Disproportionation, transition states

It can be seen in Figure 16 that the non-participating methyl group for each of the disproportionation transition states has enough room to avoid steric constraints with the zeolite wall. The activation energies are -i- 164 kJ/mol, -i-174 kJ/mol, and -i- 187 kJ/mol for an alkylation/dealkylation to the ortho, meta, and para position respectively. 

J. Huang, Y. Jiang, V. R. R. Marthala, M. Hunger, Insight into the mechanisms of the ethylbenzene disproportionation transition state shape selectivity on zeolites, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008, 130, 12642-12644. 

Mass transport selectivity is Ulustrated by a process for disproportionation of toluene catalyzed by HZSM-5 (86). The desired product is -xylene the other isomers are less valuable. The ortho and meta isomers are bulkier than the para isomer and diffuse less readily in the zeoHte pores. This transport restriction favors their conversion to the desired product in the catalyst pores the desired para isomer is formed in excess of the equUibrium concentration. Xylene isomerization is another reaction catalyzed by HZSM-5, and the catalyst is preferred because of restricted transition state selectivity (86). An undesired side reaction, the xylene disproportionation to give toluene and trimethylbenzenes, is suppressed because it is bimolecular and the bulky transition state caimot readily form. 

It is noteworthy that only in the case of dehydroquinolizidine derivatives does monomethylation produce the N-alkylated product. The formation of dialkylated products can be explained by a disproportionation reaction of the monoalkylated immonium salt caused by either the basicity of the starting enamine or some base added to the reaction mixture (most often potassium carbonate) and subsequent alkylation of the monoalkylated enamine. Reinecke and Kray 113) try to explain the different behavior of zJ -dehydroquinolizidine and zJ -dehydroquinolizidine derivatives by the difference in energies of N- and C-alkylation transition states because of the presence of I strain. 

There is quite some evidence for a mechanism as formulated above,especially for the six-membered transition state—the Barton reaction is observed only with starting materials of appropriate structure and geometry, while the photolysis of nitrite esters in general seldom leads to useful products formed by fragmentation, disproportionation or unselective intermolecular hydrogen abstraction. 

Early workers in the area137 1"8 suggested the involvement of a single 4-ccntcr transition state or intermediate which could lead to either disproportionation or combination (Scheme 1.12). The hypothesis fell from favor when it was established that showed a small though measurable dependence on... 

Minato ct a/.1(12 proposed that the transition state for disproportionation has polar character while that for combination is neutral. The finding that polar solvents enhance kJkK for ethyl170 and /-butyl radicals (Section 2.5.3.5), the very high kjktc seen for alkoxy radicals with a-hydrogens,171 and the trend in kJkK observed for reactions of a scries of fluoroalkyl radicals (Scheme 1.13, Table 1.7) have been explained in these terms.141102... 

The transition state for disproportionation requires overlap of the p C—H bond undergoing scission and the p-orbital containing the unpaired electron.18 This requirement rationalizes the specificity observed in disproportionation of radicals 29 (Section 1.4,2) and provides an explanation for the persistency of the triisopropylmcthyl radical (33) and related species (Section 1.4.3.2).166 In the case of 33, the P-bydrogens are constrained to lie in the nodal plane of the p-orbital due to stcric buttressing between the methyls of the adjacent isopropyls. 

The effect of crystal size of these zeolites on the resulted toluene conversion can be ruled out as the crystal sizes are rather comparable, which is particularly valid for ZSM-5 vs. SSZ-35 and Beta vs. SSZ-33. The concentrations of aluminum in the framework of ZSM-5 and SSZ-35 are comparable, Si/Al = 37.5 and 39, respectively. However, the differences in toluene conversion after 15 min of time-on-stream (T-O-S) are considerable being 25 and 48.5 %, respectively. On the other hand, SSZ-35 exhibits a substantially higher concentration of strong Lewis acid sites, which can promote a higher rate of the disproportionation reaction. Two mechanisms of xylene isomerization were proposed on the literature [8] and especially the bimolecular one involving the formation of biphenyl methane intermediate was considered to operate in ZSM-5 zeolites. Molecular modeling provided the evidence that the bimolecular transition state of toluene disproportionation reaction fits in the channel intersections of ZSM-5. With respect to that formation of this transition state should be severely limited in one-dimensional (1-D) channel system of medium pore zeolites. This is in contrast to the results obtained as SSZ-35 with 1-D channels system exhibits a substantially higher... 

For the non-oxidative activation of light alkanes, the direct alkylation of toluene with ethane was chosen as an industrially relevant model reaction. The catalytic performance of ZSM-5 zeolites, which are good catalysts for this model reaction, was compared to the one of zeolite MCM-22, which is used in industry for the alkylation of aromatics with alkenes in the liquid phase. The catalytic experiments were carried out in a fixed-bed reactor and in a batch reactor. The results show that the shape-selective properties of zeolite ZSM-5 are more appropriate to favor the dehydroalkylation reaction, whereas on zeolite MCM-22 with its large cavities in the pore system and half-cavities on the external surface the thermodynamically favored side reaction with its large transition state, the disproportionation of toluene, prevails. 

Intermediate pore zeolites typified by ZSM-5 (1) show unique shape-selectivities. This has led to the development and commercial use of several novel processes in the petroleum and petrochemical industry (2-4). This paper describes the selectivity characteristics of two different aromatics conversion processes Xylene Isomerization and Selective Toluene Disproportionation (STDP). In these two reactions, two different principles (5,j6) are responsible for their high selectivity a restricted transition state in the first, and mass transfer limitation in the second. 

