Steric effects nucleophilic attack

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). 

Mechanistically the rate-determining step is nucleophilic attack involving the hydroxide ion and the more positive siUcon atom in the Si—H bond. This attack has been related to the Lewis acid strength of the corresponding silane, ie, to the abiUty to act as an acceptor for a given attacking base. Similar inductive and steric effects apply for acid hydrolysis of organosilanes (106). 

Alkyl groups under nonacidic conditions sterically deflect nucleophiles from C, but under acidic conditions this steric effect is to some extent offset by an electronic one the protonated oxirane opens by transition states (Scheme 40) which are even more 5Nl-like than the borderline Sn2 one of the unprotonated oxirane. Thus electronic factors favor cleavage at the more substituted carbon, which can better support a partial positive charge the steric factor is still operative, however, and even under acidic conditions the major product usually results from Cp attack. 

Protecting groups are generally formed by nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl group and the rate of this process is determined by steric and electronic factors associated with the ketone. In steroid ketones steric effects are usually more important due to the rigid tetracychc skeleton. 

Formation of five-membered ring systems (1,2-addition) can compete with formation of the seven-membered heterocycles (1,4-addition). If the first step of the reaction sequence, namely the nucleophilic attack of the terminal heteroatoin of the diene, is hindered by steric or electronic effects, the five-membered ring product is formed exclusively. 

The selective reaction of anionic 3,6-dichloro-4-sulfanilamidopy-ridazine with excess methanolic methoxide at the 3-position is another indication of the absence of major steric effects in most nucleophilic substitutions, as a result of the direction of nucleophilic attack (cf. Section II, A, 1). The selectivity at the 3-position is an example of the interaction of substituent effects. The sulfonamide anion deactivates both the 3-chloro (ortho direct deactivation) and... 

Since equatorial attack is roughly antiperiplanar to two C-C bonds of the cyclic ketone, an extended hypothesis of antiperiplanar attack was proposed39. Since the incipient bond is intrinsically electron deficient, the attack of a nucleophile occurs anti to the best electron-donor bond, with the electron-donor order C—S > C —H > C —C > C—N > C—O. The transition state-stabilizing donor- acceptor interactions are assumed to be more important for the stereochemical outcome of nucleophilic addition reactions than the torsional and steric effects suggested by Felkin. 

The chemoselectivity of the other alkenes of Table 1 is more variable. It appears that bulky substituents favour bromide over methanol attack of the bromonium ion, since dibromlde increases from 39 to 70 % on going from methyl to tert-butyl in the monosubstituted series. The same trend is observed in the disubstituted series with a contraction of the chemoselectivity span (37 to 43 % on going from methyl to teH-butyl) for the trans isomers. Since the solvated bromide ion can be viewed as a nucleophile larger than methanol, the influence of steric effects, important in determining the regioselectivity, does not seem very significant as regards the chemoselectivity. This result has been interpreted in terms of a different balance between polar and steric effects of the substituents on these two selectivities. 

In these solvents at sufficiently low Br2 concentration (< 10-3 m) the kinetics are first order both in the olefin and in Br2 and the main solvent effect consists of an electrophilic solvation of the departing Br ion. A nucleophilic assistance by hydroxylic solvents has also been recognized recently (ref. 26) (Scheme 10). So far, return during the olefin bromination in methanol had been admitted only for alkylideneadamantanes, and was ascribed to steric inhibition to nucleophilic attack at carbons of the bromonium ion (ref. 26). 

It occasionally happens that a reaction proceeds much faster or much slower than expected on the basis of electrical effects alone. In these cases, it can often be shown that steric effects are influencing the rate. For example, Table 9.2 lists relative rates for the Sn2 ethanolysis of certain alkyl halides (see p. 390). All these compounds are primary bromides the branching is on the second carbon, so that field-effect differences should be small. As Table 9.2 shows, the rate decreases with increasing P branching and reaches a very low value for neopentyl bromide. This reaction is known to involve an attack by the nucleophile from a position opposite to that of the bromine (see p. 390). The great decrease in rate can be attributed to steric hindrance, a sheer physical blockage to the attack of the nucleophile. Another example of steric hindrance is found in 2,6-disubstituted benzoic acids, which are difficult to esterify no matter what the resonance or field effects of the groups in the 2 or the 6 position. Similarly, once 2,6-disubstituted benzoic acids are esterified, the esters are difficult to hydrolyze. 

First, the order of ky values in different solvents is quite reasonably interpreted as a nucleophilicity order - e.g. ( 113)280 > HjO CH3NO2 > C2H5OH) and second, the k rate is (as is the k2) greatly reduced by steric crowding . Of course, a nucleophilic attack by solvent is a very likely process, a priori. In any solvent, the solvent itself will be the poorest nucleophile that can be studied since poorer ones will not effectively compete. Thus the k term of equation (21) corresponds to the ki value. The aquo intermediate of scheme (22) has been trapped by using reactions in the presence of OH , a poor nucleophile but good base . ... 

