Nucleophilic attack reverse hydrolysis

Acid-catalyzed ester hydrolysis can occur by more than one mechanism, depending on the structure of the ester. The usual pathway, however, is just the reverse of a Fischer esterification reaction (Section 21.3). The ester is first activated toward nucleophilic attack by protonation of the carboxyl oxygen atom, and nucleophilic addition of water then occurs. Transfer of a proton and elimination of alcohol yields the carboxylic acid (Figure 21.8). Because this hydrolysis reaction is the reverse of a Fischer esterification reaction, Figure 21.8 is the reverse of Figure 21.4. 

The term acid catalysis is often taken to mean proton catalysis ( specific acid catalysis ) in contrast to general acid catalysis. In this sense, acid-catalyzed hydrolysis begins with protonation of the carbonyl O-atom, which renders the carbonyl C-atom more susceptible to nucleophilic attack. The reaction continues as depicted in Fig. 7. l.a (Pathway a) with hydration of the car-bonium ion to form a tetrahedral intermediate. This is followed by acyl cleavage (heterolytic cleavage of the acyl-0 bond). Pathway b presents an mechanism that can be observed in the presence of concentrated inorganic acids, but which appears irrelevant to hydrolysis under physiological conditions. The same is true for another mechanism of alkyl cleavage not shown in Fig. 7.Fa. All mechanisms of proton-catalyzed ester hydrolysis are reversible. 

Intramolecular general base catalysis of hycholysis (21a) was unexpected since the ester has a phenolic leaving group. Felton and Bruice (1968, 1969) reasoned that, if nucleophilic attack occurred, the leaving phenolate ion group would be properly positioned to attack the intermediate acylimidazole and thereby reverse the reaction. The normally less efficient general base reaction then becomes the favoured pathway, as in hydrolysis of acetyl salicylate (see Section 4). Likewise, Fife and McMahon (1970) explained bimolecular general base catalysis by imidazole (21b) in hydrolysis of o-(4-nitrophenylene) carbonate 3 49) by reversibility... 

Base hydrolysis of amides also requires quite vigorous conditions, but mechanistically it is exactly equivalent to base hydrolysis of esters. After nucleophilic attack of hydroxide on to the carbonyl, the tetrahedral anionic intermediate is able to lose either an amide anion (care with nomenclature here, the amide anion is quite different from the amide molecule) or hydroxide. Although loss of hydroxide is preferred, since the amide anion is a stronger base than hydroxide, this would merely reverse the reaction. 

In this case, we formulate the Claisen reaction between two ester molecules as enolate anion formation, nucleophilic attack, then loss of the leaving group. Now reverse it. Use hydroxide as the nucleophile to attack the ketone carbonyl, then expel the enolate anion as the leaving group. All that remains is protonation of the enolate anion, and base hydrolysis of its ester function. 

When we consider the reverse reactions, the metal-directed hydrolysis of amides, the polarising metal ion may also play a second, and often undesirable, role. In addition to polarising the carbonyl group and activating the carbon atom to nucleophilic attack, the metal may also polarise an amide N-H bond. If we consider the amino acid amide 3.4, the polarisation may be transmitted through the ligand framework to the amide N-H bond. This polarisation may be sufficient to lower the pKa so as to allow deprotonation under the desired reaction conditions (Fig. 3-13). 

Of the systems listed in Table VI, melphalan is most stable in the Burroughs-Wellcome injectable kit. The instructions recommend the use of the solution within 15—30 minutes. According to the manufacturer, 8.5% hydrolysis takes place in 24 hours after mixing [86]. The stability of melphalan increases in acidic solutions and higher temperatures accelerate the hydrolysis. The type and concentration of anionic species present in the solution alter the hydrolysis rate. The formation of the intermediate ionized species is retarded and/or reversed by the presence of chloride ions [9,82,87], resulting in a significantly increased stability [53,87,88]. The stability of melphalan is increased in the presence of bovine serum albumin, human plasma, bile acids, and bile, probably by hydrophobic interactions that make the chloroethyl moiety less accessible to nucleophilic attack [40,62,74,87,89—91]. 

Hydrolysis of letraa I koxy silane (TMOS or TEOS) is generally performed in the presence of a catalyst which can be an acid, a base or a nucleophile. This is also the case for the hydrolysis of R/Si(OMe)350. In the case of TMOS and TEOS, the acid catalysis is due to the reversible protonation of the alkoxy group which converts it to a better leaving group. However, the nucleophilic attack of the oxygen atom of water is still a key step (equation 17). In the case of basic catalysis, nucleophilic attack of the OH- anion at the silicon centre leads to a penta-coordinated intermediate, followed by the elimination of the RO group (equation 18). For nucleophilic catalysis (promoted by F, HMPA, imidazole, 7V,7V-dimethylaminopyridine as well as OH ) the formation of a penta-coordinated species (equation 19) increases the reactivity of the silicon atom towards the nucleophilic attack of water that leads to an hexa-coordinated intermediate, which finally leads to the product of hydrolysis or condensation. 

Mineral acid speeds up both processes by protonating carbonyl oxygen and thus rendering carbonyl carbon more susceptible to nucleophilic attack (Sec. 20.4). In hydrolysis, the nucleophile is a water molecule and the leaving group is an alcohol in esterification, the roles are exactly reversed. 

Fig. 8. Glycosyl hydrolysis - inverting mechanism. The inverting mechanism of glycosyl hydrolysis utilizes a protonated acidic amino acid residue as a proton donor. A charged acidic amino acid residue opposite the proton donor activates water for nucleophilic attack by electrostatic repulsion. The remaining proton from the water protonates the residue to reset the active site with the roles now reversed...

Esters react by both acid and nucleophile initiated mechanisms. Hydrolysis of esters by acid catalysis is exactly the reverse of the mechanism for the acid-catalyzed esterification of a carboxylic acid. Base-catalyzed hydrolysis of esters is called saponification. Hydroxide attacks to form a tetrahedral intermediate. Loss of alkoxide ion then occurs. The alkoxide neutralizes the resulting carboxylic acid to form the salt. 

The reactions in equation 1 constitute ester exchange, hydrolysis, and their reversals. In the base-catalyzed case these reactions proceed through a nucleophilic attack on the silicon atom, resulting in a pentacoordinate transition state (12-15). 

---