Catalysis, nucleophilic

Nucleophilic catalysis arises when a nucleophile binds to a reactant and enhances its rate of reaction. Catalysis via nucleophilic activation is less common than electrostatic catal- 

Denmark has taken advantage of this nucleophilic enhancement of certain electrophiles to create enantio-selective reactions. In one example, the coupling of allyl- 

Gutmann, V. (1998). The Donor-Acceptor Approach to Molecular Interactions, Plenum Press, New York. Denmark, S. E., and Wynn, T. Lewis Base Activation of Lewis Acids Catalytic Enantioselective Allylation and Pro-pargylation of Aldehydes. /. Am. Chem. Soc., 123,6199-6200(2001). 

Nucleophilic catalysis is defined as the catalytic process in which a catalyst or a catalytic group forms a covalent bond with the reaction center of the substrate in the initial phase of the reaction followed by the recovery of the catalyst by the cleavage of the covalent bond between the reaction center of the substrate and the catalyst in the latter phase of the reaction. Such catalysis is also known as covalent catalysis. Nucleophilic catalysis may be either an intermolecular (if the substrate and the catalyst are not covalently attached to each other in the reactant state) or a semiintramolecular (if the catalyst becomes a part of the structural network of the substrate during the course of the reaction) molecular event. 

A nucleophilic catalyst combines with the substrate to form a reactive intermediate via nucleophilic attack.. A large majority of examples of nucleophilic catalysis refer to reactions of carboxylic acid derivatives 

The results obtained for the catalyzed hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl acetate obey a Bronsted type relationship there is a linear correlation between log feN and pK, with a slope of 1.6 [5, 29]. It is not surprising that the slope is much larger than 1, for the rate coefficients are referred to nucleophilic attack rather than proton transfer. 

According to the generally accepted mechanism, the nucleophile attacks the carbonyl carbon to form a tetrahedral intermediate and subsequently, another amide or anhydride-type intermediate which is hydrolyzed rapidly, viz. 

In the special case of nucleophilic catalysis by imidazole, the intermediate can be stabilized by expulsion of a proton, viz. 

The concentration of N-acylimidazole in the reacting solution is high enough for a detection by UV spectrophotometric measurement [ 5, 29]. 

The iodide anion (I ) is a good nucleophile and a good leaving group. It can be used as a catalyst to speed up the rate of a slow SN2 reaction. 

Ye and coworkers have since reported a wide range of cycloadditions using different electrophilic partners, all in the presence of pyroglutamic acid-derived triazolium catalysts [120]. A noteworthy example is represented by the enantioselective formal [4-1-2] cycloaddition of ketenes with enones 151 to obtain dihydropyranones 

The use of NHCs as organocatalysts has been the object of tremendous interest, particularly over the last decade. The breakthroughs that have been accomplished with respect to the benzoin and Stetter reactions, as well as the large variety of new reaction types, augur well for the future of this area of study. In view of these advances, the more widespread applicahon of NHC organocatalysis in the realm of synthesis seems possible. 

5 As this chapter was being proof-edited, the first isolation of a Breslow intermediate was reported Berkessel, A., Elfert, S Yatham, V.R., Neudorfl, J.-M., Schlorer, N.E., and Teles, J.H. (2012) Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 51,12370. 

Enantioselective Organocatalysis Reactions and Experimental Procedures (ed. P.I. Dalko), Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim.pp. 331 355 (b) Enders, D., Niemeier, O., and Henseler, A. (2007) Chem. Rev., 107,5606 (c) Moore, J.L. and Rovis, T. (2009) Top. Curr. Chem., 291, 

31 (a) Rose, C.A., Gundala, S Fagan, C.-L, Franz, J.F., Connon, S.J., and Zeider, K. (2012) Chem. Sci., 3, 735 a-Diketones were shown to be aldehyde surrogates in this reaction (b) Bortolini, O., Fantin, 

Boryl and silyl conjugate additions, according to Hoveyda and coworkers. 

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Small amounts of salt-like addition products (85) formed by reaction on the ring nitrogen may be present in the medium. (Scheme 60) but. as the equilibrium is shifted by further reaction on the exocyclic nitrogen, the only observed products are exocyclic acylation products (87) (130. 243. 244). Challis (245) reviewed the general features of acylation reactions these are intervention of tetrahedral intermediates, general base catalysis, nucleophilic catalysis. Each of these features should operate in aminothiazoles reactivity. 

Ester hydrolysis can also be promoted by nucleophilic catalysis. If a component of the reaction system is a more effective nucleophile toward the carbonyl group than hydroxide ion or water under a given set of conditions, an acyl-transfer reaction can take place to form an intermediate ... 

