Equilibrium reactions heteroatom nucleophile additions

A well understood case is that of quinoline reaction at position 2 is kinetically favored as compared with reaction at position 4, but the adduct from the latter is thermodynamically more stable. This situation, where the site of attack leading to the more stable adduct is the y position, is analogous with those regarding the formation of Meisenheimer adducts from benzene and pyridine derivatives and RCT nucleophiles. Presumably, with quinoline kinetic control favors the position that is more strongly influenced by the inductive effect of the heteroatom. The fact that position 2 of quinoline is the most reactive toward nucleophilic reagents is probably related to the lower 71-electron density at that position.123 However, the predominance of the C-4 adduct at equilibrium can be better justified by the atom localization energies for nucleophilic attachment at the different positions of quinoline. Moreover, both 7t-electron densities and atom localization energies indicate position 1 of isoquinoline to be the most favored one for nucleophilic addition. 

On the Equilibrium Position of Addition Reactions of Heteroatom Nucleophiles to Carbonyl Compounds... 

The mechanistic analysis shows that the oligomerization or polymerization of aldehydes can be considered as an addition reaction of a heteroatom nucleophile to the C=0 double bond of the (activated) aldehyde (Figure 7.14). The carbonyl oxygen of the (unprotonated) aldehyde functions as the nucleophilic center. The carboxonium ion A formed in an equilibrium reaction between the aldehyde and the acidic catalyst acts as the first electrophile. 

Kinetics Proton transfer catalyzes many reactions. Proton transfer between heteroatom lone pairs is very fast, often at the diffusion-controlled limit. Under reversible (equilibrium) conditions, the most acidic proton is removed preferentially. However, if the deprotonation is done under irreversible conditions, the proton removed is determined by kinetics, not thermodynamics (Section 9.3). Anion basicity always competes with nucleophilicity. Proton transfer is slow enough between organometallics and protons adjacent to carbonyls (carbon bases with carbon acids) that addition of the organometallic to the carbonyl is the dominant process, path AdN. 

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