Kinetic mechanism involving deuterium

The first evidence that an elimination-addition mechanism could be important in nucleophilic substitution reactions of alkanesulfonyl derivatives was provided by the observation (Truce et al., 1964 Truce and Campbell, 1966 King and Durst, 1964, 1965) that when alkanesulfonyl chlorides RCH2S02C1 were treated in the presence of an alcohol R OD with a tertiary amine (usually Et3N) the product was a sulfonate ester RCHDS020R with exactly one atom of deuterium on the carbon alpha to the sulfonyl group. Had the ester been formed by a base-catalysed direct substitution reaction of R OD with the sulfonyl chloride there would have been no deuterium at the er-position. Had the deuterium been incorporated by a separate exchange reaction, either of the sulfonyl chloride before its reaction to form the ester, or of the ester subsequent to its formation, then the amount of deuterium incorporated would not have been uniformly one atom of D per molecule. The observed results are only consistent with the elimination-addition mechanism involving a sulfene intermediate shown in (201). Subsequent kinetic studies... 

The effect of ring substituents on the rate constants, deuterium kinetic isotope effects and Arrhenius parameters for ene-additions of acetone to 1,1-diphenylsilane have been explained in terms of a mechanism involving fast, reversible formation of a zwitterionic silene-ketone complex, followed by a rate-limiting proton transfer between the a-carbonyl and silenic carbon. A study of the thermal and Lewis acid-catalysed intramolecular ene reactions of allenylsilanes with a variety of... 

Recently, trans insertion of hexafluorobutyne into one of the M—H bonds in some metallocene hydrides, Cp2MH , was studied in some detail (47). Experiments carried out in the presence of various radical-sensitive reagents such as TV-phenyl-a-naphthylamine suggested that a free radical mechanism was unlikely. A stepwise ionic mechanism, involving a zwitter-ionic intermediate, Cp2(H2)M+—C(CF3)==CCF3, is improbable, since (i) the stereochemistry and the apparent rate are not influenced by the polarity of the solvents, (ii) no deuterium is incorporated in the reaction in EtOD, and (iii) the trend in reactivity (Mo > W) does not reflect the trend in v-basicity or M—C bond stability (W > Mo). An essentially concerted trans-insertion mechanism is inferred, which is supported inter alia by the low kinetic deuterium isotope effect (kH/k0 = 1). 

These researchers present a number of arguments and evidence, including large deuterium kinetic isotope effects, in support of a mechanism involving proton-tunneling in a charge transfer complex (equation 29), as the rate-determining step for the reaction of the hindered aryloxyl radical, ArO , with phenolic antioxidants and they propose that the mechanism applies equally well to attack by peroxyl radicals, R—O—O , on phenols. 

Later, Goto published data for the behavior of n-glucose at 25° in saturated, calcium hydroxide solutions (enriched with deuterium oxide) which, he claimed, confirmed Fredenhagen and Bonhoeffer s observations. Goto pointed out, however, that the mechanism involving the dimeric intermediate lacked kinetic proof and permitted no known role for the catalyst. 

AIBN-initiated oxidation of cumene and Tetralin in the presence of deuterated amines were unsuccessful. They proposed an alternative mechanism involving reversible formation of a complex of antioxidant with peroxy radical as the kinetically controlling process. We observed an isotope effect, dAh = 1.8, consistent with the hydrogen-donation mechanism in the retarded oxidation of SBR polymer with deuterated amines (7,8). Our results were confirmed by observation of significant isotope effects in the initial stage of oxidation of purified cfc-l,4-polyiso-prene with both hindered phenols and amines (9). Table I shows the effect of temperature and antioxidant concentration on the rates of oxidation and the observed deuterium isotope effects. 

Fluorescence quenching experiments (with diquat dichloride), deuterium kinetic isotope effects, and the effects of triplet state quenchers have suggested a mechanism involving primary electron transfer to singlet excited paraquat [(184) and (185)]. 

In the literature [25, 26a,c-g], inverse kinetic isotope effects for the reductive elimination of alkanes from metal centers, which is the miaoscopic reverse of alkane activation by oxidative addition, have been explained by the presence of an a alkane intermediate. Recently, thermolysis of the diastereomerically pure complexes (R5),(5R)-[2,2-dimethylcyclopropyl) (Cp )-(PMe3)lrH] and (/ / ),(5 5)-[2,2-dimethylcyclopropyl)(Cp )(PMe3)IrH] (see Scheme VI.5) in CaDs has been shown [26h] to result in its interconversion to the other diastereomer. The analogous reaction of the deuterium-labeled complexes resulted additionally in scrambling of the deuterium from the a-position of the dimethylcyclopropyl ring to the metal hydride position. Diastereomer interconversion and isotopic scrambling occurred at similar rates and have been discussed in terms of a common intermediate mechanism involving a metal alkane complex (Scheme VI.5). 

The primary motivation for these studies is the analysis of the reactivity patterns of organic compounds, when Ce(IV) is used as an oxidant. These patterns are determined for the most part by product analysis of selected series of organic compounds. The results obtained in two studies that bear more directly on the chemical behavior of Ce(IV) as an oxidant for hydrocarbons have been interpreted to indicate different mechanistic behavior of Ce(IV). In a product study of the oxidation of isodurene (1,2,3,5-tetramethyl benzene) by ceric ammonium nitrate compared to anodic oxidation, Eberson and Oberrauch (1979) concluded that the oxidation by Ce(IV) occurs via a H atom transfer from the alkylaromatic compound to Ce(IV). Badocchi et al. (1980) measured the variation of second-order rate constants for the oxidation of a series of alkylaromatic compounds with added Ce(III). These results along with those from the determination of kinetic deuterium isotope effect were dted to support a mechanism involving radical cations. The Ce(IV)/Ce(III) functions as an electron acceptor/donor in such a mechanism. 

Richardson [331-333] has studied the catalytic decomposition of tertAmiyl hydroperoxide by cobalt acetate in acetic acid. The principle products were again r -butyl alcohol and oxygen. Results of kinetic studies, ESR measurements and deuterium isotope effects are in agreement with a mechanism involving attack by r -butylperoxy radical on a dimeric cobalt-hydroperoxide complex, equation (206) [333]. 

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