Heteroaromatic reactivity, quantitative treatment

Reactions involving monocyclic six-membered heteroaromatic rings have not been studied sufficiently extensively to allow a quantitative treatment of substituent effects. However, comparison with aza-naphthalene reactivities indicates that aza- and polyaza-benzene systems must also be highly selective. 

The recognition of the species which is undergoing reaction, of the quantitative effects of heteroatoms, of interactions between heteroatoms and substituents, and of the importance of hydrogen bonding have made possible, for the first time, a rational, quantitative, overall treatment of heteroaromatic reactivity patterns. 

There has been a decisive evolution in the treatment of steric effects in heteroaromatic chemistry. The quantitative estimation of the role of steric strain in reactivity was first made mostly with the help of linear free energy relationships. This method remains easy and helpful, but the basic observation is that the description of a substituent by only one parameter, whatever its empirical or geometrical origin, will describe the total bulk of the substituent and not its conformationally dependent shape. A better knowledge of static and dynamic stereochemistry has helped greatly in understanding not only intramolecular but also intermolecular steric effects associated with rates and equilibria. Quantum and molecular mechanics calculations will certainly be used in the future to a greater extent. 

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