Elimination reactions substrate

Quaternary ammonium salts as we have seen are useful m synthetic organic chem istry as phase transfer catalysts In another more direct application quaternary ammo mum hydroxides are used as substrates m an elimination reaction to form alkenes... 

The direct goal of stereochemical strategies is the reduction of stereochemical complexity by the retrosynthetic elimination of the stereocenters in a target molecule. The greater the number and density of stereocenters in a TGT, the more influential such strategies will be. The selective removal of stereocenters depends on the availability of stereosimplifying transforms, the establishment of the required retrons (complete with defined stereocenter relationships), and the presence of a favorable spatial environment in the precursor generated by application of such a transform. The last factor, which is of crucial importance to stereoselectivity, mandates a bidirectional approach to stereosimplification which takes into account not only the TGT but also the retrosynthetic precursor, or reaction substrate. Thus both retrosynthetic and synthetic analyses are considered in the discussion which follows. 

Conversion to p-toluenesulfonate esters (Section 8.14) Alcohols react with p-toluenesulfonyl chloride to give p-toluenesulfonate esters. Sulfonate esters are reactive substrates for nucleophilic substitution and elimination reactions. The p-toluenesulfonate group is often abbreviated —OTs. 

Quaternaiy ammonium salts, as we have seen, aie useful in synthetic organic chemistry as phase-transfer catalysts. In another, more direct application, quaternaiy ammonium hydroxides aie used as substrates in an elimination reaction to fonn alkenes. 

The reaction proceeds by an Ei-mechanism. The /3-hydrogen and the carboxy-late are cleaved synchronously from the substrate molecule, while forming a new bond. This elimination reaction belongs to the class of -eliminations in the case of the ester pyrolysis, the substrate molecule passes through a six-membered cyclic transition state 4 ... 

All three elimination reactions--E2, El, and ElcB—occur in biological pathways, but the ElcB mechanism is particularly common. The substrate is usually an alcohol, and the H atom removed is usually adjacent to a carbonyl group, just as in laboratory reactions. Thus, 3-hydroxy carbonyl compounds are frequently converted to unsaturated carbonyl compounds by elimination reactions. A typical example occurs during the biosynthesis of fats when a 3-hydroxybutyryl thioester is dehydrated to the corresponding unsaturated (crotonyl) thioester. The base in this reaction is a histidine amino acid in the enzyme, and loss of the OH group is assisted by simultaneous protonation. 

El reaction (Section 11.10) A unimolecular elimination reaction in which the substrate spontaneously dissociates to give a carbocation intermediate, tvhich loses a proton in a separate step. 

If carbocations are intermediates, we should expect rearrangements with suitable substrates. These have often been found in elimination reactions performed under El conditions. 

The electrophile is the compound being attacked by the nucleophile. In substitution and elimination reactions (which we will see in the next chapter), we generally refer to the electrophile as the substrate. 

Notice that there is only one mechanistic step (no intermediates are formed), and that step involves both the substrate and the base. Because that step involves two chemical entities, it is said to be bimolecular. Bimolecular elimination reactions are called E2 reactions, where the 2 stands for bimolecular. ... 

Now let s consider the effect of the substrate on the rate of an E2 process. Recall from the previous chapter that Sn2 reactions generally do not occur with tertiary substrates, because of steric considerations. But E2 reactions are different than Sn2 reactions, and in fact, tertiary substrates often undergo E2 reactions quite rapidly. To explain why tertiary substrates will undergo E2 but not Sn2 reactions, we must recognize that the key difference between substitution and elimination is the role played by the reagent. In a substitution reaction, the reagent functions as a nucleophile and attacks an electrophilic position. In an elimination reaction, the reagent functions as a base and removes a proton, which is easily achieved even with a tertiary substrate. In fact, tertiary substrates react even more rapidly than primary substrates. 

We mentioned that there are three main steps for predicting the products of substitution and elimination reactions. In the previous section, we explored the first step (determining the function of the reagent). In this section, we now explore the second step of the process in which we analyze the substrate and identify which mechanism(s) operates. 

When the reageht fuhotiohs exclusively as a nucleophile (ahd hot as a base), ohiy substitutioh reactions occur (not elimination). The substrate determines which mechahism operates. 3 2 predominates for primary substrates, and 3 1 predominates for tertiary substrates. For secondary substrates, both 3 2 ahd 3 1 cah occur, although 3 2 is generally favored (especially when a polar aprotic solvent is used). 

Of special Interest as O2 reduction electrocatalysts are the transition metal macrocycles In the form of layers adsorptlvely attached, chemically bonded or simply physically deposited on an electrode substrate Some of these complexes catalyze the 4-electron reduction of O2 to H2O or 0H while others catalyze principally the 2-electron reduction to the peroxide and/or the peroxide elimination reactions. Various situ spectroscopic techniques have been used to examine the state of these transition metal macrocycle layers on carbon, graphite and metal substrates under various electrochemical conditions. These techniques have Included (a) visible reflectance spectroscopy (b) laser Raman spectroscopy, utilizing surface enhanced Raman scattering and resonant Raman and (c) Mossbauer spectroscopy. This paper will focus on principally the cobalt and Iron phthalocyanlnes and porphyrins. 

