Ionization-structure-reactivity relationships

The rate of epoxidation of alkenes is increased by alkyl groups and other ERG substituents, and the reactivity of the peroxy acids is increased by EWG substituents." These structure-reactivity relationships demonstrate that the peroxy acid acts as an electrophile in the reaction. Low reactivity is exhibited by double bonds that are conjugated with strongly EWG substituents, and very reactive peroxy acids, such as trifluoroperoxyacetic acid, are required for oxidation of such compounds. " Strain increases the reactivity of alkenes toward epoxidation. Norbornene is about twice as reactive as cyclopentene toward peroxyacetic acid." trani-Cyclooctene is 90 times more reactive than cyclohexene." Shea and Kim found a good correlation between relief of strain, as determined by MM calculations, and the epoxidation rate. ° There is also a correlation with ionization potentials of the alkenes. Alkenes with aryl substituents are less reactive than unconjugated alkenes because of ground state stabilization and this is consistent with a lack of carbocation character in the TS. 

The study of structure-reactivity relationships by the organic chemist Hammett showed that there is often a quantitative relationship between the two-dimensional structure of organic molecules and their chemical reactivity. Specifically, he correlated the changes in chemical properties of a molecule that result from a small change in its chemical structure that is, the quantitative linear relationship between electron density at a certain part of a molecule and its tendency to undergo reactions of various types at that site. For example, there is a linear relationship between the effea of remote substituents on the equilibrium constant for the ionization of an acid with the effect of these substituents on the rate or equilibrium constant for many other types of chemical reaction. The relative value of Hammett substituent constants describes the similarity of molecules in terms of electronic properties. Taft expanded the method to include the steric hindrance of access of reagents to the reaction site by nearby substituents, a quantitation of three-dimensional similarity. In addition, Charton, Verloop, Austel, and others extended and refined these ideas. Finally, Hansch and Fujita showed that biological activity frequently is also quantitatively correlated with the hydrophobic character of the substituents. They coined the term QSAR, Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships, for this type of analysis. 

To sum up, the rate retardation attributed to steric effects of bulky alkyl groups can arise from substituent-electrophile, substituent-substituent and substituent-solvent interactions in the first ionization step of the reaction and also from substituent-nucleophile interactions in the product-forming step. It is therefore not surprising that the usual structure-reactivity correlations or even simpler log/log relationships cannot satisfactorily describe the kinetic effects of alkyl groups in the electrophilic bromination of alkenes. 

If the formation of bromination intermediates is reversible, the experimental rate constants obtained by following bromine uptake are not those of the first ionization steps. It is therefore important to know whether return, shown to occur in halogenated media, can also occur in protic media, in which most of the kinetic data have been measured and structure- or solvent-reactivity relationships established. 

Quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) are important for predicting the oxidation potential of chemicals in Fenton s reaction system. To describe reactivity and physicochemical properties of the chemicals, five different molecular descriptors were applied. The dipole moment represents the polarity of a molecule and its effect on the reaction rates HOMo and LUMO approximate the ionization potential and electron affinities, respectively and the log P coefficient correlates the hydrophobicity, which can be an important factor relative to reactivity of substrates in aqueous media. Finally, the effect of the substituents on the reaction rates could be correlated with Hammett constants by Hammett s equation. 

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