Leaving groups common

The leaving groups commonly employed in E2 reactions are listed in Table 2.1. As you can see, they are essentially the same as those displaced in nucleophilic substitution reactions (see Part 2), with two exceptions. First, protonated alcohols are not listed as substrates RX in Table 2.1, because they usually react by the El mechanism (as we shall see later) rather than the E2 mechanism. Secondly, the trimethylammonium and dimethylsulfonium groups have limited importance as leaving groups in substitution reactions, although they are particularly important in elimination reactions. In fact, the reaction involving trimethylammonium is known, after its discoverer, as the Hofmann elimination... 

In catalytic allylic alkylation, a nucleophile, commonly an enolate of a doubly activated a-carbon, replaces an allylic leaving group, commonly a carboxylate such as acetate. The reaction occurs in the presence of a catalytic amount of Pd(0). 

Alkyl esters of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, commonly called triflates, have been prepared from the silver salt and an alkyl iodide, or by reaction of the anhydride with an alcohol (18,20,21). Triflates of the 1,1-dihydroperfluoroalkanols, CF2S020CH2R can be prepared by the reaction of perfluoromethanesulfonyl fluoride with the dihydroalcohol in the presence of triethylamine (22,23). Triflates are important intermediates in synthetic chemistry. They are among the best leaving groups known, so they are commonly employed in anionic displacement reactions. 

Table 1. Common One-Part Silicone Cross-Linkers and Their Leaving Groups...

Trifluoromethanesulfonate (triflate) ion is an exceptionally good leaving grov. It can be used for nucleophilic substitution reactions on unreactive substrates. Acetolysis of cyclopropyl triflate, for example, occurs 10 times faster than acetolysis of cyclopropyl tosylate. Table 5.11 gives a conqiarison of the triftate group with some other common leaving groups. 

The most common leaving groups are sulfonate esters and halides. For the sake of convenience, the discussion of certain dehalogenation reactions is also included in this section even though they may not involve 8 2 type displacement. Benzylic alcohols are also known to be displaced by hydrides or deuterides, but there is no evidence for the application of these reactions to the steroid field. 

In contrast to phosphorus esters, sulfur esters are usually cleaved at the carbon-oxygen bond with carbon-fluorine bond formation Cleavage of esteri nf methanesulfonic acid, p-toluenesidfonic acid, and especially trifluoromethane-sulfonic acid (tnflic acid) by fluoride ion is the most widely used method for the conversion of hydroxy compounds to fluoro derivatives Potassium fluoride, triethylamine trihydrofluoride, and tetrabutylammonium fluoride are common sources of the fluoride ion For the cleavage of a variety of alkyl mesylates and tosylates with potassium fluoride, polyethylene glycol 400 is a solvent of choice, the yields are limited by solvolysis of the leaving group by the solvent, but this phenomenon is controlled by bulky substituents, either in the sulfonic acid part or in the alcohol part of the ester [42] (equation 29)... 

The most common example of this process in living organisms is the reaction of the amino acid methionine with adenosine triphosphate (ATP Section 5.8) to give S-adenosylmethionine. The reaction is somewhat unusual in that the biological leaving group in this SN2 process is the triphosphate ion rather than the more frequently seen rliphosphate ion (Section 11.6). 

Closely related to the carboxylic acids and nitriles discussed in the previous chapter are the carboxylic acid derivatives, compounds in which an acyl group is bonded to an electronegative atom or substituent that can net as a leaving group in a substitution reaction. Many kinds of acid derivatives are known, but we ll be concerned primarily with four of the more common ones acid halides, acid anhydrides, esters, and amides. Esters and amides are common in both laboratory and biological chemistry, while acid halides and acid anhydrides are used only in the laboratory. Thioesters and acyl phosphates are encountered primarily in biological chemistry. Note the structural similarity between acid anhydrides and acy) phosphates. 

Since the decomposition of the Meisenheimer intermediate is not the ratedetermining step, the trends for the leaving groups are quite different from common nucleophilic substitution. The leaving group trends for SnAt substitutions were reported to have the following order F > N02 > SOPh > Cl > Br I > OAr > OR > SR52 53. 

Several distinct mechanisms are possible for aliphatic nucleophilic substitution reactions, depending on the substrate, nucleophile, leaving group, and reaction conditions. In all of them, however, the attacking reagent carries the electron pair with it, so that the similarities are greater than the differences. Mechanisms that occur at a saturated carbon atom are considered first. By far the most common are the SnI and Sn2 mechanisms. 

Although halides are common leaving groups in nucleophilic substitution for synthetic purposes, it is often more convenient to use alcohols. Since OH does not leave from ordinary alcohols, it must be converted to a group that does leave. One way is protonation, mentioned above. Another is conversion to a reactive ester, most commonly a sulfonic ester. The sulfonic ester groups tosylate, brosylate, nosylate, and mesylate are better leaving groups than... 

Groups that are common leaving groups at saturated and carbonyl carbons are indicated. 

We have seen how the polarity of the solvent influences the rates of Sn 1 and Sn2 reactions. The ionic strength of the medium has similar effects. In general, the addition of an external salt affects the rates of SnI and Sn2 reactions in the same way as an increase in solvent polarity, though this is not quantitative different salts have different effects. However, there are exceptions though the rates of SnI reactions are usually increased by the addition of salts (this is called the salt effect), addition of the leaving-group ion often decreases the rate (the common-ion effect, p. 395). 

Another way to esterify a carboxylic acid is to treat it with an alcohol in the presence of a dehydrating agent. One of these is DCC, which is converted in the process to dicyclohexylurea (DHU). The mechanism has much in common with the nucleophilic catalysis mechanism the acid is converted to a compound with a better leaving group. However, the conversion is not by a tetrahedral mechanism (as it is in nucleophilic catalysis), since the C—O bond remains intact during this step ... 

The reactions in this chapter are classified according to leaving group. The most common leaving groups are hydrogen and nitrogen (from the diazonium ion) these are considered first. 

---