Aryl-assisted pathway, nucleophilic reactions

Ando and coworkers conducted isotope effect studies (entry 11) on the direct displacement reaction of benzyl arenesulfonates with dimethylaniline (DMA)38. They found that an electron-withdrawing substituent in the substrate (Y = 3-Br) caused the TS to shift to a later position along the reaction coordinate, which is consistent with that predicted by the Thornton rule (or anti-Hammond effect). The anilinolysis of phenylethyl arenesulfonates (entries 12 and 13) proceeds also by an SN2 mechanism. The reaction was found to proceed by a dissociative SN2 mechanism with a relatively small degree of aryl participation. The fraction of the phenonium ion intermediate captured by the aniline nucleophile in the aryl-assisted pathway has been shown to increase with a stronger nucleophile, and a four-center TS in an intermolecular SNi mechanism is suggested for the aryl-assisted pathway39,40. Under the same reaction conditions, benzylamine nucleophiles react at a rate ca two times faster than that of anilines. 

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