If this intermediate, in turn, is more n idly attacked by water or hydroxide ion than the original ester, the overall reaction will be faster in the presence of the nucleophile than in its absence. These are the requisite conditions for nucleophilic catalysis. Esters of relatively acidic alcohols (in particular, phenols) are hydrolyzed by the nucleophilic catalysis mechanism in the presence of imidazole ... 

The nucleophilic catalysis mechanism only operates when the alkoxy group being hydrolyzed is not much more basic than the nucleophilic catalyst. This relationship can be imderstood by considering the tetrahedral intermediate generated by attack of the potential catalyst on the ester ... 

Pyridine is more nucleophilic than an alcohol toward the carbonyl center of an acyl chloride. The product that results, an acylpyridinium ion, is, in turn, more reactive toward an alcohol than the original acyl chloride. The conditions required for nucleophilic catalysis therefore exist, and acylation of the alcohol by acyl chloride is faster in the presence of pyridine than in its absence. Among the evidence that supports this mechanism is spectroscopic observation of the acetylpyridinium ion. An even more effective catalyst is 4-dimeftiyIaminopyridine (DMAP), which functions in the same wsy but is more reactive because of the electron-donating dimethylamino substituent. ... 

Mechanism I was ruled out by an isotopic labeling experiment. The mixed anhydride of salicylic acid and acetic acid is an intermediate if nucleophilic catalysis occurs by mechanism 1. This molecule is known to hydrolyze in water with about 25% incorporation of solvent water into the salicylic acid. 

The extent to which intramolecular nucleophilic catalysis of the type depicted in mechanism I is important is a function of the leaving ability of the alkoxy group. This has been demonstrated by the study of the hydrolysis of a series of monoesters of phthalic acid ... 

Nucleophilic participation is important only for esters of alcohols that have pK <13. Specifically, phenyl and trifluoroethyl esters show nucleophilic catalysis, but methyl and 2-chloroethyl esters do not. This result reflects the fete of the tetrahedral intermediate that results fi om nucleophilic participation. For relatively acidic alcohols, the alkoxide group can be eliminated, leading to hydrolysis via nucleophilic catalysis ... 

The relative importance of the potential catalytic mechanisms depends on pH, which also determines the concentration of the other participating species such as water, hydronium ion, and hydroxide ion. At low pH, the general acid catalysis mechanism dominates, and comparison with analogous systems in which the intramolecular proton transfer is not available suggests that the intramolecular catalysis results in a 25- to 100-fold rate enhancement At neutral pH, the intramolecular general base catalysis mechanism begins to operate. It is estimated that the catalytic effect for this mechanism is a factor of about 10. Although the nucleophilic catalysis mechanism was not observed in the parent compound, it occurred in certain substituted derivatives. 

Nucleophilic catalysis is catalysis by a general base (electron-pair donor) acting by donating its electron pair to an atom (usually carbon) other than hydrogen. Nucleophilic catalysis is exemplified by the imidazole-catalyzed hydrolysis of a phenyl acetate. (The tetrahedral intermediates are not shown.)... 

We should distinguish between the phrases nucleophilic attack and nucleophilic catalysis. Nucleophilic attack means the bond-forming approach by an electron pair of the nucleophile to an electron-deficient site on the substrate. In nucleophilic catalysis this results in an increase in the rate of reaction relative to the rate in the absence of the catalyst. However, nucleophilic attack may not result in catalysis. Thus, if methylamine is reacted with a phenyl acetate, the reaction observed is amide formation, not hydrolysis, because the product of the nucleophilic attack is more stable than is the ester to hydrolysis. 

Yet another distinction is between intermolecular catalysis, in which the catalytic function and the reaction site are on different molecules, and intramolecular catalysis, in which the catalytic function and the reaction site are within the same molecule. All of the above examples constitute intermolecular catalyses. The following reaction, the hydrolysis of a monomaleate ester, is an intramolecular nucleophilic catalysis. 

Much of the study of kinetics constitutes a study of catalysis. The first goal is the determination of the rate equation, and examples have been given in Chapters 2 and 3, particularly Section 3.3, Model Building. The subsection following this one describes the dependence of rates on pH, and most of this dependence can be ascribed to acid—base catalysis. Here we treat a very simple but widely applicable method for the detection and measurement of general acid-base or nucleophilic catalysis. We consider aqueous solutions where the pH and p/f concepts are well understood, but similar methods can be applied in nonaqueous media. 

Distinction between General Base and Nucleophilic Catalysis... 

The rate constant /ct, determined by means of Eq. (6-47) or (6-48), may describe either general base or nucleophilic catalysis. To distinguish between these possibilities requires additional information. For example, in Section 3.3, we described a kinetic model for the N-methylimidazole-catalyzed acetylation of alcohols and experimental designs for the measurement of catalytic rate constants. These are summarized in Scheme XVIIl of Section 3.3, which we present here in slightly different form. 

