Nucleophiles defined

Transition metal-catalyzed allylic alkylation is generally considered to involve mechanistically four fundamental steps as shown in Scheme 1 coordination, oxidative addition, ligand exchange, and reductive elimination. A key step of the catalytic cycle is an initial formation of a (7r-allyl)metal complex and its reactivity. The soft carbon-centered nucleophiles, defined as those derived from conjugate acids whose pAj, < 25, usually attack the allyl ligand from the opposite side... 

Although ionization usually proceeds with inversion of stereochemistry regardless of the nucleophile, the addition of a nucleophile involves two pathways in which the nature of the nucleophile leads to different stereochemical consequences (Scheme 8E.2). The soft (stabilized) nucleophiles, defined as those derived from conjugate acids whose pA < 25, usually add to the allyl ligand from the side opposite to the metal, giving rise to product with overall retention of stereochemistry [21-23]. On the other hand, with hard (unstabilized) nucleophiles (pA a > 25), the addition normally occurs via transmetallation where the nucleophile attacks the metal center of the rc-allyl intermediate and the resultant adduct collapses to product by reductive... 

The achiral triene chain of (a//-rrans-)-3-demethyl-famesic ester as well as its (6-cis-)-isoiner cyclize in the presence of acids to give the decalol derivative with four chirai centres whose relative configuration is well defined (P.A. Stadler, 1957 A. Escherunoser, 1959 W.S. Johnson, 1968, 1976). A monocyclic diene is formed as an intermediate (G. Stork, 1955). With more complicated 1,5-polyenes, such as squalene, oily mixtures of various cycliz-ation products are obtained. The 18,19-glycol of squalene 2,3-oxide, however, cyclized in modest yield with picric acid catalysis to give a complex tetracyclic natural product with nine chiral centres. Picric acid acts as a protic acid of medium strength whose conjugated base is non-nucleophilic. Such acids activate oxygen functions selectively (K.B. Sharpless, 1970). 

The sulfur atom of the thiocarbonyl group is a good nucleophile, and reaction between benzyl bromide and l-(2-thiazolyl)thiourea yields the isothiouronium salt (496). The sulfur atom may also be engaged in a chelate, as exemplified by the Cu chelate of 2-thioureido-4-methylthiazole (491). These chelates with metal ions were thoroughly studied in acidic, neutral, and alkaline media for 66 metal ions in order to define their analytical use. They are formed in the molar ratio of 1 2 for metal II compounds (498). 

Direct iodination or fluorination leads to ill-defined products and fragmentation, respectively. Sandmeyer chemistry and nucleophilic substitution of... 

The importance of solvent participation in the borderline mechanisms should be noted. Nucleophilic participation is minimized by high electronegativity, which reduces the Lewis basicity and polarizability of the solvent molecules. Trifluoroacetic acid and perfiuoro alcohols are among the least nucleophilic of the solvents used in solvolysis studies. These solvents are used to define the characteristics of reactions proceeding without nucleophilic solvent participation. Solvent nucleophilicity increases with the electron-donating capacity of the molecule. The order trifluoroacetic acid < trifluoroetha-nol <acetic acid < water < ethanol gives a qualitative indication of the trend in solvent nucleophilicity. More will be said about solvent nucleophilicity in Section 5.5. 

The 2-adamantyl system has been used as a model reactant for defining the characteristics of ionization without nucleophilic participation. The degree of nucleophilic participation in other reactions can then be estimated by comparison with the 2-adamantyl system. ... 

The term nucleophilicity refers to the effect of a Lewis base on the rate of a nucleophilic substitution reaction and may be contrasted with basicity, which is defined in terms of the position of an equilibrium reaction with a proton or some other acid. Nucleophilicity is used to describe trends in the kinetic aspects of substitution reactions. The relative nucleophilicity of a given species may be different toward various reactants, and it has not been possible to devise an absolute scale of nucleophilicity. We need to gain some impression of the structural features that govern nucleophilicity and to understand the relationship between nucleophilicity and basicity. ... 

Empirical measures of nucleophilicity may be obtained by comparing relative rates of reaction of a standard reactant with various nucleophiles. One measure of nucleophilicity is the nucleophilic constant ( ), defined originally by Swain and Scott. Taking methanolysis of methyl iodide as the standard reaction, n was defined as... 

Equations (7-66) and (7-67), or related versions, have been used by Hupes and Jencks and by Castro and co-workers to account for curvature. The quantity p/(S defines the center of eurvature of the plot and is expected to occur when the Y>Ka of the nucleophile is equal to the p/( of the leaving group." For weaker nucleophiles pKa < p/(S), breakdown of the tetrahedral intermediate will be rate determining, because the leaving group X is a stronger nucleophile than is N , so 2 < -li if, however, p/( > p/(S, the nucleophilic attack is rate determining. 

