Heterolysis

Nitration at a rate independent of the concentration of the compound being nitrated had previously been observed in reactions in organic solvents ( 3.2.1). Such kinetics would be observed if the bulk reactivity of the aromatic towards the nitrating species exceeded that of water, and the measured rate would then be the rate of production of the nitrating species. The identification of the slow reaction with the formation of the nitronium ion followed from the fact that the initial rate under zeroth-order conditions was the same, to within experimental error, as the rate of 0-exchange in a similar solution. It was inferred that the exchange of oxygen occurred via heterolysis to the nitronium ion, and that it was the rate of this heterolysis which limited the rates of nitration of reactive aromatic compounds. 

Accepting, for the moment without further evidence, that the nitro-nium ion formed by heterolysis of nitric acid is the active reagent in the solutions imder discussion, it remains to consider briefly why nitration in such solutions depends on the concentrations of nitric acid to such high powers (fig. 3.1), and why different solvents behave so differently (table 3.2). 

The zeroth-order rates of nitration depend on a process, the heterolysis of nitric acid, which, whatever its details, must generate ions from neutral molecules. Such a process will be accelerated by an increase in the polarity of the medium such as would be produced by an increase in the concentration of nitric acid. In the case of nitration in carbon tetrachloride, where the concentration of nitric acid used was very much smaller than in the other solvents (table 3.1), the zeroth-order rate of nitration depended on the concentrationof nitric acid approximately to the fifth power. It is argued therefore that five molecules of nitric acid are associated with a pre-equilibrium step or are present in the transition state. Since nitric acid is evidently not much associated in carbon tetrachloride a scheme for nitronium ion formation might be as follows ... 

The nitric acidium ion undergoes slow heterolysis to yield water and the nitronium ion ... 

The catalysed reaction was considered to arise from the heterolysis of dinitrogen pentoxide induced by aggregates of molecules of nitric acid, to yield nitronium ions and nitrate ions. The reaction is autocatalytic because water produced in the nitration reacts with the pentoxide to form nitric acid. This explanation of the mechanism is supported by the fact that carbon tetrachloride is not a polar solvent, and in it molecules of nitric acid may form clusters rather than be solvated by the solvent ( 2.2). The observation that increasing the temperature, which will tend to break up the clusters, diminishes the importance of the catalysed reaction relative to that of the uncatalysed one is also consistent with this explanation. The effect of temperature is reminiscent of the corresponding effect on nitration in solutions of nitric acid in carbon tetrachloride ( 3.2) in which, for the same reason, an increase in the temperature decreases the rate. 

In mixtures of nitric acid and organic solvents, nitrous acid exists mainly as un-ionised dinitrogen tetroxide. The heterolysis of dinitrogen tetroxide is thus complete in sulphuric acid ( 4 i), considerable in nitric acid, and very small in organic solvents. 

The more powerful anticatalysis of nitration which is found with high concentrations of nitrous acid, and with all concentrations when water is present, is attributed to the formation of dinitrogen trioxide. Heterolysis of dinitrogen trioxide could give nitrosonium and nitrite ions 2N2O4 + HjO N2O3 + 2HNO3. 

The heterolysis of AZ is dependent on the substrate and does not always occur. The final isolation of the product usually involves a hydrolysis step. 

In the El mechanism, the leaving group has completely ionized before C—H bond breaking occurs. The direction of the elimination therefore depends on the structure of the carbocation and the identity of the base involved in the proton transfer that follows C—X heterolysis. Because of the relatively high energy of the carbocation intermediate, quite weak bases can effect proton removal. The solvent m often serve this function. The counterion formed in the ionization step may also act as the proton acceptor ... 

Degradation initiated by chloride ions resulting from the heterolysis of the C—Cl dipole is shown in Eqs. (26) and (27). 

Heterolysis of Amides Bearing an a-Hetero Substituent (with Respect to Nitrogen)... 

Simple mechanistic considerations easily explain why heterolytic dissociation of the C — N bond in a diazonium ion is likely to occur, as a nitrogen molecule is already preformed in a diazonium ion. On the other hand, homolytic dissociation of the C —N bond is very unlikely from an energetic point of view. In heterolysis N2, a very stable product, is formed in addition to the aryl cation (8.1), which is a metastable intermediate, whereas in homolysis two metastable primary products, the aryl radical (8.2) and the dinitrogen radical cation (8.3) would be formed. This event is unlikely indeed, and as discussed in Section 8.6, homolytic dediazoniation does not proceed by simple homolysis of a diazonium ion. 

The pK values for azolediazonium ions (Scheme 12-4) refer to the heterolysis of the NH bond, not to the addition of a hydroxy group. Therefore, these heteroaromatic diazo components may react either as a cation (as shown in Scheme 12-4) or as the zwitterion (after loss of the NH proton). Diener and Zollinger (1986) investigated the relative reactivities of these two equilibrium forms (Scheme 12-5) in the azo coupling reaction of l,3,4-triazole-2-diazonium ion with the tri-basic anion of 2-naphthol-3,6-disulfonic acid. 