The technique has also been applied to the distinction between general base and nucleophilic catalysis. ... 

There is also the possibility of mistaking nucleophilic catalysis for general base catalysis. Table 6-4 outlines some experimental techniques for distinguishing between these possibilities. 

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... 

Oxepin has also been converted photochemically to phenol in 74% yield. This reaction occurs under irradiation conditions by which benzene oxide is excited to a triplet state, e.g. by irradiation in acetone as solvent.207 A rare example for a nucleophilic catalysis of the aromatization of an oxepin/benzene oxide to a phenol has been reported for /err-butyl oxepin-4-carboxylate which undergoes a rearrangement reaction in the presence of trimethylamine to give a mixture of /m-butyl 3-hydroxybenzoate (94%) and 4-hydroxybenzoate (6%).243... 

Nucleophilic catalysis is also observed with iodide ions. Fluoride ion does not form nitrosyl fluoride under diazotization conditions, as is to be expected from Pearson s hard and soft acids and bases principle which was discussed briefly in Section 3.2. More recently, nucleophilic catalysis has also been shown to occur with thiocyanate ion (SCN ), thiosulfate ion (HS2Of), dimethyl sulfide, and thiourea (H2NCSNH2) or its alkyl derivatives (see below). 

The catalytic efficiency increases, under comparable conditions (pH, concentration of catalyst, etc.) in the sequence Cl < Br - S(CH3)2 < SCN < SC(NH2)2 < I . Titration with a calibrated solution of NaN02 (usually 0.05 to 0.10 m) is used for the analytical determination of aromatic amines, dissolved in aqueous H2S04 or HC1. Here nucleophilic catalysis is achieved by adding KBr. This allows a titration to be completed much faster than without that addition. 

For substituted anilines (Thompson and Williams, 1977) and for 1-naphthylamine and a series of derivatives thereof (Castro et al., 1986a), k2 and the ratio Ar 2/Ar3 have been determined for nucleophilic catalysis with Cl-, Br-, SCN-, and SC(NH2)2. The values of k2 correspond fairly well to those found for the diazotization of aniline, but those of Ar 2/Ar3 increase markedly in the above sequence (Table 3-1). As k3 is expected to be independent of the presence of Cl- or Br- and to show little dependence on that of SCN- or thiourea, the increase in k 2/k3 for this series must be due mainly to 2. Indeed, the value of log(Ar 2/Ar3) shows a linear correlation with Pearson s nucleophilicity parameter n (Pearson et al., 1968). This parameter is based on nucleophilic substitution of iodine (as I-) in methyl iodide by various nucleophiles. The three investigations on nucleophilic catalysis of diazotization demonstrate that Pearson s criteria for bimolecular nucleophilic substitution at sp3 carbon atoms are also applicable to substitution at nitrogen atoms. 

Nucleophilic catalysis of diazotizations by chloride ions was also observed in methanol, first by Schmid (1954) and later in a detailed investigation by Schelly (1972), which included work with methanol/CCl4 mixtures. 

Similar treatments of base catalysis are left as an exercise (Problem 10-13). There is for specific base catalysis an additional mechanism, known as nucleophilic catalysis. 

NMR line shape analysis, 260-263 Negative activation enthalpy, 162 Noncompetitive inhibitor, 93 Nucleophilic catalysis, 237-238 Numerical simulations, 112-119... 

The reaction between acyl halides and alcohols or phenols is the best general method for the preparation of carboxylic esters. It is believed to proceed by a 8 2 mechanism. As with 10-8, the mechanism can be S l or tetrahedral. Pyridine catalyzes the reaction by the nucleophilic catalysis route (see 10-9). The reaction is of wide scope, and many functional groups do not interfere. A base is frequently added to combine with the HX formed. When aqueous alkali is used, this is called the Schotten-Baumann procedure, but pyridine is also frequently used. Both R and R may be primary, secondary, or tertiary alkyl or aryl. Enolic esters can also be prepared by this method, though C-acylation competes in these cases. In difficult cases, especially with hindered acids or tertiary R, the alkoxide can be used instead of the alcohol. Activated alumina has also been used as a catalyst, for tertiary R. Thallium salts of phenols give very high yields of phenolic esters. Phase-transfer catalysis has been used for hindered phenols. Zinc has been used to couple... 

Another way to esterify a carboxylic acid is to treat it with an alcohol in the presence of a dehydrating agent. One of these is DCC, which is converted in the process to dicyclohexylurea (DHU). The mechanism has much in common with the nucleophilic catalysis mechanism the acid is converted to a compound with a better leaving group. However, the conversion is not by a tetrahedral mechanism (as it is in nucleophilic catalysis), since the C—O bond remains intact during this step ... 

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