Metaphosphate mechanisms for monoesters

Converging lines of evidence have led to a general acceptance of the monomeric metaphosphate mechanism for the hydrolysis of phosphate monoester monoanions. The pH rate profile for aryl and alkyl phosphate monoester hydrolyses commonly exhibits a rate maximum near pH 4. where the concentration of the monoanion is at a maximum. The proposed mechanism is based on these principal points of evidence (a) a general observation of P-O bond cleavage (b) the entropies of activation for a series of monoester monoanions are all close to zero, which is consistent with a unimolecular rather than a bi-molecular solvolysis where entropies of activation are usually more negative by 20 eu7 (c) the molar product composition (methyl phosphate inorganic phosphate) arising from the solvolysis of the monoester monoanion in a mixed methanol-water solvent usually approximates the molar ratio of methanol  

Proton transfer may proceed directly or via a six-membered cyclic transition state involving a molecule of water. A calculation of the intermediate zwitter-ionic concentration for the hydrolysis of methyl phosphate monoanion, based on the pKa values for methanol and methyl phosphate dianion, predicts the first-order rate coefficient for zwitterion decomposition to be ca. 10 sec-1 at 100°C. This value is in good agreement with the observed rate of hydrolysis and, considering the assumptions involved, with the rate of P-O bond fission of the presumed zwitterionic intermediate (2) formed in the Hg(II) catalyzed solvolysis of phosphoenolpyruvic acid, a model reaction for pyruvate kinase10. 

The study of the monoanions of a third class of phosphorus-containing monoesters, the phosphoramidates, has been restricted for the present to p- and o-substituted aryl phosphoramidates, and phosphoramidate and its O-methyl derivatives13-16. Two striking differences from the behavior of O- and S-phos-phate monoester monoanions are noted in the experimental criteria compiled in order to postulate mechanism (a) solvolysis in mixed organic solvents, particularly 50% v/v dioxan-water, results in a 50% decrease in the rate of hydrolysis of o- and p-substituted aryl phosphoramidate monoanions and all ionic forms of phosphoramidate and its O-methyl derivatives excepting the parent monoanion, and (b) partitioning of the aryl phosphoramidates and phos- 

An obvious difficulty arises with this rather elaborate rationale when phosphoramidate and aryl phosphoramidate monoanions are compared for example, the dissimilarity of the dioxan effect yet the identity of product distribution observed in methanol-water competition experiments. Preliminary studies in the author s laboratory have revealed striking differences in the hydrolytic behavior between a series of phosphoramidafes derived from primary aliphatic amines and the above aryl systems. No linear structure-reactivity relationship between the logarithmic rate of hydrolysis of the monoanion species and the pKa of the amine is observed19. Moreover, the rate of hydrolysis of phosphoramidate monoanions derived from aliphatic amines is at least 104 times slower than those formed from aryl amines. In contrast, only a thirtyfold decrease in rate is observed for the corresponding ApKa in the O-phos-phate monoester series. The suspicion that mechanism (1), even with the above proposed modification, is not an accurate description of phosphoramidate monoanion hydrolysis derives some further support from the observation that the monoanion is subject to nucleophilic attack by substituted pyridines al- 

Whether this unsatisfactory state of affairs is a consequence of a borderline situation as encountered in displacements on carbon, or the result of a penta-covalent addition intermediate, remains to be demonstrated. 

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