CH3Br -I- Y CH3Y -H Br A nucleophilic parameter WMcBr is defined... 

Turning to cation-anion recombination reactions we find that most of the quantitative studies have been by Ritchie,who defined a nucleophilic constant by Eq. (7-71),... 

These data are for the nucleophilic catalysis of the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl acetate by imidazoles and benzimidazoles at pH 8.0. Tbe apparent second-order catalytic rate constants are defined by... 

Now, it can be postulated that solvolysis rate should be a function of two properties of the solvent one is its ionizing power, and the other is its nucleo-philicity. An SnI process should be promoted by high ionizing power, and an Sn2 process by high solvent nucleophilicity. At this point, we are ready to bring the extrathermodynamic approach to bear on this problem. This was initiated by Grun-wald and Winstein, who defined a solvent ionizing power parameter Y by... 

Our next concern is the solvent nucleophilicity. Schadt et al. " chose the solvolysis of methyl tosylate, which should be an Sn2 process, as the defining process. For this standard reaction the parameter / in Eq. (8-69) was set at 1.00. An empirical estimate of m, describing the sensitivity of methyl tosylate to solvent ionizing power, was obtained as the slope of the two-point line for methyl tosylate solvolysis in... 

Kevin and co-workershave developed nucleophilicity scales based on the solvolysis of cationic substrates R-X, the leaving group being neutral rather than anionic. Their/V ,jO+ scale is defined in Eq. (8-72). 

Additional control of the nucleophilic substitution pathways a and b should be possible by varying the properties of the heteroarylium moiety in 33 as well as the substituent R and, to a minor extent, by the nature of the C-bonded halogen. Tire cation of 7a appeared to be an especially useful model compound and was thus selected in order to systematically study these influences and to define a standard situation. Structure 7a is easily accessible in excellent yield, and its molecular size allowed high-level MO calculations. 

The combination of positive and negative charges within the same molecule causes a more complicated situation, which obviously has not been well-defined to date. A quite large number of pyrrolizidine alkaloids are related to Otonecine (8) (Scheme 3). Spectroscopic investigations show that these alkaloids exist in the nonionized form in CDCI3, and in the zwitterionic form in D2O (00JNP857, 71TL3421). The dipolar structure is the result of an intramolecular interaction between a nucleophilic and an electrophilic center. 

On the basis of the reaction of alkyl radicals with a number of polycyclic aromatics, Szwarc and Binks calculated the relative selectivities of several radicals methyl, 1 (by definition) ethyl, 1.0 n-propyl, 1.0 trichloromethyl, 1.8. The relative reactivities of the three alkyl radicals toward aromatics therefore appears to be the same. On the other hand, quinoline (the only heterocyclic compound so far examined in reactions with alkyl radicals other than methyl) shows a steady increase in its reactivity toward methyl, ethyl, and n-propyl radicals. This would suggest that the nucleophilic character of the alkyl radicals increases in the order Me < Et < n-Pr, and that the selectivity of the radical as defined by Szwarc is not necessarily a measure of its polar character. 

Evidence that the actual methylation of the anion can be divided into SnI, Eq. (3), and Sx2 types, Eq, (4), is provided by a whole series of investigations. " The terms S l and 8 2 must be taken to mean reactions with, respectively less or greater nucleophilic participation of the anion in the transition state. The importance of oriented ion pairs" in the solvents of low polarity frequently used in reactions involving diazomethanc, e.g., the ions formed by a diazoalkane and benzoic acid in ether, should be emphasized. The expression oriented ion pair means that, because of insufficient solvation, the ions are not individually solvated but exist as ion pairs within a solvent cage. The orientation within the ion pair is defined electrostatically, and this orientation fixes the path for the productdetermining step. Several indications (cf, foo otes 22-24) in the literature indicate the occurrence of carbonium ions and oriented ion pairs in Broensted-type equilibria of the type of Eq. (2). 

The parameter 5 is a measure of the susceptibility of the substrate to nucleophilic attack, and n a measure of the nucleophilic reactivity as defined by a reference reaction. The rate constants for attack at saturated carbon are used to define the values of n.14 Table 10-4 lists the values of n for certain nucleophiles. This particular compilation lists the... 

Several studies have been made of the directionality of approach by the nucleophile. ° Menger ° has proposed for reactions in general, and specifically for those hat proceed by the tetrahedral mechanism, that there is no single definable preferred transition state, but rather a cone of trajectories. All approaches within this cone lead to reaction at comparable rates it is only when the approach comes outside of the cone that the rate falls. 

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