kj mol but Thy60H is formed preferentially. As has been shown in the case of 1,3-dimethyluracil in a detailed product study, acid catalysis converts the kinetically favored C6 OH adduct into the... 

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