Kinetic isotope effects laser flash photolysis

Laser flash photolysis of phenylchlorodiazirine was used to measure the absolute rate constants for intermolecular insertion of phenylchlorocarbene into CH bonds of a variety of co-reactants. Selective stabilization of the carbene ground state by r-complexation to benzene was proposed to explain the slower insertions observed in this solvent in comparison with those in pentane. Insertion into the secondary CH bond of cyclohexane showed a primary kinetic isotope effect k ikY) of 3.8. l-Hydroxymethyl-9-fluorenylidene (79), generated by photolysis of the corresponding diazo compound, gave aldehyde (80) in benzene or acetonitrile via intramolecular H-transfer. In methanol, the major product was the ether, formed by insertion of the carbene into the MeO-H bond, and the aldehyde (80) was formed in minor amounts through H-transfer from the triplet carbene to give a triplet diradical which can relax to the enol. 

Shorthand notations such as ET (electron transfer), HAT (hydrogen atom transfer), BDE (bond dissociation energy), NHE (normal hydrogen electrode), CV (cyclic voltammetry), LFP (laser flash photolysis), EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) and KIE (kinetic isotope effect) will be used throughout the chapter. In addition, recurring chemical compounds such as TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-Ai-oxyl), HBT (1-hydroxyben-zotriazole), BTNO (benzotriazole-A-oxyl), HPI (iV-hydroxyphthalimide), PINO (phthal-imide-iV-oxyl), NHA (A-hydroxyacetanilide) and a few others will be referred to by means of the capital-letter acronym. 

Laser flash photolysis of phenylchlorodiazirine was used to measure the absolute rate constants for intermolecular insertion of phenylchlorocarbene into CH bonds of a variety of co-reactants. Selective stabilization of the carbene ground state by r-complexation to benzene was proposed to explain the slower insertions observed in this solvent in comparison with those in pentane. Insertion into the secondary CH bond of cyclohexane showed a primary kinetic isotope effect k ikY) of 3.8. 

The final product ArCH ONO is formed in further oxidation of ArCH/ to ArCH/ by CAN and the subsequent reaction with NOj . For toluene derivatives with electron-donating substituents such as the methoxy group, the electron transfer reaction (Equation 4.73) was confirmed by the laser flash photolysis method [44]. For toluene, there is a probability for direct H-atom abstraction (Equation 4.72) with a highly polar transition state. Furthermore, for toluene derivatives with electron-withdrawing substituents, the addition ability of NO3 to phenyl 7t-bonds can be considered on the basis of data for reactions with phenols [41] and furan [45]. To clarify the interchanges in the reaction paths by the substituent in toluene, reaction rate constants for various toluene derivatives were evaluated by flash photolysis [44]. The substituent effect of the rate constants for toluene derivatives was correlated with ionisation energies (lEs) of these substances. The reaction rate for anisole is too fast to obtain accurate rate constants, and only lower limits of the rate constants are obtained (anisole) >310 M -s h For p-nitrotoluene, the rate constant is 2.3T0 M -s IE = 9.5 eV. A deuterium kinetic isotope effect of 1.6 was observed for the reaction of NO3 with toluene and toluene - dg. This indicates that NO3 predominantly abstracts the H atom from methyl groups. In the case of p-xylene, the deuterium isotope effect was not observed [43]. The rate constant forp-xylene (> 2 x 10 M/s) is close to the diffusion-controlled limit in acetonitrile, and consequently selectivity becomes low. 

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