Leaving group, preference

Mono carbonylation product yield is very sensitive to the leaving group. Leaving group preference is as follows ... 

X is a good leaving group, preferably electron-withdrawing)... 

An important method for construction of functionalized 3-alkyl substituents involves introduction of a nucleophilic carbon synthon by displacement of an a-substituent. This corresponds to formation of a benzylic bond but the ability of the indole ring to act as an electron donor strongly influences the reaction pattern. Under many conditions displacement takes place by an elimination-addition sequence[l]. Substituents that are normally poor leaving groups, e.g. alkoxy or dialkylamino, exhibit a convenient level of reactivity. Conversely, the 3-(halomethyl)indoles are too reactive to be synthetically useful unless stabilized by a ring EW substituent. 3-(Dimethylaminomethyl)indoles (gramine derivatives) prepared by Mannich reactions or the derived quaternary salts are often the preferred starting material for the nucleophilic substitution reactions. 

FIGURE 5 11 Confer mations of as and trans 4 tert butylcyclohexyl bromide and their relationship to the preference for an anti copla nar arrangement of proton and leaving group... 

Effects that arise because one spatial arrangement of electrons (or orbitals or bonds) IS more stable than another are called stereoelectronic effects There is a stereoelec tromc preference for the anti coplanar arrangement of proton and leaving group in E2 reactions Although coplanarity of the p orbitals is the best geometry for the E2 process modest deviations from this ideal can be tolerated In such cases the terms used are syn periplanar and anti periplanar... 

As crowding at the carbon that bears the leaving group decreases the rate of nude ophilic attack by the Lewis base increases A low level of steric hindrance to approach of the nucleophile is one of the special circumstances that permit substitution to pre dominate and primary alkyl halides react with alkoxide bases by an 8 2 mechanism m preference to E2... 

In the anthraquinone series, apart from the special case of the amination of leucoquinizarin, sulfonic acid and nitro are the preferred leaving groups. 1-Aminoanthraquinone is manufactured from anthraquinone-l-sulfonic acid or 1-nitroanthraquinone, and 2-amino anthraquinone (betamine) from anthraquinone-2-sulfonic acid. 

The dependence on steric bulk is attributed to the steric requirements imposed by the bulky trimefliylamine leaving group. In the transition state for anti elimination, steric repulsion is increased as R and increase in size. When the repulsion is sufficiently large, the transition state for syn elimination is preferred. 

Isoindolines comprise a group of well-characterized and easily synthesized substances, and being at the next stable reduction state below that of isoindoles, they constitute suitable precursors for synthesis of the latter. In principle, either oxidation or elimination from isoindolines should lead to isoindoles however, in view of the susceptibility of isoindoles to further oxidation, elimination has been preferred, and in all cases reported the leaving group has been placed on nitrogen rather than carbon. 

Notice in both of the previous reactions that only "half" of the anhydride molecule is used the other half acts as the leaving group during the nucleophilic acyl substitution step and produces acetate ion as a by-product. Thus, anhydrides are inefficient to use, and acid chlorides are normally preferred for introducing acyl substituents other than acetyl groups. 

Alkylation reactions are subject to the same constraints that affect all Sn2 reactions (Section 11.3). Thus, the leaving group X in the alkylating agent R—X can be chloride, bromide, iodide, or tosylate. The alkyl group R should be primary or methyl, and preferably should be allylic or benzylic. Secondary halides react poorly, and tertiary halides don t react at all because a competing E2 elimination of HX occurs instead. Vinylic and aryl halides are also unreactive because backside approach is sterically prevented. 

As shown, an asymmetric carboxylic-sulfonic acid anhydride is formed, but the cellulose attack occurs on the C = O group, since a nucleophilic attack on sulfur is slow, and the tosylate moiety is a much better leaving group than the carboxylate group [193]. Similar to other acylation reactions, there is a large preference for tosylation at the 5 position, and cellulose tosylates... 

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