Nucleophilic reactions rate-determining step

Assuming that the rate determining step in the reaction of 1 hexanol with hydrogen bro mide to give 1 bromohexane is an attack by a nucleophile on an alkyloxonium ion write an equa tion for this step Use curved arrows to show the flow of electrons... 

The reaction occurs in two stages Only the first stage involves nucleophilic substitution It IS the rate determining step... 

The Stvfl mechanism is an ionization mechanism The nucleophile does not participate until after the rate determining step has taken place Thus the effects of nucleophile and alkyl halide structure are expected to be different from those observed for reactions pro ceedmg by the 8 2 pathway How the structure of the alkyl halide affects the rate of Stvfl reactions is the topic of the next section... 

Generally, the reactions of halopyrazines and haloquinoxalines with nucleophiles are believed to proceed by way of addition/elimination sequences, although there are clear-cut examples where this is not the case (see Section 2.14.2.2) and, consistent with a mechanism which involves bond forming, rather than bond breaking, reactions in the rate-determining step, fluoro derivatives are considerably more reactive ca. xlO ) than the corresponding chloro derivatives. 

The effect of conformation on reactivity is intimately associated with the details of the mechanism of a reaction. The examples of Scheme 3.2 illustrate some of the w s in which substituent orientation can affect reactivity. It has been shown that oxidation of cis-A-t-butylcyclohexanol is faster than oxidation of the trans isomer, but the rates of acetylation are in the opposite order. Let us consider the acetylation first. The rate of the reaction will depend on the fiee energy of activation for the rate-determining step. For acetylation, this step involves nucleophilic attack by the hydroxyl group on the acetic anhydride carbonyl... 

Because the nucleophile is intimately involved in the rate-determining step, not only will the rate depend on its concentration, but the nature of the nucleophile will be very important in determining the rate of the reaction. This is in marked contrast to the ionization mechanism, in wiiich the identity and concentration of the nucleophile do not affect the rate of the reaction. 

Diffusion-limited rate control at high basicity may set in. This is more eommonly seen in a true Br nsted plot. If the rate-determining step is a proton transfer, and if this is diffusion controlled, then variation in base strength will not affect the rate of reaction. Thus, 3 may be zero at high basicity, whereas at low basicity a dependence on pK may be seen. ° Yang and Jencks ° show an example in the nucleophilic attack of aniline on methyl formate catalyzed by oxygen bases. 

The first step, which is rate determining, is an ionization to a carbocation (carbonium ion in earlier terminology) intermediate, which reacts with the nucleophile in the second step. Because the transition state for the rate-determining step includes R-X but not Y , the reaction is unimolecular and is labeled S l. First-order kinetics are involved, with the rate being independent of the nucleophile identity and concentration. 

The notion of concurrent SnI and Sn2 reactions has been invoked to account for kinetic observations in the presence of an added nucleophile and for heat capacities of activation,but the hypothesis is not strongly supported. Interpretations of borderline reactions in terms of one mechanism rather than two have been more widely accepted. Winstein et al. have proposed a classification of mechanisms according to the covalent participation by the solvent in the transition state of the rate-determining step. If such covalent interaction occurs, the reaction is assigned to the nucleophilic (N) class if covalent interaction is absent, the reaction is in the limiting (Lim) class. At their extremes these categories become equivalent to Sn and Sn , respectively, but the dividing line between Sn and Sn does not coincide with that between N and Lim. For example, a mass-law effect, which is evidence of an intermediate and therefore of the SnI mechanism, can be observed for some isopropyl compounds, but these appear to be in the N class in aqueous media. 

Factors that affect the rate-determining step (171 172) will influence the overall rate of reaction. A stronger nucleophile, such as hydrazine, is certainly more efficient than hydroxide, but no studies have been reported on the alternative variation of the electrophilicity of the 4-carbonyl group. Ring-opening may occur at either the 3 4.35,91,136,136 qj. 1 2-bouds in pyridopyrimidine-2,4(lH,-... 

There is a large amount of evidence for the Sn2 mechanism. First, there is the kinetic evidence. Since both the nucleophile and the substrate are involved in the rate-determining step (the only step, in this case), the reaction should be first order in each component, second order overall, and satisfy the rate expression... 

The first step is a slow ionization of the substrate and is the rate-determining step. The second is a rapid reaction between the intermediate carbocation and the nucleophile. The ionization is always assisted by the solvent, since the energy necessary to break the bond is largely recovered by solvation of R" " and of X. For example, the ionization of f-BuCl to f-Bu" and Cl" in the gas phase without a solvent requires ISOkcalmol" (630kJmol" ). In the absence of a solvent such a process simply would not take place, except at very high temperatures. In water, this... 

In contrast to such systems, substrates of the type RCOX are usually much more reactive than the corresponding RCH2X. Of course, the mechanism here is almost always the tetrahedral one. Three reasons can be given for the enhanced reactivity of RCOX (1) The carbonyl carbon has a sizable partial positive charge that makes it very attractive to nucleophiles. (2) In an Sn2 reaction a cr bond must break in the rate-determining step, which requires more energy than the shift of a pair of n electrons, which is what happens in a tetrahedral mechanism. (3) A trigonal carbon offers less steric hindrance to a nucleophile than a tetrahedral carbon. 

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