Carboxylic acid esters tetrahedral intermediates

Before discussmg the mechanism of cleavage of carboxylic acid esters and amides by hydrolases, some chemical principles are worth recalling. The chemical hydrolysis of carboxylic acid derivatives can be catalyzed by acid or base, and, in both cases, the mechanisms involve addition-elimination via a tetrahedral intermediate. A general scheme of ester and amide hydrolysis is presented in Fig. 3. / the chemical mechanisms of ester hydrolysis will be... 

Fig. 17.62. Two-step reduction of carboxylic acid esters to ethers. In the first step, a reduction via hydride transfer occurs and leads to a tetrahedral intermediate that is stable enough to be acylated to the (alpha))-acetoxyether A. The second step involves a so-called "ionic reduction"...

The first step is the formation of H-bonded intermediate 49, in which Ccarbene takes on substantial cationic character. Next, termolecular attack by the amine in the presence of Y provides tetrahedral intermediate 50, which then breaks down into products. The reaction is sensitive to steric hindrance, with ammonia and primary amines reacting rapidly (several orders of magnitude faster than aminolysis of carboxylic acid esters) and secondary amines reacting much more sluggishly. The actual kinetic order associated with the amine is also a function of the solvent. Aprotic solvents such as hexane require a rate law with a third-order contribution from the amine pro tic solvents such as methanol show a mixed first- and second-order contribution from the amine. 

Once formed the tetrahedral intermediate can revert to starting materials by merely reversing the reactions that formed it or it can continue onward to products In the sec ond stage of ester hydrolysis the tetrahedral intermediate dissociates to an alcohol and a carboxylic acid In step 4 of Figure 20 4 protonation of the tetrahedral intermediate at Its alkoxy oxygen gives a new oxonium ion which loses a molecule of alcohol m step 5 Along with the alcohol the protonated form of the carboxylic acid arises by dissocia tion of the tetrahedral intermediate Its deprotonation m step 6 completes the process... 

In base the tetrahedral intermediate is formed m a manner analogous to that pro posed for ester saponification Steps 1 and 2 m Figure 20 8 show the formation of the tetrahedral intermediate m the basic hydrolysis of amides In step 3 the basic ammo group of the tetrahedral intermediate abstracts a proton from water and m step 4 the derived ammonium ion dissociates Conversion of the carboxylic acid to its corresponding carboxylate anion m step 5 completes the process and renders the overall reaction irreversible... 

Section 20 11 Ester hydrolysis m basic solution is called saponification and proceeds through the same tetrahedral intermediate (Figure 20 5) as m acid catalyzed hydrolysis Unlike acid catalyzed hydrolysis saponification is irreversible because the carboxylic acid is deprotonated under the reac tion conditions... 

There are large differences in reactivity among the various carboxylic acid derivatives, such as amides, esters, and acyl chlorides. One important factor is the resonance stabilization provided by the heteroatom. This decreases in the order N > O > Cl. Electron donation reduces the electrophilicity of the carbonyl group, and the corresponding stabilization is lost in the tetrahedral intermediate. 

Among the available pieces of information are the observations that an alkaline solution of the carboxylic acid and alcohol does not generate the ester and that (for most esters) the postulated tetrahedral intermediate cannot be detected. Thus, the... 

Lster hydrolysis occurs through a typical nucleophilic acyl substitution pathway in which hydroxide ion is the nucleophile that adds to the ester carbonyl group to give a tetrahedral intermediate. Loss of alkoxide ion then gives a carboxylic acid, which is deprotonated to give the carboxylate ion. Addition of aqueous HC1 in a separate step after the saponification is complete then pro-tonates the carboxylate ion and gives the carboxylic acid (Figure 21.17). 