The nitro-aldol approach is impractical for the synthesis of 2,2-disubstituted 1-nitroalkenes due to the reversibility of the reaction when ketones are employed as substrates. Addition-elimination reactions are used for the preparation of such nitroalkenes (see Chapter 4). 

The interpretation of product data for competitive solvolysis and elimination reactions requires that the mechanism for these reactions be known. Two experiments are sufficient to show that the formation of solvolysis and elimination products occurs by partitioning of a common carbocation intermediate (Scheme 3 a) rather than by competing bimolecular reactions of the substrate (Scheme 3b).3... 

It was expected that values of ks/kp for partitioning of [1+] could be obtained from the yields of the products of acid-catalyzed reactions of [l]-OH and [2]. However, significantly different relative yields of these products are obtained from the perchloric acid-catalyzed reactions of [l]-OH and [2] in several mixed alcohol/water solvents.21 This demonstrates that the nucleophilic substitution and elimination reactions of these two substrates do not proceed through identical tertiary carbocation intermediates (Scheme 4). The observed... 

These enzymes invariably involve a cofactor, pyridoxal phosphate (vitamin B6). In addition, pyridoxal phosphate is also required for most decarboxylations, racemizations, or elimination reactions in which an amino acid is a substrate. Pyridoxal phosphate is not involved in decarboxylations in which the substrate is not an amino acid. So if a question... 

The structure of the substrate also plays an important role. The elimination reaction of compounds [174] in t-butyl alcohol promoted by KOt-Bu at 30°C... 

However, considerable amounts of 2,3-dihydrofuran 50 and tetrahydro-furan-2-carbaldehyde 53 were present because of an isomerization process. The isomerization takes place simultaneously with the hydroformylation reaction. When the 2,5-dihydrofuran 46 reacts with the rhodium hydride complex, the 3-alkyl intermediate 48 is formed. This can evolve to the 2,3-dihydrofuran 50 via /3-hydride elimination reaction. This new substrate can also give both 2- and 3-alkyl intermediates 52 and 48, respectively. Although the formation of the 3-alkyl intermediate 48 is thermodynamically favored, the acylation occurs faster in the 2-alkyl intermediates 52. Regio-selectivity is therefore dominated by the rate of formation of the acyl complexes. The modification of the phosphorus ligand and the conditions of the reaction make it possible to control the regioselectivity and prepare the 2- or 3-substituted aldehyde as the major product [78]. As far as we know, only two... 

Saunders and co-workers (Amin et al., 1990) used E2 elimination reactions in the p-substituted 2-phenylethyl system to test the new criteria for tunnelling suggested by the above calculations. The actual substrates and base/solvent systems they used were (2-phenylethyl-2-f)-trimethylammonium bromide, [19], with sodium ethoxide in ethanol, 2-phenylethyl-2-f bromide, [20], with potassium t-butoxide in t-butyl alcohol and 2-(p-chlorophenyl)ethyl-2-f tosylate, [21], with potassium t-butoxide in t-butyl alcohol. When equation (57) was applied to the experimental secondary (kB/ S) KIEs in Table 39, the calculated /th h KIEs were 1.106 0.033 and 1.092 0.026 for [19] and [21],... 

In a recent paper, Lin and Saunders (1994) reported experiments aimed at identifying the structural factors that promote tunnelling in E2 elimination reactions. In that investigation, the alkyl group of the doubly labelled 2-arylethyl substrates, [22]—[24], were varied while the leaving group was kept constant. 

L is the hydrogen or deuterium atom that is not transferred in the elimination reaction and T is tritium that is present in tracer quantities. These substrates were chosen so that the reactions would have transition states ranging from very ElcB-like for [22], to central or intermediate for [23], to El-like for [24]. For practical reasons, the base/solvent system could not be kept constant as was originally intended. EtO /EtOH was used in the reaction with substrates [22] and [23] whereas Bu,0"/But0H was used with substrate [24]. Although the secondary tritium KIE (when L = H) for the reaction of [22] was... 

Another polarimetric method for the accurate determination of KIEs bears a strong resemblance to the isotopic quasi-racemate method, described above. In this method, Bach and co-workers (1991) utilized what they called isotopically engendered chirality to determine the primary deuterium KIE for an elimination reaction. In theory, the method can be used for any reaction where a substrate with a plane of symmetry yields, under normal conditions, a racemic mixture. For instance, if the plane of symmetry in the unlabelled... 

A C-Cu bond is a stable covalent bond, and is difEcult to cleave by itself [93]. After charge transfer from cuprate(I) to substrate, however, cleavage of the resulting R-Cu bond becomes easy. The reductive elimination reaction regenerates RCu , which may take part in further catalytic cycles. Thus, in copper-... 

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