Leaving group effect pyridine oxides

A-Oxides, just as in the pyridine series, show a remarkable duality of effect - they encourage both electrophilic substitutions and nucleophilic displacements. The sequence below shows pyridazine A-oxide undergoing first, electrophilic nitration, then, the product, nucleophilic displacement, with nitrite as leaving group. 

Few other reactions of series of substituted pyridines have been investigated extensively. Dondoni, Modena, and Todesco have measured the rate of N-oxidation of a limited series of pyridines and found a good correlation with normal u-values with a p-value of — 2.23. The A-alkylation of pyridines with alkyl iodides in nitrobenzene has been studied by Brown and Cahn and by Clarke and Rothwell. Unfortunately, the only data available are for the parent compound and for alkyl derivatives, and, since the a-values for the various alkyl groups in a given position are substantially constant, this leaves a correlation of only three independent points. However, the rates of A-alkylation of the j8- and y-alkyl derivatives are so nearly equal that it appears as if no correlation existed. Clarke and Rothwell have also studied the alkylation with allyl bromide in nitromethane at various temperatures, and in this case a more extensive series is available. The authors state that no overall Hammett correlation is obtained however, the j8-substituted derivatives fall on one straight line and the y-derivatives on another one with a different slope. The data are shown in Fig. 2. The line for the j8-compounds, p = — 2.53 0.31, r = 0.95, is seen not to be very good the line for the y-derivatives, p = — 1.42 0.06, r = 0.99, is much more satisfactory. It does not seem likely that the discrepancy is due to the intervention of resonance effects, since in this case one would expect the correlation for the y-derivatives to be poorer than that for the j8-analogs. More extensive studies with a wider variety of substituents would seem very desirable. 

---