Phenyl vinyl sulfones reacted with cyclohexanone enamines 332 to afford adducts which, upon hydrolysis, gave 2-(2-phenylsulfonyl)alkylcyclohexanone 333a . However, in the reaction with phenyl styryl sulfone, two products 333b and 334 were obtained by the nucleophilic attack at the and a-carbon atoms . Steric effects, electrostatic interactions between the nitrogen atom of the enamine and the oxygen atoms of the sulfone group, and medium effects contribute to the regioselectivity of the reaction. ... 

In a recent study, we showed that the more flexible pyrido[l,2-a]indole-based cyclopropyl quinone methide is not subject to the stereoelectronic effect.47 Scheme 7.17 shows an electrostatic potential map of the protonated cyclopropyl quinone methide with arrows indicating the two possible nucleophilic attack sites on the electron-deficient (blue-colored) cyclopropyl ring. The 13C label allows both nucleophile attack products, the pyrido[l,2-a]indole and azepino [l,2-a]indole, to be distinguished without isolation. The site of nucleophilic is under steric control with pyrido [1,2-a]indole ring formation favored by large nucleophiles. 

To assess the trapping of biological nucleophiles, the pyrido[l,2-a]indole cyclopropyl quinone methide was generated in the presence of 5 -dGMP. The reaction afforded a mixture of phosphate adducts that could not be separated by reverse-phase chromatography (Fig. 7.16). The 13C-NMR spectrum of the purified mixture shown in Fig. 7.16 reveals that the pyrido [1,2-a] indole was the major product with trace amounts of azepino[l,2-a] indole present. Since the stereoelec-tronic effect favors either product, steric effects must dictate nucleophilic attack at the least hindered cyclopropane carbon to afford the pyrido[l,2-a]indole product. Both adducts were stable with elimination and aromatization not observed. In fact, the pyrido [1,2-a] indole precursor (structure shown in Scheme 7.14) to the pyrido [l,2-a]indole cyclopropyl quinone methide possesses cytotoxic and cytostatic properties not observed with the pyrrolo [1,2-a] indole precursor.47... 

Use of the relatively small cyclopropane ring drastically reduces the potential for deleterious steric bulk effects and adds only a relatively small lipophilic increment to the partition coefficient of the drug. One of the clever elements of the rolicyprine synthesis itself is the reaction of d,l tranylcypromine (67) with L-5-pyrrolidone-2-carboxylic acid (derived from glutamic acid) to form a highly crystalline diastereomeric salt, thereby effecting resolution. Addition of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide activates the carboxyl group to nucleophilic attack by the primary amine thus forming the amide rolicyprine (68). 

Even more pronounced steric effects have been observed for the free radical alkylation of protonated N-heterocyclic bases by the procedure of Minisci69, b d. Quinoline is attacked selectively in the 2- and 4-position by nucleophilic alkyl radicals in sulfuric acid. The largest radicals, t.-butyl, react exclusively in the 2-position because of steric hindrance by the peri-hydrogen when attack occurs at the 4-position. 

The EfZ ratio of stilbenes obtained in the Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed reaction was independent of catalyst concentration in the range given in Table 22 357). This fact differs from the copper-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate, where the ratio diethyl fumarate diethyl maleate was found to depend on the concentration of the catalyst, requiring two competing mechanistic pathways to be taken into account 365), The preference for the Z-stilbene upon C ClO -or rhodium-catalyzed decomposition of aryldiazomethanes may be explained by the mechanism given in Scheme 39. Nucleophilic attack of the diazoalkane at the presumed metal carbene leads to two epimeric diazonium intermediates 385, the sterically less encumbered of which yields the Z-stilbene after C/C rotation 357,358). Thus, steric effects, favoring 385a over 385 b, ultimately cause the preferred formation of the thermodynamically less stable cis-stilbene. 

Steric effects on the nucleophile, aniline, were clearly evident. Rate constants for bimolecular attack of 2,6-dimethyl- 70a, 2,6-diethyl- 70b, and 3,5-dimethylaniline 70c at 308 K indicate that the ort/zo-substituted anilines react more than an order of magnitude slower at the same temperature (Table 7). Structure 70c must be able approach the reactive nitrogen more closely.42,43 A comparison of the rate constants for reaction of aniline 72c, /V-methyl- 71a and /V-phenylaniline 71b provides further evidence of steric effects although the very small rate constant for the diphenylamine could also be accounted for by reduced nucleophilicity on account of lone pair resonance into the additional phenyl ring. 

---