The intermediates 74 and 76 can now lose OR to give the acid (not shown in the equations given), or they can lose OH to regenerate the carboxylic ester. If 74 goes back to ester, the ester will still be labeled, but if 76 reverts to ester, the 0 will be lost. A test of the two possible mechanisms is to stop the reaction before completion and to analyze the recovered ester for 0. This is just what was done by Bender, who found that in alkaline hydrolysis of methyl, ethyl, and isopropyl benzoates, the esters had lost 0. A similar experiment carried out for acid-Catalyzed hydrolysis of ethyl benzoate showed that here too the ester lost However, alkaline hydrolysis of substimted benzyl benzoates showed no loss. This result does not necessarily mean that no tetrahedral intermediate is involved in this case. If 74 and 76 do not revert to ester, but go entirely to acid, no loss will be found even with a tetrahedral intermediate. In the case of benzyl benzoates this may very well be happening, because formation of the acid relieves steric strain. Another possibility is that 74 loses OR before it can become protonated to 75. Even the experiments that do show loss do not prove the existence of the tetrahedral intermediate, since it is possible that is lost by some independent process not leading to ester hydrolysis. To deal with this possibility. Bender and Heck measured the rate of loss in the hydrolysis of ethyl trifluorothioloacetate- 0 ... 

By methods analogous to those used for the tetrahedral intermediates related to carboxylic acid derivatives, Guthrie proceeded from the heat of formation of pentaeth-oxyphosphorane to free energies of the P(OEt) (OH)5 species. °° This allowed the calculation of the equilibrium constants for addition of water or hydroxide to simple alkyl esters of phosphoric acid see Table 1.7. 

In HO -catalyzed hydrolysis (specific base catalyzed hydrolysis), the tetrahedral intermediate is formed by the addition of a nucleophilic HO ion (Fig. 3.1, Pathway b). This reaction is irreversible for both esters and amides, since the carboxylate ion formed is deprotonated in basic solution and, hence, is not receptive to attack by the nucleophilic alcohol, phenol, or amine. The reactivity of the carboxylic acid derivative toward a particular nucleophile depends on a) the relative electron-donating or -withdrawing power of the substituents on the carbonyl group, and b) the relative ability of the -OR or -NR R" moiety to act as a leaving group. Thus, electronegative substituents accelerate hydrolysis, and esters are more readily hydrolyzed than amides. 

Mechanism of esterification of carboxylic acids The esterification of carboxylic acids with alcohols is a kind of nncleophilic acyl snbstitntion. Protonation of the carbonyl ojq gen activates the carbonyl gronp towards nncleophilic addition of the alcohol. Proton transfer in the tetrahedral intermediate converts the hydrojq l group into - 0H2 group, which, being a better leaving group, is eliminated as neutml water molecule. The protonated ester so formed finally loses a proton to give the ester. 

Mechanism. The carbonyl group of a carboxylic acid is not sufficiently electrophilic to be attacked by the alcohol. The acid catalyst protonates the carbonyl oxygen, and activates it towards nucleophilic attack. The alcohol attacks the protonated carbonyl carbon, and forms a tetrahedral intermediate. Intramolecular proton transfer converts the hydroxyl to a good leaving group as H2O. A simultaneous deprotonation and loss of H2O gives an ester. 

The possibility that the reactions of derivatives of carboxylic acids might pass through tetrahedral intermediates (l) has long been considered (Lowry, 1926). In their important paper in which they classified the mechanisms of hydrolysis of carboxylic esters Day and Ingold (1941) wrote bimolecular... 

Base-Catalyzed Hydrolysis. Let us now look at the reaction of a carboxylic ester with OH", that is, the base-catalyzed hydrolysis. The reaction scheme for the most common reaction mechanism is given in Fig. 13.11. As indicated in reaction step 2, in contrast to the acid-catalyzed reaction (Fig. 13.10), the breakdown of the tetrahedral intermediate, I, may be kinetically important. Thus we write for the overall reaction rate ... 

Another strategy for catalyzing the hydrolysis of an ester or an amide is to replace water by a stronger nucleophilic group that is part of the enzyme s active site. The HOCH2— group of a serine residue is often used in this way. In such cases, the reaction of the serine with the substrate splits the overall reaction into a two-step process. Instead of immediately yielding the free carboxylic acid, the breakdown of the initial tetrahedral intermediate yields an intermediate ester that is attached covalently to the enzyme. 

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