General acid catalysis mechanism

The ionization of (E)-diazo methyl ethers is catalyzed by the general acid mechanism, as shown by Broxton and Stray (1980, 1982) using acetic acid and six other aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acids. The observation of general acid catalysis is evidence that proton transfer occurs in the rate-determining part of the reaction (Scheme 6-5). The Bronsted a value is 0.32, which indicates that in the transition state the proton is still closer to the carboxylic acid than to the oxygen atom of the methanol to be formed. If the benzene ring of the diazo ether (Ar in Scheme 6-5) contains a carboxy group in the 2-position, intramolecular acid catalysis is observed (Broxton and McLeish, 1983). 

It is a major challenge to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the efficiencies of enzymes. Jencks (1) offered the following classification of the mechanisms by which enzymes achieve transition state stabilization and the resulting acceleration of the reactions proximity and orientation effects of reactants, covalent catalysis, general acid-base catalysis, conformational distortion of the reactants, and preorganization of the active sites for transition state complementarity. 

Kinetic studies have been reported for the reactions of some 5-nitro-2-(4-nitrophenoxy)-3-X-thiophenes (10) with aniline and 4-methoxyaniline in methanol, which yield the corresponding 2-anilino derivatives. Base catalysis was interpreted by the SB-GA (specific base-general acid) mechanism. The reactions of 5-bromothiophene-2-carboxaldehyde (11) with secondary amines in water have been shown to produce the corresponding 5-aminated derivatives by the SnAt mechanism. ... 

Creating enzymes in the processes of biological evolution, the Nature used whole arsenal of mechanisms of chemical reactions including covalent catalysis, general acid/base catalysis, electrostatic catalysis, desolvation, strain or distortion of a substrate, concerted reactions, short- and long-range electron transfer, multielectron transfer, switching mechanism and donor-acceptor catalysis (See Chapter 17). 

Alkenes lacking phenyl substituents appear to react by a similar mechanism. Both the observation of general acid catalysis and the kinetic evidence of a solvent isotope effect are consistent with rate-limiting protonation with simple alkenes such as 2-metlQ lpropene and 2,3-dimethyl-2-butene. 

A number of studies of the acid-catalyzed mechanism of enolization have been done. The case of cyclohexanone is illustrative. The reaction is catalyzed by various carboxylic acids and substituted ammonium ions. The effectiveness of these proton donors as catalysts correlates with their pK values. When plotted according to the Bronsted catalysis law (Section 4.8), the value of the slope a is 0.74. When deuterium or tritium is introduced in the a position, there is a marked decrease in the rate of acid-catalyzed enolization h/ d 5. This kinetic isotope effect indicates that the C—H bond cleavage is part of the rate-determining step. The generally accepted mechanism for acid-catalyzed enolization pictures the rate-determining step as deprotonation of the protonated ketone ... 

There is an intermediate mechanism between these extremes. This is a general acid catalysis in which the proton transfer and the C—O bond rupture occur as a concerted process. The concerted process need not be perfectly synchronous that is, proton transfer might be more complete at the transition state than C—O rupture, or vice versa. These ideas are represented in a three-dimensional energy diagram in Fig. 8.1. 

Hydrolysis of aspirin in H2 0 leads to no incorporation of into the product salicylic acid, ruling out the anhydride as an intermediate and thereby excluding mechanism 1. The general acid catalysis of mechanism III can be ruled out on the basis of failure of other nucleophiles to show evidence for general acid catalysis by the neighboring carboxylic acid group. Because there is no reason to believe hydroxide should be special in this way, mechanism III is eliminated. Thus, mechanism II, general base catalysis of hydroxide-ion attack, is believed to be the correct description of the hydrolysis of aspirin. 

The relative importance of the potential catalytic mechanisms depends on pH, which also determines the concentration of the other participating species such as water, hydronium ion, and hydroxide ion. At low pH, the general acid catalysis mechanism dominates, and comparison with analogous systems in which the intramolecular proton transfer is not available suggests that the intramolecular catalysis results in a 25- to 100-fold rate enhancement At neutral pH, the intramolecular general base catalysis mechanism begins to operate. It is estimated that the catalytic effect for this mechanism is a factor of about 10. Although the nucleophilic catalysis mechanism was not observed in the parent compound, it occurred in certain substituted derivatives. 

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

Thus it can be seen that evidence for the A-l mechanism, even if one accepted that this followed from a linear rate coefficient-acidity function correlation, was scant. On the other hand, there have been a very large number of carefully documented studies in which general acid catalysis has been observed leading to the A-Se2 mechanism for the reaction, or it has been shown that the conclusions from an acidity function dependence are not rigorous. One such study has already been described above, and Satchell478 also found that in the detritiation of [4,6-3H2]-l,2,3-trimethoxybenzene by potassium bisulphate, dichloro- and tri-fluoroacetic acids, plots of log kl versus —H0 were linear with a slope of ca. 1.0... 

Thomas and Long488 also measured the rate coefficients for detritiation of [l-3H]-cycl[3,2,2]azine in acetic acid and in water and since the rates relative to detritiation of azulene were similar in each case, a Bronsted correlation must similarly hold. The activation energy for the reaction with hydronium ion (dilute aqueous hydrochloric acid, = 0.1) was determined as 16.5 with AS = —11.3 (from second-order rate coefficients (102At2) of 0.66, 1.81, 4.80, and 11.8 at 5.02, 14.98, 24.97, and 34.76 °C, respectively). This is very close to the values of 16.0 and —10.1 obtained for detritiation of azulene under the same condition499 (below) and suggests the same reaction mechanism, general acid catalysis, for each. 

The reaction was confirmed as being straightforward A-SE2 by the observation of general acid catalysis (although this conclusion concerning the mechanism... 

The commonly accepted mechanism for the catalytic reaction of lysozyme is the so-called general acid catalysis mechanism. 

The inequality indicates that if a concerted mechanism (where b4 and b2 change simultaneously) gives a Ag which is much lower than our stepwise estimate, we will have smaller Ag< age. This possibility, however, is not supported by detailed calculations (Ref. 6). Direct information about Ag age can be obtained from studies of model compounds where the general acid is covalently linked to the R-O-R molecules. However, the analysis of such experiments is complicated due to the competing catalysis by HaO+ and steric constraints in the model compound. Thus, it is recommended to use the rough estimate of Fig. 6.8. If a better estimate is needed, one should simulate the reaction in different model compounds and adjust the a parameters until the observed rates are reproduced. 

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,... 

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