The kinetic effect of increased pressure is also in agreement with the proposed mechanism. A pressure of 2000 atm increased the first-order rates of nitration of toluene in acetic acid at 20 °C and in nitromethane at 0 °C by a factor of about 2, and increased the rates of the zeroth-order nitrations of p-dichlorobenzene in nitromethane at 0 °C and of chlorobenzene and benzene in acetic acid at 0 °C by a factor of about 559. The products of the equilibrium (21a) have a smaller volume than the reactants and hence an increase in pressure speeds up the rate by increasing the formation of H2NO. Likewise, the heterolysis of the nitric acidium ion in equilibrium (22) and the reaction of the nitronium ion with the aromatic are processes both of which have a volume decrease, consequently the first-order reactions are also speeded up and to a greater extent than the zeroth-order reactions. 

Consistent with this mechanism is the observation that trifluoroperoxyacetic acid is reported to be the most effective peracid in aromatic oxidation134 the great stability of the trifluoroacetate anion causes it to be an excellent leaving group so that heterolysis to give hydroxyl cations OH+ occurs most readily. 

The Polar-Transition-State theory based on earlier ideas by Hughes and Ingold49, has as its main feature the heterolysis of the N-N bond in the mono- or di-protonated hydrazo molecule as the transition state is approached, with a de-localisation of the positive charge in the mono-protonated case and of one of the positive charges in the di-protonated case, viz. (16) and (17), respectively... 

Two other theories as to the mechanism of the benzidine rearrangement have been advocated at various times. The first is the rc-complex mechanism first put forward and subsequently argued by Dewar (see ref. 1 pp 333-343). The theory is based on the heterolysis of the mono-protonated hydrazo compound to form a n-complex, i.e. the formation of a delocalised covalent it bond between the two rings which are held parallel to each other. The rings are free to rotate and product formation is thought of as occurring by formation of a localised a-bond between appropriate centres. Originally the mechanism was proposed for the one-proton catalysis but was later modified as in (18) to include two-protons, viz. 

The ionisation (heterolysis) of covalent compounds as a coordination chemical phenomenon. V. Gutmann, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl., 1970, 9, 843-860 (116). 

It is clear from all of the above evidence that despite earlier doubts, vinyl cations can be generated via solvolysis and bond heterolysis, especially in cases... 

Part C of the present procedure illustrates a mild method for effecting the elimination of thiophenol from thioacetals and thioketals under essentially neutral conditions. The reaction of simple thioacetals and thioketals with bis[copper(I) trifluoro-methanesulfonate] benzene complex in benzene-tetrahydrofuran at room temperature affords vinyl sulfides in high yield (Table I). The reaction presumably occurs by coordination of the thiophilic copper(I) reagent with sulfur, heterolysis to a phenylthio-stabilized... 

The reaction of crotonaldehyde and methyl vinyl ketone with thiophenol in the presence of anhydrous hydrogen chloride effects conjugate addition of thiophenol as well as acetal formation. The resulting j3-phenylthio thioacetals are converted to 1-phenylthio-and 2-phenylthio-1,3-butadiene, respectively, upon reaction with 2 equivalents of copper(I) trifluoromethanesulfonate (Table I). The copper(I)-induced heterolysis of carbon-sulfur bonds has also been used to effect pinacol-type rearrangements of bis(phenyl-thio)methyl carbinols. Thus the addition of bis(phenyl-thio)methyllithium to ketones and aldehydes followed by copper(I)-induced rearrangement results in a one-carbon ring expansion or chain-insertion transformation which gives a-phenylthio ketones. Monothioketals of 1,4-diketones are cyclized to 2,5-disubstituted furans by the action of copper(I) trifluoromethanesulfonate. ... 

The use of iodotrimethylsilane for this purpose provides an effective alternative to known methods. Thus the reaction of primary and secondary methyl ethers with iodotrimethylsilane in chloroform or acetonitrile at 25—60° for 2—64 hours affords the corresponding trimethylsilyl ethers in high yield. The alcohols may be liberated from the trimethylsilyl ethers by methanolysis. The mechanism of the ether cleavage is presumed to involve initial formation of a trimethylsilyl oxonium ion which is converted to the silyl ether by nucleophilic attack of iodide at the methyl group. tert-Butyl, trityl, and benzyl ethers of primary and secondary alcohols are rapidly converted to trimethylsilyl ethers by the action of iodotrimethylsilane, probably via heterolysis of silyl oxonium ion intermediates. The cleavage of aryl methyl ethers to aryl trimethylsilyl ethers may also be effected more slowly by reaction with iodotrimethylsilane at 25—50° in chloroform or sulfolane for 12-125 hours, with iodotrimethylsilane at 100—110° in the absence of solvent, " and with iodotrimethylsilane generated in situ from iodine and trimcthylphenylsilane at 100°. ... 

The effect of structure of the alkyl group on the stability of monoalkyl-thallium(III) compounds can best be understood by reference to the different mechanisms by which these compounds undergo decomposition. A number of authors have attributed the instability of monoalkylthallium(III) compounds to facile C—T1 bond heterolysis and formation of carbonium ions [Eq. (25)] (52, 66, 79). This explanation is, however, somewhat suspect in cases where primary carbonium ions would be involved and either the two-step sequence shown in Eqs. (26), (27), or the fully synchronous 8 2 displacement shown in Eq. (28), is more compatible with the known facts. Examination of the oxythallation reactions that have been described reveals that Eq. (27) [or, for concerted reactions, Eq. (28)] can be elaborated, and that five major types of decomposition can be recognized for RTlXj compounds. These are outlined in Scheme 8, where Y, the nucleophile... 

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