Elimination reactions, isotope effects

The propene ion is one system in which determination of isotope effects is hampered by hydrogen randomisation. Nevertheless, deuterium isotope effects upon ion abundances following El have been obtained by making allowances for the extent of hydrogen randomisation [see Sect. 7.5.1(f)]. For hydrogen atom elimination, the isotope effect/H//D has been put at 1.7—2.0 for source reactions [372] and 2.3—3.0 and 3.6 (first and second field-free regions, respectively) for metastable ions [510]. For hydrogen atom elimination from propenoic acid ions, the isotope effect /H//D has been put at 4.3 for metastable ions [587]. 

Lin, S., Saunders, W. H. (1994) Tunneling in elimination reactions -structural effects on the secondary beta-tritium isotope effect, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 116, 6107-6110. 

For E2 eliminations in 2-phenylethyl systems with several different leaving groups, both the primary isotope effect and Hammett p values for the reactions are known. Deduce from these data the relationship between the location on the E2 transition state spectrum and the nature of the leaving group i.e., deduce which system has the most El-like transition state and which has the most Elcb-like. Explain your reasoning. 

A distinction between these four possibilities can be made on the basis of the kinetic isotope effect. There is no isotope effect in the arylation of deuterated or tritiated benzenoid compounds with dibenzoyl peroxide, thereby ruling out mechanisms in which a C5— bond is broken in the rate-determining step of the substitution. Paths (ii) and (iii,b) are therefore eliminated. In path (i) the first reaction, Eq. (6), is almost certain to be rate-determining, for the union of tw o radicals, Eq. (7), is a process of very low activation energy, while the abstraction in which a C—H bond is broken would require activation. More significant evidence against this path is that dimers, Arz, should result from it, yet they are never isolated. For instance, no 4,4 -dinitrobiphenyl is formed during the phenylation of... 

The differences in rate for the two positions of naphthalene show clearly that an additional-elimination mechanism may be ruled out. On the other hand, the magnitude of the above isotope effect is smaller than would be expected for a reaction involving rate-determining abstraction of hydrogen, so a mechanism involving significant internal return had been proposed, equilibria (239) and (240), p. 266. In this base-catalysed (B-SE2) reaction both k and k 2 must be fast in view of the reaction path symmetry. If diffusion away of the labelled solvent molecule BH is not rapid compared with the return reaction kLt a considerable fraction of ArLi reacts with BH rather than BH, the former possibility leading to no nett isotope effect. Since the diffusion process is unlikely to have an isotope effect then the overall observed effect will be less than that for the step k. ... 

Among the evidence for the existence of the E2 mechanism are (1) the reaction displays the proper second-order kinetics (2) when the hydrogen is replaced by deuterium in second-order eliminations, there is an isotope effect of from 3 to 8, consistent with breaking of this bond in the rate-determining step. However, neither of these results alone could prove an E2 mechanism, since both are compatible with other mechanisms also (e.g., see ElcB p. 1308). The most compelling evidence for the E2 mechanism is found in stereochemical smdies. As will be illustrated in the examples below, the E2 mechanism is stereospecific the five atoms involved (including the base) in the transition state must be in one plane. There are two ways for this to happen. The H and X may be trans to one another (A) with a dihedral angle... 

In 1961, Roig and Dodson carried out a further study of the exchange in perchlorate media under identical conditions (25 °C, fi = 3.0 M) to those in the Tl(III) hydrolysis studyThe isotope was used, with a separation procedure based on extracting TI(III) from reaction mixtures with either methyl isobutyl ketone or diethyl ether. The exchange was examined in the absence of light, and a correction procedure to eliminate the catalytic effects of traces of chloride ions was used since Tl(III) concentrations of 10 M were necessary at the very low acidities employed. Using the known values of the first and second hydrolysis constants of Tl(III) (K2 and K3)... 

A very large deuterium isotope effect has been observed240 by ESR at 77 K on hydrogen-deuterium elimination reaction from 2,3-dimethylbutane (H-DMB)-SFg and 2,3-dimethylbutane-2,3-D2 (D-DMB)-SFg (0.6 mol% mixtures), /-irradiated at 70 K and then stored at 77 K. The significant isotope effect, h2 Ad2 = 1-69 x 104 at 77 K, has been explained by tunnelling elimination of hydrogen (H2) molecules from a DMB+ ion240. 

Labelling experiments provided the evidence that the Fe1- and Co1-mediated losses of H2 and 2H2 from tetralin are extremely specific. Both reactions follow a clear syn- 1,2-elimination involving C(i)/C(2) and C(3)/C(4), respectively. In the course of the multistep reaction the metal ions do not move from one side of the rr-surface to the other. The kinetic isotope effect associated with the loss of the first H2 molecule, k( 2)/k(Y)2) = 3.4 0.2, is larger than the KIE, WFLj/ATHD) = 1.5 0.2, for the elimination of the second H2 molecule. A mechanism of interaction of the metal ion with the hydrocarbon n-surface, ending with arene-M+ complex 246 formation in the final step of the reaction, outlined in equation 100, has been proposed241 to rationalize the tandem MS studies of the unimolecular single and double dehydrogenation by Fe+ and Co+ complexes of tetraline and its isotopomers 247-251. 

Saunders10 and by Sims and coworkers11 have shown that the magnitude of the leaving-group heavy-atom isotope effect varies linearly with the extent of C—X bond rupture in the transition state for concerted elimination reactions and for nucleophilic substitution reactions, respectively. Since the magnitude of the isotope effect is directly related to the amount of C—X bond rupture in the transition state, these isotope effects provide detailed information about the structure of the transition state. 

The reaction rate is half-order in palladium and dimeric hydroxides of the type shown are very common for palladium. The reaction is first order in alcohol and a kinetic isotope effect was found for CH2 versus CD2 containing alcohols at 100 °C (1.4-2.1) showing that probably the (3-hydride elimination is rate-determining. Thus, fast pre-equilibria are involved with the dimer as the resting state. When terminal alkenes are present, Wacker oxidation of the alkene is the fastest reaction. Aldehydes are prone to autoxidation and it was found that radical scavengers such as TEMPO suppressed the side reactions and led to an increase of the selectivity [18],... 

According to isotope studies the rate-determining step of this sequence is the reductive elimination, and all other reactions (C-H activation, insertion of alkene) are reversible. The first indication of this behaviour was the H/D exchange of the ortho proton of acetophenone. Secondly, and perhaps useful for many other systems, was the kinetic isotope effect observed for 13C natural... 

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