Esters substituent effects

Another example of enhanced sensitivity to substituent effects in the gas phase can be seen in a comparison of the gas-phase basicity for a series of substituted acetophenones and methyl benzoates. It was foimd that scnsitivtiy of the free energy to substituent changes was about four times that in solution, as measured by the comparison of A( for each substituent. The gas-phase data for both series were correlated by the Yukawa-Tsuno equation. For both series, the p value was about 12. However, the parameter r" ", which reflects the contribution of extra resonance effects, was greater in the acetophenone series than in the methyl benzoate series. This can be attributed to the substantial resonance stabilization provided by the methoxy group in the esters, which diminishes the extent of conjugation with the substituents. 

Similarly, carboxylic acid and ester groups tend to direct chlorination to the / and v positions, because attack at the a position is electronically disfavored. The polar effect is attributed to the fact that the chlorine atom is an electrophilic species, and the relatively electron-poor carbon atom adjacent to an electron-withdrawing group is avoided. The effect of an electron-withdrawing substituent is to decrease the electron density at the potential radical site. Because the chlorine atom is highly reactive, the reaction would be expected to have a very early transition state, and this electrostatic effect predominates over the stabilizing substituent effect on the intermediate. The substituent effect dominates the kinetic selectivity of the reaction, and the relative stability of the radical intermediate has relatively little influence. 

With 1-hydroxytryptophan derivatives, similar substituent effects are observed (99H2815). In order to realize better yields of 5-substituted tryptophans, car-boxy and amino groups are transformed to ester and/or amide groups, choosing the 1-methoxy moiety as a leaving group. As a result, ( )-Ab-acetyl-5-chlorotryptophan methyl ester (219, 52%) is obtained together with 220 (7%) from ( )-218 by the reaction with aqueous HCl (Scheme 32). ( )-5-Bromo-Ab-methoxycarbonyltryptophan methylamide (222, 50%) becomes readily available... 

The maximum rate reported at very high acidity accords with protonation of the ester °. To summarise, the ester meehanism has gained general acceptance, although the substituent effects have yet to be explained wholly satisfactorily and the exact nature of the transition state, i.e. whether it is of considerable or only slight carbonyl character, remains a contentious issue ... 

Scheme 10.12 gives some examples of enantioselective cyclopropanations. Entry 1 uses the W.s-/-butyloxazoline (BOX) catalyst. The catalytic cyclopropanation in Entry 2 achieves both stereo- and enantioselectivity. The electronic effect of the catalysts (see p. 926) directs the alkoxy-substituted ring trans to the ester substituent (87 13 ratio), and very high enantioselectivity was observed. Entry 3 also used the /-butyl -BOX catalyst. The product was used in an enantioselective synthesis of the alkaloid quebrachamine. Entry 4 is an example of enantioselective methylene transfer using the tartrate-derived dioxaborolane catalyst (see p. 920). Entry 5 used the Rh2[5(X)-MePY]4... 

The most frequently encountered hydrolysis reaction in drug instability is that of the ester, but curtain esters can be stable for many years when properly formulated. Substituents can have a dramatic effect on reaction rates. For example, the tert-butyl ester of acetic acid is about 120 times more stable than the methyl ester, which, in turn, is approximately 60 times more stable than the vinyl analog [16]. Structure-reactivity relationships are dealt with in the discipline of physical organic chemistry. Substituent groups may exert electronic (inductive and resonance), steric, and/or hydrogen-bonding effects that can drastically affect the stability of compounds. A detailed treatment of substituent effects can be found in a review by Hansch et al. [17] and in the classical reference text by Hammett [18]. 

Also as noted above any substituents present have little effect upon such oxidations. In 2,2 -methylenedifuran (118) the rings are attacked simultaneously giving a tetramethoxy derivative.297 Even the bulk of the fert-butyl group has little effect.298 The only marked substituent effect is that exerted by an aromatic (benzene, thiophene, furan) residue which, if directly attached at the 2-position, promotes elimination instead of the addition of another methoxy group. The net process then becomes one of arylation, as when 2-(2-thienyl)furan (119) is oxidized to 120.298 There are reports that acetyl and carboxy groups can be ejected during oxidation, but that ester groups are usually retained.287... 

Substituent effects on ks. The replacement of an a-methyl group at the 4-methoxycumyl carbocation CH3-[14+] by an a-ester or a-amide group destabilizes the parent carbocation by 7 kcalmol-1 relative to the neutral azide ion adduct (Scheme 11 and Table 3) and results in 5-fold and 80-fold decreases, respectively, in ks for nucleophilic addition of a solvent 50/50 (v/v) methanol/water.33 These results follow the trend that strongly electron-withdrawing substituents, which destabilize a-substituted 4-methoxybenzyl carbocations relative to neutral adducts to nucleophiles, do not lead to the expected large increases in the rate constants for addition of solvent.28,33,92-95... 

Aromatic substituent effects due to phosphorus groups have been studied for a number of reactions.47 Thus ester hydrolysis and fluoride-displacement rates, for (56) and (57) respectively, are enhanced by phosphorus substituents (X = O or ), while the rate of hydrolysis of the halide (58) is enhanced for X = , but slowed for X = O.47 A perturbation M.O. analysis of these observations has been presented.48... 

In his work on the analysis of substituent effects in aliphatic ester reactions, Taft87,89 derived a values, from which 07 values may be calculated as follows NH2, 0.10 Me2N, 0.10 AcNH 0.28. Thus there are some discrepancies as between the results of Charton109 and of Taft87,89. 

---