Amides lone pairs

With RAMSES, the conjugation between the C=0 rr-system and the lone pair of the nitrogen atom in the amide group is taken into account (see Figure 2-51b). 

Figure 2-51. a) The rotational barrier in amides can only be explained by VB representation using two resonance structures, b) RAMSES accounts for the (albeit partial) conjugation between the carbonyl double bond and the lone pair on the nitrogen atom. 

The amide is activated toward nucleophilic attack by protonation of its carbonyl oxygen The cation produced m this step is stabilized by resonance involving the nitro gen lone pair and is more stable than the intermediate m which the amide nitrogen is protonated... 

Amide resonance within the N acetyl group competes with delocalization of the nitro gen lone pair into the ring... 

Acylimidazoles and related amides in which the nitrogen atom is part of an aromatic ring hydrolyze much more rapidly than other amides. A major factor is the decreased resonance stabilization of the carbonyl group, which is opposed by the delocalization of the nitrogen lone pair as part of the aromatic sextet. 

As the lone pair and the carbonyl group become more orthogonal, reducing the level of resonance, the rate of amide hydrolysis increases. ... 

Notice in the list of Lewis bases just given that some compounds, such as carboxylic acids, esters, and amides, have more than one atom ivith a lone pair of electrons and can therefore react at more than one site. Acetic acid, for example, can be protonated either on the doubly bonded oxygen atom or on the singly bonded oxygen atom. Reaction normally occurs only once in such instances, and the more stable of the two possible protonation products is formed. For acetic add, protonation by reaction with sulfuric acid occurs on... 

In contrast with amines, amides (RCONH ) are nonbasic. Amides don t undergo substantial protonation by aqueous acids, and they are poor nucleophiles. The main reason for this difference in basicity between amines and amides is that an amide is stabilized by delocalization of the nitrogen lone-pair electrons through orbital overlap with the carbonyl group. In resonance terms, amides are more stable and less reactive than amines because they are hybrids of two resonance forms. This amide resonance stabilization is lost when the nitrogen atom is protonated, so protonation is disfavored. Electrostatic potential maps show clearly the decreased electron density on the amide nitrogen. 

Carbamates are expected to be more reactive than amides, as the carbamate nitrogen lone pair is more available for cation stabilization than the amide nitrogen lone pair. Cyclization of 1 indeed occurred in the expected manner to give 2 in almost quantitative yield11. 

A further comparison of structures 41 and 42 shows that the main difference between the structures occurs near this same reactive bond. Structure 42 represents the most stable conformation expected of Dalanyl-Dalanine, where the amide is trans substituted and the nitrogen is oriented so that its lone pair of electrons may overlap with the tt orbitals of the carbonyl group. In... 

The P-N bond in phosphinous amides is essentially a single bond, so the lone pairs on N and P are available for electrophiUc reagents and for donor bonding towards metal atoms. Proton addition to the N atom of HjPNHj has been calculated to loosen the P-N bond, whereas protonation at P renders this bond stronger than in the parent molecule [26]. NH-Phosphinous amides are practically not associated by intermolecular hydrogen bonds [27]. 

The reaction temperature varies between -40 and 110 °C, depending on the reactivity of both counterparts, amine and chlorophosphane. As usual, aliphatic amino groups react faster than aromatic and heteroaromatic ones due to their greater nucleophilic strength. These differences in reactivity allow chemose-lective phosphinous amide formation, as that represented in Scheme 2 where the P-N bond is formed exclusively at the aliphatic NH2 group of 2 but not at the heteroaromatic NH2, whose lone pair is extensively delocalized in the electron-withdrawing purine ring [35]. 

The reaction of 151 with methanol to give dimethyl phosphate (154) or with N-methylaniline to form the phosphoramidate 155 and (presumably) the pyrophosphate 156 complies with expectations. The formation of dimethyl phosphate does not constitute, however, reliable evidence for the formation of intermediate 151 since methanol can also react with polymeric metaphosphates to give dimethyl phosphate. On the other hand, reaction of polyphosphates with N-methylaniline to give 156 can be ruled out (control experiments). The formation of 156 might encourage speculations whether the reaction with N,N-diethylaniline might involve initial preferential reaction of monomeric methyl metaphosphate via interaction with the nitrogen lone pair to form a phosphoric ester amide which is cleaved to phosphates or pyrophosphates on subsequent work-up (water, methanol). Such a reaction route would at least explain the low extent of electrophilic aromatic substitution by methyl metaphosphate. 

The formation of 151 from the phosphonate 171 could be proved only by indirect means. Electron-rich aromatic compounds such as N,N-diethylaniline and N,N,N, N -tetraethyl-m-phenylenediamine U0 1I9> and N-methylaniline 120> are phosphorylated in the para- and in the ortho- plus para-positions by 151. Furthermore, 151 also adds to the nitrogen lone pair of aniline to form the corresponding phosphor-amidate. Considerable competition between nucleophiles of various strengths for the monomeric methyl metaphosphate 151 — e.g. aromatic substitution of N,N-diethylaniline and reaction with methanol or aromatic substitution and reaction with the nitrogen lone pair in N-methylaniline — again underline its extraordinary non-selectivity. 

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