Nucleophiles, ambident solvent effects

The equation does not take into account such pertubation factors as steric effects, solvent effects, and ion-pair formation. These factors, however, may be neglected when experiments are carried out in the same solvent at the same temperature and concentration for an homogeneous set of substrates. So, for a given ambident nucleophile the rate ratio kj/kj will depend on A and B, which vary with (a) the attacked electrophilic center, (b) the solvent, and (c) the counterpart cationic species of the anion. The important point in this kind of study is to change only one parameter at a time. This simple rule has not always been followed, and little systematic work has been done in this field (12) stiH widely open after the discovery of the role played by single electron transfer mechanism in ambident reactivity (1689). 

Taking into account the fact that the solvation of ambident anions in the activated complex may differ considerably from that of the free anion, another explanation for the solvent effect on orientation, based on the concept of hard and soft acids and bases (HSAB) [275] (see also Section 3.3.2), seems preferable [366]. In ambident anions, the less electronegative and more polarizable donor atom is usually the softer base, whereas the more electronegative atom is a hard Lewis base. Thus, in enolate ions, the oxygen atom is hard and the carbon atom is soft, in the thiocyanate ion the nitrogen atom is hard and the sulfur atom is soft, etc. The mode of reaction can be predicted from the hardness or softness of the electrophile. In protic solvents, the two nucleophilic sites in the ambident anion must interact with two electrophiles, the protic solvent and the substrate RX, of which the protic solvent is a hard and RX a soft acid. Therefore, in protic solvents it is to be expected that the softer of the two nucleophilic atoms (C versus O, N versus O, S versus N) should react with the softer acid RX. 

It should be mentioned briefly that solvation phenomena should also influence the outcome in the case of ambident nucleophiles, at least to the extent to which these reagents are sensitive to solvent effects. With an ambident anion, which is not manipulated by countercations (formation of ion pairs), the more electronegative center should attack preferentially. The more this area is blocked by hydrogen bridges formed in protic solvents, or shielded by countercations, the more likely it is that the less electronegative end will react. If dipolar aprotic solvents are used, which can only solvate the cations, a preferential attack of the nonshielded more electronegative center is to be expected. It must be realized, however, that in substitution reactions employing cyanide ions, dipolar aprotic solvents have not been reported to enhance the formation of isonitriles. " ... 

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