Generalized acid-base catalysis

Many solution reactions are catalyzed by hydrogen or hydroxyl ions and consequently may undergo accelerated decomposition upon the addition of acids or bases. The catalysis of a reaction by hydrogen or hydroxyl ions is known as acid-base specific catalysis. In many cases, in addition to the effect of pH on reaction rate, there may be catalysis by one or more species of the buffer system. This type of catalysis is known as the acid-base general catalysis. Solutions of vitamin were found to be... 

As implied above, there is nothing dramatically special about photocatalysis. It is simply another type of catalysis alongside, as it were, redox catalysis, acid-base catalysis, enzyme catalysis, thermal catalysis and others. Consequently, it is worth reemphasising that any description of photocatalysis must correspond to the general definition of catalysis. This said, it could be argued that the broad label photocatalysis simply describes catalysis of a photochemical reaction. 

The formation of oximes, hydrazones, and related imine derivatives is usually catalyzed by both general acids and general bases. General base catalysis of dehydration of the tetrahedral intermediate involves nitrogen deprotonation concerted with elimination of hydroxide ion. ... 

Much of the study of kinetics constitutes a study of catalysis. The first goal is the determination of the rate equation, and examples have been given in Chapters 2 and 3, particularly Section 3.3, Model Building. The subsection following this one describes the dependence of rates on pH, and most of this dependence can be ascribed to acid—base catalysis. Here we treat a very simple but widely applicable method for the detection and measurement of general acid-base or nucleophilic catalysis. We consider aqueous solutions where the pH and p/f concepts are well understood, but similar methods can be applied in nonaqueous media. 

Finally we should note that the demonstration of a Br nsted relationship does not constitute proof that general acid or general base catalysis is occurring. Because of the problem of kinetic equivalence of rate terms, we may not be able unequivocally to distinguish between these possibilities ... 

FIGURE 16.11 Specific and general acid-base catalysis of simple reactions in solution may be distinguished by determining the dependence of observed reaction rate constants (/sobs) pH and buffer concentration, (a) In specific acid-base catalysis, or OH concentration affects the reaction rate, is pH-dependent, but buffers (which accept or donate H /OH ) have no effect, (b) In general acid-base catalysis, in which an ionizable buffer may donate or accept a proton in the transition state, is dependent on buffer concentration. 

The Lysozyme Mechanism Involves General Acid-Base Catalysis... 

Gattermann-Koch reaction 230 Gattermann reaction 230 General acid/base catalysis, see Bronsted catalysis... 

One can test for general acid-base catalysis by varying [BH+] and [B] at constant pH. An easy test is to dilute the buffer progressively at a constant ratio of [BH+]/[B], making up any ionic strength change so as not to introduce a salt effect. If the rate is invariant with this procedure, then general acid-base catalysis is absent under the circumstances chosen. 

Weak acids and bases are, generally speaking, less effective catalysts than H+ and OH at the same concentrations. Proton transfer occurs in all acid-base catalysis, regardless of the detailed mechanism (this aspect is considered in the next section). It is only... 

Acid-base catalysis, 232-238 Brqnsted equation for, 233-236 general, 233, 237 mechanisms for, 237 specific, 232-233, 237 Activated complex (see Transition state) Activation enthalpy, 10, 156-160 for composite rate constants, 161-164 negative, 161 Activation parameters, 10 chemical interpretation of, 168-169 energy of activation, Ea, 10 enthalpy of activation (A// ), 10, 156-160... 

The reaction is subject to both general-acid and general-base catalysis the following mechanisms can be written for basic (B) and acidic (BH) catalysis,... 

The ionizable functional groups of aminoacyl side chains and (where present) of prosthetic groups contribute to catalysis by acting as acids or bases. Acid-base catalysis can be eithet specific ot general. By specific we mean only protons (HjO ) or OH ions. In specific acid or specific base catalysis, the rate of reaction is sensitive to changes in the concenttation of protons but... 

K. Tanabe and WF. Holderich, Industrial Applications of Solid Acid-Base Catalysts , Applied Catalysis A, General, 1999, 181, 399. 

Carbonyl reactions are extremely important in chemistry and biochemistry, yet they are often given short shrift in textbooks on physical organic chemistry, partly because the subject was historically developed by the study of nucleophilic substitution at saturated carbon, and partly because carbonyl reactions are often more difhcult to study. They are generally reversible under usual conditions and involve complicated multistep mechanisms and general acid/base catalysis. In thinking about carbonyl reactions, 1 find it helpful to consider the carbonyl group as a (very) stabilized carbenium ion, with an O substituent. Then one can immediately draw on everything one has learned about carbenium ion reactivity and see that the reactivity order for carbonyl compounds ... 

Rates of addition to carbonyls (or expulsion to regenerate a carbonyl) can be estimated by appropriate forms of Marcus Theory. " These reactions are often subject to general acid/base catalysis, so that it is commonly necessary to use Multidimensional Marcus Theory (MMT) - to allow for the variable importance of different proton transfer modes. This approach treats a concerted reaction as the result of several orthogonal processes, each of which has its own reaction coordinate and its own intrinsic barrier independent of the other coordinates. If an intrinsic barrier for the simple addition process is available then this is a satisfactory procedure. Intrinsic barriers are generally insensitive to the reactivity of the species, although for very reactive carbonyl compounds one finds that the intrinsic barrier becomes variable. ... 

LaBarbera, D. V. Skibo, E. B. Solution kinetics of CC-1065 A-ring opening substituent effects and general acid/base catalysis, j. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 3722-3727. 

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