Enolates solvent effects

The enol can be observed by NMR spectroscopy and at —20°C has a half-life of several hours. At -1-20°C the half-life is only 10 minutes. The presence of bases causes very r id isomerization to acetaldehyde via the enolate. Solvents have a significant effect on the lifetime of such unstable enols. Solvents such as DMF and DMSO, which are known to slow rates of proton exchange by hydrogen bonding, increase the lifetime of unstable enols. ... 

Once such effects had been noted, it became necessary to interpret the observed results and to classify the solvents. The earliest attempts at this were by Stobbe, who reviewed the effects of solvents on keto-enol tautomers [4]. Since then many attempts have been used to explain solvent effects, some based on observations of chemical reactions, others on physical properties of the solvents, and yet others on spectroscopic probes. All of these have their advantages and disadvantages and no one approach can be thought of as exclusively right . This review is organized by type of measurement, and the available information is then summarized at the end. 

Table 9.4 Solvent effect on enol triflate isomer ratio.

The polar solvent effect on relative acidities of carboxylic acids and enols was studied by Wiberg et al.179 by means of the DFT(B3LYP)/SCRF and MP2/SCRF calculations. Both methods well reproduced experimental solvent effects. 

Aldol Condensation of Zinc Ester Enolates with Benzaldehyde Anil Solvent Effects (Scheme 16) (76)... 

In this report the authors describe a surprising solvent effect on enantioselectivi-ties. Alcoholic solvents afford the opposite enantiomer using the same enantiomeric series of catalyst Eq. 9. This profound effect is presumably due to hydrogen bonding in the transition state on the nucleophilic enol and/or the carbonyl acceptor Eq. 10. These electrostatic interactions can be visualized with Models E and F. Although the enantioselectivity is reversed the values remain lower than when toluene is used. 

Even for a simple reaction, involving just one reactant species and one product species, such as a keto-enol tautomerism or a cis-trans isomerization, the above equation for a given solvent is complicated. StUl, in specific cases it is possible to unravel the solvent effects of cavity formation, for the solute species have different volumes, polarity/polarizability if the solute species differ in their dipole moments or polarizabilities, and solvent Lewis acidity and basicity if the solutes differ in their electron-pair and hydrogen-bond acceptance abilities. 

A comparison of the suitability of solvents for use in Srn 1 reactions was made in benzenoid systems46 and in heteroaromatic systems.47 The marked dependence of solvent effect on the nature of the aromatic substrate, the nucleophile, its counterion and the temperature at which the reaction is carried out, however, often make comparisons difficult. Bunnett and coworkers46 chose to study the reaction of iodoben-zene with potassium diethyl phosphite, sodium benzenethiolate, the potassium enolate of acetone, and lithium r-butylamide. From extensive data based on the reactions with K+ (EtO)2PO (an extremely reactive nucleophile in Srn 1 reactions and a relatively weak base) the solvents of choice (based on yields of diethyl phenylphosphonate, given in parentheses) were found to be liquid ammonia (96%), acetonitrile (94%), r-butyl alcohol (74%), DMSO (68%), DMF (63%), DME (56%) and DMA (53%). The powerful dipolar aprotic solvents HMPA (4%), sulfolane (20%) and NMP (10%) were found not to be suitable. A similar but more discriminating trend was found in reactions of iodobenzene with the other nucleophilic salts listed above.46 Nearly comparable suitability of liquid ammonia and DMSO have been found with other substrate/nucleophile combinations. For example, the reaction of p-iodotoluene with Ph2P (equation (14) gives 89% and 78% isolated yields (of the corresponding phosphine oxide) in liquid ammonia and DMSO respectively.4 ... 

Isomer stabilities and activation energies have been calculated for keto-enol tautomerization of simple carbonyl compounds, MeC(R)=X (X = O R = H, Me) 129 both specific and bulk solvent effects have been analysed. Related isomerizations of acid derivatives (R = F, CN) and other related structures (R = H X = CF12, NH, S) are compared. 

Nuclear tunnelling in the aqueous iron (2+)-iron (3+) electron transfer has been investigated467 and the rate enhancement for H2O has been assessed to be 65 times the classical rate, and that for D2O 25 times the classical rate, yielding a H/D isotope effect of 2.6. The occurrence of the general base catalysis and sizable primary D KIEs indicated that the isomerization of l//-indene-l-carboxylic acid to l//-indene-3-carboxylic acid in aqueous solution takes place through an enolization-reketonization sequence468. Kinetic HH/HD/DD isotope and solvent effects have been used in a dynamic NMR study469 of the tautomerization of 15N-and 2H -labelled bicyclic oxalamidines. 

S. G. Mills and P. Beak, Solvent effects on keto-enol equilibria tests of quantitative models, J. Org. Chem., 50 (1985) 1216-1224. 

Hintz, S. Frolich, R. and Mattay, J. (1996) PET-oxidative cyclization of unsaturated silyl enol ethers. Regioselective control by solvent effects. Tetrahedron Letters, 37, 7349-7352. 

Both the nature of solvent and the temperature influenced the stereochemistry of boron enolates, with the solvent effect being greater than that of the temperature. Aliphatic and alicyclic hydrocarbon solvent favored the formation of yy/z-aldols at — 78 °C, whereas aromatic and chlorinated aliphatic solvents favored the formation of anti-dXdoh at 0-25 °C (Equation (179)).682 683... 

The solvent effect has long been recognized as an important factor in that it affects the lithium-oxygen bond polarization but also the electrophilic reagent380,398. The effect on aggregation was evaluated by measurement and comparison of the reactivities of monomeric, dimeric and tetrameric forms of LiPhIBP and LiPhAT or LiPhIBP in various ethers252. In the less polar solvent methyl-tert-butyl ether, lithium enolates are tetrameric and do not react with benzyl bromide. On the contrary, with added HMPA the dissociation of the tetrameric LiPhIBP is accompanied by solvation of each monomer by 1 -2... 

The solvent effects on the absorption spectra of ion pairs were studied by many authors and the direction of the observed shift depends on the change (increase or decrease) of dipole moment upon the electronic transition [25]. Generally a bathochromic shift is observed with an increase of solvent polarity. When going from a polar solvent to a less polar one, the association in the ground state increases more strongly than in the excited state this may be understood if the ion pair switches progressively from SSIP to CIP status. Observations of this type were often made, together with cation effects, as for instance in the case of alkali phenolates and enolates [7], fluorenyl and other carbanion salts [22] or even for aromatic radical anions [26, 27],... 

In this experiment proton NMR spectroscopy is nsed in evalnating the equilibrium composition of various keto-enol mixtures. Chemical shifts and spin-spin splitting patterns are employed to assign the spectral features to specific protons, and the integrated intensities are used to yield a quantitative measure of the relative amounts of the keto and enol forms. Solvent effects on the chemical shifts and on the equilibrium constant are investigated for one or more j8-diketones and j8-ketoesters. 

Solvent Effects on Tautomeric Equilibria 4.3.1 Solvent Effects on Keto/Enol Equilibria [36-43,134]... 

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