Alkylations, with alcohols rate constants

The results obtained by liquid-phase oxidation or co-oxidation of various hydrocarbons are reviewed, and new results are reported for new kinds of compounds such as alkyl-aromatics, alcohols, and ethers, which were also systematically studied by co-oxidation. Gathering all kinetic data and discussing them in connection with data on absolute termination constants, obtained by other groups through physical measurements, enables us to estimate the termination and propagation rate constants for about 40 compounds and to present characteristic values for some new classes of compounds. Examples demonstrate that co-oxidation studies make it possible to explain the behavior of complex compounds reacting by different kinds of bonds, and more particularly the behavior of polymers oxidized in solution. 

These methods are not always applicable or convenient. A more general method used by Richard and Jencks utilizes HPLC analysis of carbocation formation in alcohol-water mixtures.22 As shown in Scheme 2 for an a-aryl ethyl cation, formation of the ether product from reaction of the carbocation with the alcohol depends on the rate constant for carbocation formation kll and the partition ratio between product formation and the back reaction to form the alcohol kROiiAii2o- This ratio may be determined from the ratio of products formed from reaction of the carbocation generated from a suitable solvolytic precursor such as an alkyl halide. 

Carbenium ions react readily with alcohols, ethers, ketones, anhydrides, and various aromatic compounds. Transfer constants to most alcohols are approximately Cx 1 in styrene polymerizations [308]. Anhydrides are more reactive, with transfer constants Cx 10 ketones and ethers are less reactive (Cx 0.1) [120]. In general, the transfer constants to aromatic compounds listed in Table 17 increases as their nucleophilicity increases. This indicates that the rate-determining step in Friedel-Crafts alkylation is formation of arenium ions ( Wheland intermediates) [Eq. (119)] rather than reinitiation. 

Until relatively recently no kinetic studies on the nitrosation of alcohols had been reported, presumably since the reactions are very rapid and require special techniques. Some kinetic measurements on the reverse reaction, the hydrolysis of alkyl nitrites have been reported here conventional kinetic methods were used. Early workers examined the reactions of the series methyl, ethyl, i-propyl and t-butyl nitrites in an acetic acid-acetate buffer and found a small increase in rate constant along the series (Skrabal et a ., 1939). Later Allen measured the rate constants for the hydrolysis of a number of alkyl nitrites in aqueous dioxan solvent for both acid- and base-catalysed reactions (Allen, 1954). The rate constants for the O-nitrosation of alcohols were determined indirectly by measurement of the overall equilibrium constant for the process, by noting the change in the rate constant for the nitrosation of phenol in the presence of added alcohols. These, combined with the known data for the reverse hydrolysis reaction, enabled the rate constants for the forward reaction to be obtained (Schmid and Riedl, 1967). The reactivity sequence MeOH > EtOH > i-PrOH > t-BuOH was deduced, and attributed to a steric effect. 

Solvent effects on the oxidation of triphenylphosphine by perbenzoic acid have been reported. The second-order rate constants are directly proportional to the dielectric constant of the solvent. Oxidation of methylphenyl-propylphosphine with 3-chloroperbenzoic acid or ozone proceeds with retention of configuration. The reaction of alkyl- or aryl-phosphines with dialkyl peroxides or polyperoxides in aqueous solvents leads to the formation of alcohols or glycols, respectively. ... 

Alkyl halides are even less reactive than acyl halides, as indicated by the compilation of reaction rates of thiolate anions with various types of alkyl halides (282). Nevertheless, potentially useful affinity labels have been synthesized with alkyl halide substituents and have been shown to specifically inactivate several enzymes, albeit slowly the low reactivity of the alkyl halides may minimize nonspecific reaction. Adenosine 5 -(2-bromoethyl)phosphate has been characterized and reported to inactivate NAD -dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase (283). The 2 - and 3 -(2-bromoethyl)-AMP labels have also been synthesized, and model reactions of the bromoethyl-AMPs with cysteine, lysine, histidine, and tyrosine have been studied (284). More recently, esters of adenosine 5 -monophosphate have been prepared with ethyl, propyl, or hexyl moieties and bromo or chloro substituents at the w position (285). Yeast alcohol dehydrogenase exhibited enhanced inactivation by the hexyl derivative, but inactivation rates of other dehydrogenases were unremarkable. Two iodopropyl derivatives of cAMP have been described, namely, 1, A -(3-iodopropyleno)adenosine 3, 5 -cyclic monophosphate and 3 -0-(2-iodo-3-hydroxypropyl)adenosine 3, 5 -cyclic monophosphate the latter inactivates cAMP phosphodiesterase from human platelets, with a pseudo-first-order rate constant of 0.147 hr" (286). 

---