The correlation between selectivity and intracrystalline free space can be readily accounted for in terms of the mechanisms of the reactions involved. The acid-catalyzed xylene isomerization occurs via 1,2-methyl shifts in protonated xylenes (Figure 3). A mechanism via two transalkylation steps as proposed for synthetic faujasite (8) can be ruled out in view of the strictly consecutive nature of the isomerization sequence o m p and the low activity for disproportionation. Disproportionation involves a large diphenylmethane-type intermediate (Figure 4). It is suggested that this intermediate can form readily in the large intracrystalline cavity (diameter. 1.3 nm) of faujasite, but is sterically inhibited in the smaller pores of mordenite and ZSM-4 (d -0.8 nm) and especially of ZSM-5 (d -0.6 nm). Thus, transition state selectivity rather than shape selective diffusion are responsible for the high xylene isomerization selectivity of ZSM-5. 

At temperatures above 450°C ZSM-5 is a very effective catalyst for the disproportionation of toluene. A process has been developed and put into commercial practice (2). The thermodynamic equilibrium composition (11) is listed in Figure 7. The product obtained with ZSM-5 contains less of the highly substituted aromatics, as a result of diffusion and transition-state inhibition, such that the process can be approximated by the equation ... 

Cyclooctatetraene was reduced electrochemically to cyclooctatetraenyl dianion. In DMF the product is mostly (92%) 1,3,5-cyclooctatriene at —1.2 V. If the potential is lowered the main product is 1,3,6-cyclooctatriene. Previous experiments, in which the anion radical was found to be disproportionated, were explained on the basis of reactions of the cyclooctatetraene dianion with alkali metal ions to form tightly bound complexes, or with water to form cyclooctatrienes. The first electron transfer to cyclooctatetraene is slow and proceeds via a transition state which resembles planar cyclooctatetraene102. 

The analogy between electron-transfer via addition/elimination (Eq. 2b,c) or abstraction/elimination (Eq. 2a, c) and classical solvolysis involving closed-shell molecules (nonradicals) is seen by comparing Scheme 1 with Scheme 3, in which XY, the precursor of the ions X and Y , is formally derived from the two radicals X and Y". Analogous to Scheme 1, on the way to the ionic products that result from the interaction between X and Y there are two possibilities if XY denotes a transition state, the reaction (Eq. 3a, a ) is a case of outer-sphere electron transfer. If, however, a covalent bond is formed between X and Y, the path (Eq. 3b, b ) is an example of inner- sphere electron transfer. Obviously, part b of the scheme describes the classical area of S l solvolysis reactions (assuming either X or Y to be equal to C) [9, 10]. If a second reaction partner for C (other than the solvent) is allowed for (the (partial) ions then represent transition states), then Eq. 3b also covers Sn2 reactions. If looked upon from the point of view of radical-radical reactivity, Eqs. 3a and b show well-known reactions radical disproportionation in Eq. 3a,a and combination in Eq. 3b. 

In principle, one can never exactly duplicate the transition state, because transition state theory requires that such an intermediate species would disproportionate back to E-Substrate complex as well as proceed onward to E-Product complexes. However, the scheme shown in Fig. 3 permits one to estimate the maximal affinity that should be achievable if one were to approximate closely the electronic and stereochemical configuration of the enzyme and substrate in the transition state. An accurate estimation of requires detailed knowledge that the uncatalyzed reference reaction follows the same mechanism as the enzyme-catalyzed process. See Enzyme Proficiency Reference Reaction... 

The catalytic isomerization of 1-methylnaphthalene and all lation of 2-methylnaphtha-lene with methanol were studied at ambient pressure in a flow-type fixed bed reactor. Acid zeolites with a Spaciousness Index between ca. 2 and 16 were found to be excellent isomerization catalysts which completely suppress the undesired disproportionation into nwhthalene and dimethylnaphthalenes due to transition state shape selectivity. Examples are HZSM-12, H-EU-1 and H-Beta. Optimum catalysts for the shape selective methylation of 2-methylnaphthalene are HZSM-5 and HZSM-li. All experimental finding concerning this reaction can be readily accounted for by conventional product shape selectivity combined with coke selectivation, so there is no need for invoking shape selectivity effects at the external surface or "nest effects", at variance with recent pubhcations from other groups. 

It is noted that the microporous effect was greater in the disproportionation of 1,2,4-TrMB than in the cracking of cumene. As shown in the previous paper [14], the disproportionation of 1,2,4-TrMB at 200°C proceeds via a bimolecular transition state and obeys the second order kinetics. In contrast, the cracking of cumene is the first order kinetics with respect to cumene concentration. Thus, it seems that the microporous effect is exerted more significantly in the second order reaction (disproportionation) than in the first order reaction (cracking) if pore structure plays an important role in localizing concentration of reactant molecules. 

There are, however, a number of facts which make such a proposal untenable. In the first place, the fact that disproportionation is much faster than recombination by a factor of 3.2 for fer -butyl radicals indicates that such structures cannot be general since this would imply that for recombination structure which is less favored, is arrived at through the tighter 4-centered structure (reaction H) of the disproportionation state.f It is much more reasonable to assume for er -butyl that steric repulsion of CH3 groups lowers the recombination efficiency but does not affect the disproportionation rate which goes through a different transition state. 

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