Isotope effects eliminations

In principle, either one of the steps involved in the overall H-atom abstraction reaction could be rate-determining as far as the kinetic behavior is concerned. However, the absence of a deuterium kinetic isotope effect eliminates this possibility [36]. 

For E2 eliminations in 2-phenylethyl systems with several different leaving groups, both the primary isotope effect and Hammett p values for the reactions are known. Deduce from these data the relationship between the location on the E2 transition state spectrum and the nature of the leaving group i.e., deduce which system has the most El-like transition state and which has the most Elcb-like. Explain your reasoning. 

A distinction between these four possibilities can be made on the basis of the kinetic isotope effect. There is no isotope effect in the arylation of deuterated or tritiated benzenoid compounds with dibenzoyl peroxide, thereby ruling out mechanisms in which a C5— bond is broken in the rate-determining step of the substitution. Paths (ii) and (iii,b) are therefore eliminated. In path (i) the first reaction, Eq. (6), is almost certain to be rate-determining, for the union of tw o radicals, Eq. (7), is a process of very low activation energy, while the abstraction in which a C—H bond is broken would require activation. More significant evidence against this path is that dimers, Arz, should result from it, yet they are never isolated. For instance, no 4,4 -dinitrobiphenyl is formed during the phenylation of... 

A second piece of evidence in support of the E2 mechanism is provided by a phenomenon known as the deuterium isotope effect. For reasons that we won t go into, a carbon-hydrogen bond is weaker by about 5 kj/mol (1.2 kcal/mol) than the corresponding carbon-rfaiiferiwm bond. Thus, a C-H bond is more easily broken than an equivalent C-D bond, and the rate of C-H bond cleavage is faster. For instance, the base-induced elimination of HBv from l-bromo-2-phenylethane proceeds 7.11 times as fast as the corresponding... 

The differences in rate for the two positions of naphthalene show clearly that an additional-elimination mechanism may be ruled out. On the other hand, the magnitude of the above isotope effect is smaller than would be expected for a reaction involving rate-determining abstraction of hydrogen, so a mechanism involving significant internal return had been proposed, equilibria (239) and (240), p. 266. In this base-catalysed (B-SE2) reaction both k and k 2 must be fast in view of the reaction path symmetry. If diffusion away of the labelled solvent molecule BH is not rapid compared with the return reaction kLt a considerable fraction of ArLi reacts with BH rather than BH, the former possibility leading to no nett isotope effect. Since the diffusion process is unlikely to have an isotope effect then the overall observed effect will be less than that for the step k. ... 

Among the evidence for the existence of the E2 mechanism are (1) the reaction displays the proper second-order kinetics (2) when the hydrogen is replaced by deuterium in second-order eliminations, there is an isotope effect of from 3 to 8, consistent with breaking of this bond in the rate-determining step. However, neither of these results alone could prove an E2 mechanism, since both are compatible with other mechanisms also (e.g., see ElcB p. 1308). The most compelling evidence for the E2 mechanism is found in stereochemical smdies. As will be illustrated in the examples below, the E2 mechanism is stereospecific the five atoms involved (including the base) in the transition state must be in one plane. There are two ways for this to happen. The H and X may be trans to one another (A) with a dihedral angle... 

Mechanism Kinetic" Order P-Hydrogen Exchange Faster Than Elimination General or Specific Base Catalysis hAd Electron Withdrawal atCp Electron Release at C Leaving- Group Isotope Effect or Element Effect... 

The C isotope effects for the Cope elimination (17-8) show that both the C—H and C—N bonds have been extensively broken in the transition state. 

A second reason for the larger isotope effect observed by Jones and Maness (140) might be that in the less polar acetic acid solvent, there might be a small degree of E2 elimination (with solvent acting as base) superimposed on the dominant Sn 1 mechanism. Such an elimination would involve a primary kinetic deuterium isotope effect with a kn/ko s 2 to 6, and hence even a 1 to 5% contribution from such a pathway would have a significant effect on the experimentally observed kinetic isotope effect. 

Isotope effects indicate that the collapse of the adduct by reductive elimination is the rate-determining step.54 Theoretical treatments of the mechanism suggest similar intermediates. (See Section 8.1.2.7 for further discussion of the computational results.)55... 

The factors that influence elimination v. substitution are discussed subsequently (p. 260). Evidence for the involvement of C—H bond fission in the rate-limiting step—as a concerted pathway requires— is provided by the observation of a primary kinetic isotope effect (cf. p. 46) when H is replaced by D on the ft-carbon. 

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