Interchange, nucleophilic

Esters react with alcohols in either aeidic or basic solution to exchange alkoxy groups (ester interchange) by mechanisms which parallel hydrolysis. The alcohol or alkoxide acts as the nucleophile ... 

Phenolic compounds are weaker nucleophiles and better leaving groups than aliphatic alcohols. They do not yield polyesters when reacted with carboxylic acids or alkyl carboxy lates. The synthesis of polyesters from diphenols is, therefore, generally carried out through the high-temperature carboxylic acid-aryl acetate or phenyl ester-phenol interchange reactions with efficient removal of reaction by-product (Schemes 2.10 and 2.11, respectively). 

A certain dualism is observable in carbonium ion-carbanion chemistry, a dualism rather like that of lines and points in projective geometry. The reader may recall that interchanging the words "line and "point in a theorem of projective geometry converts it into a statement that is also a theorem, sometimes the same one. For most carbonium ion reactions a corresponding carbanion reaction is known. The dualism can be used as a method for the invention of new, or at least unobserved, carbanion reactions. The carbanionic reaction corresponding to the carbonium ion rearrangement is of course the internal nucleophilic... 

The mechanism of this interconversion is known as apparent allyl rotation and results in a switching of the allylic termini in addition to the movement of the central allyl carbon from one side of the coordination plane to the other although, for situations with symmetrically substituted allyl units, only this latter change is noticeable As the name suggests, the process is non-trivial and, in reality, the mechanism is dependent on the specific conditions.1161 Nevertheless, in most cases, the interchange is rapid compared with the rate of nucleophilic attack and, therefore, the product outcome does not necessarily depend on the intermediate isomer ratio (Curtin-Hammett principle). 

The formation of the adduct between 86 and the nitrile, i.e., 89, occurs more readily than that between 86 and ketones, since an activated nitrile is a better nucleophile than a ketone. Since the ce-proton in the adduct 89 is more acidic than the ce-proton in the ketonic adduct, also the ring opening will occur more easily. The interchange of a nitrile carbon with the ring carbon of a pyrimidine ring was also observed with the 3-benzyloxymethyl-l-ribosyl-5-cyanouracil. With a series of activated nitriles, the protected bi-cyclic nucleosides are formed. After deprotection, the corresponding bi-cyclic nucleosides are obtained (Scheme IV.35). 

Figure 3.4 The synthesis of ibuprofen is initiated by a Friedel-Crafts acylation of an aUcyl-substituted benzene ring. The resulting ketone is then reduced to an alcohol with sodium boro-hydride. The alcohol functionality then undergoes a functional group interchange by conversion to a bromide. In turn, this permits the introduction of an additional carbon atom in the form of a nitrile introduced via an 8, 2 nucleophilic displacement. This is then hydrolyzed to give the target molecule.

The general scheme is sufficiently flexible to permit the interchange of the order of some of the steps. Thus alkylation of aniline thioether (30-3) with 3-chloro-l-diethylaminopropane leads to the intermediate (31-1). Ring closure as above by nucleophilic aromatic displacement leads to the antipsychotic dmg chlorproethazine (31-2) [32]. 

The acid-catalyzed dimerization of pyrroles and indoles also involves electrophilic attack by the 2H- or 3//-protonated species upon the non-protonated heterocycles (Schemes 6, 7 and 8, Section 3.05.1.2.2), and 3,3-dimethyl-3//-indole has been reported to react with 7r-electron-rich aromatic compounds to yield the 2-ary.l-3,3-dimethyl-2,3-dihydroindoles (77S343). In the absence of a nucleophile strong acids promote the interchange of substituents at the 2- and 3-positions of 2,3,3-trisubstituted 3//-indoles, e.g. (510) (511) (62JOC1553). 

When an associative mode of activation is indicated it is instructive to examine the ways in which reactivity, as measured by the second-order rate constant k2, depends upon the nature of the nucleophile and if a large number of substrates show the same pattern of preference it is useful to consider scales of nucleophilicity. A systematic study of the substitution reactions of fra/is-[Pt(py)2Cl2] (it appears that pyridine and piperidine were used interchangeably) in methanol at 30 °C (displacement of chloride) led to the establishment of an n scale, nm d= log,o(k2/kI) for the standard reaction,447 and later the more dimensionally correct Up,0 scale448-449 ( p,° = log,0(li2/ki)[MeOH]) so that npt° = npt+1-41 (unfortunately this distinction has not been strictly adhered to in the literature).449 A collection of n 0 values will be found in Table 14. 

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