Nucleophilic reactivity

Early evidence for the HSAB Principle came from studies of nucleophilic reactivity series towards different substrates, or electrophiles. Some electrophiles, such as H+, in proton transfer reactions or CH3CO substitution reactions of esters, reacted rapidly with bases that were strong bases towards the proton. Other electrophiles, such as Pt(II) or RO+, reacted rapidly with polarizable bases, and were indifferent to proton basicity. 

It soon became clear that these two classes should be called hard and soft electrophiles, respectively. Since the terms nucleophile and electrophile refer to rates of reaction, by definition, the acid-base reaction involved is 

The rate then depends on the stability of the activated complex B A B. This, in turn, depends mainly on the compatiblity of B and A, if relative rates for a series of nucleophiles, B, are compared. 

An important substrate for nucleophilic reactivity is methyl iodide. This serves as a model for substitution reactions at tetrahedral carbon in general, the Sn2 reaction 

The greatest amount of rate data is in methanol at 25 The values of n 

To assess the importance of nucleophilic substitution reactions of naturally occurring nucleophiles it is necessary to have some measure of their reactivity, relative to OH and HjO. A number of properties of nucleophiles, all of which are some measure of the nucleophile s ability to donate electrons to an electrophile, have been used to correlate nucleophilic reactivity. These closely related properties include basicity, oxidation potential, polarizability, ionization potential, electronegativity, energy of the highest filled molecular orbital, covalent bond strength, and size (Jencks, 1987). 

Environmentally significant nucleophiles are classified, according to Pearson s HSAB principle, as either hard, soft, or borderline (possessing intermediate hard-soft character) as follows  

The HSAB principle has been criticized because of the difficulty in defining the terms hard and soft quantitatively. More recently, Pearson (1983) has attempted to quantify the term hardness by defining hardness operationally as half the difference between ionization potential and electron affinity. 

Because of the qualitative nature of the HSAB model, it tells us nothing about the absolute value of kinetic rate constants. The usefulness of the HSAB model arises from its ability to predict the relative reactivities of nucleophiles with various substrates. For example, C-O cleavage of dimethyl phosphates results from nucleophilic attack at carbon, a soft electrophilic site (carbonium ions are soft electrophiles), whereas cleavage of the P-O bond results from nucleophilic attack at the phosphorus atom (P-O), a hard electrophilic site. Accordingly, reaction of dimethyl phosphate with a soft nucleophile, such as sulfide, would expect to occur mainly at the soft carbon center, resulting in C-O cleavage (2.79). On the other hand, nucleophilic attack by a hard nucleophile, such as hydroxide ion, is expected to occur predominantly at the hard phosphorus center (2.80). 

These predictions are consistent with experimental data on the competition between dealkylation and hydrolysis for the reactions of HS and OH with dimethyl phosphate (Schmidt, 1975). 

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As an application of this nucleophilic reactivity, 2-aminothiazole was used to partially convert into amide the polymer obtained from acrylic acid, benzene, and acetic anhydride (271). An aqueous medium is reported to favor the reaction between acetic anhydride and 2-aminothiazole (272). 

Even when deactivated by nitro substitution on C-5, the 2-aminothiazoles still undergo diazotization (35, 338-340). As with carbonyl derivatives (Section III.2.B), competition may occur between N nucleophilic reactivity and nitrosation of the 5-position when it is unsubstituted (341-344). 

Reactivity of A-4-thiazoline-2-thiones and derivatives involves four main possibilities nucleophilic reactivity of exocyclic sulfur atom or ring nitrogen, electrophilic reactivity of carbon 2 and electrophilic substitution on carbon 5. 

Nucleophilic reactivity of the sulfur atom has received most attention. When neutral or very acidic medium is used, the nucleophilic reactivity occurs through the exocyclic sulfur atom. Kinetic studies (110) measure this nucleophilicity- towards methyl iodide for various 3-methyl-A-4-thiazoline-2-thiones. Rate constants are 200 times greater for these compounds than for the isomeric 2-(methylthio)thiazole. Thus 3-(2-pyridyl)-A-4-thiazoline-2-thione reacts at sulfur with methyl iodide (111). Methyl substitution on the ring doubles the rate constant. This high reactivity at sulfur means that, even when an amino (112, 113) or imino group (114) occupies the 5-position of the ring, alkylation takes place on sulfiu. For the same reason, 2-acetonyi derivatives are sometimes observed as by-products in the heterocyclization reaction of dithiocarba-mates with a-haloketones (115, 116). 

Since the exocyclic sulfur is more reactive in the ambident anion than in A-4-thiazoIine-2-thione. greater nucleophilic reactivity is to be expected. Thus a large variety of thioethers were prepared in good yields starting from alkylhalides (e.g.. Scheme 38 (54, 91, 111, 166-179). lactones (54, 160), aryl halides (54, 152. 180, 181), acyl chlorides (54. 149, 182-184). halothiazoles (54, 185-190), a-haloesters (149. 152. 177. 191-194), cyanuric chloride (151). fV.N-dimethylthiocarbamoyl chloride (151, 152. 195. 196), /3-chloroethyl ester of acrylic acid (197), (3-dimethylaminoethyl chloride (152). l,4-dichloro-2-butyne (152), 1,4-dichloro-2-butene (152), and 2-chloro-propionitrile (152). A general... 

The rearrangement discovered by Kolosova et al. probably involves such reactivit (159). This reaction provides a good preparative method for various 5-amino-methylthiazoles (Scheme 43). No mechanism is proposed in the report, and it is not easy to understand how the C-5 enamine-like position competes with the very nucleophilic thiocarbonyl group of the formed A-4-thiazoline-2-thione. An alternative mechanism could start with ethanol addition at C-2. leading to the A-4-thiazoline (90) (Scheme 44). In this intermediate, C-5 nucleophilic reactivity would be favored bv the true enaminic structure. After alkylation on C-5,... 

Nucleophilic reactivity of exocyclic sulfur appears in acidic medium. 2-AryI thiazolyl sulfones are obtained from the corresponding sulfides by oxidation with HjO- in HOAc at 100°C (272). The same oxidation takes place with alkyl sulfides (203. 214, 273-275) and dithiazolylsulfides (129). However, the same reaction with 2-benzylthio derivatives gives benzylal-cohol and the related A-4-thiazoline-2-thione (169). 

The nucleophilic reactivity of the oxygen has been observed in acetylation by acetic anhydride of 2-aryl- and 2-heteroaryl-A-2-thiazoline-4-ones (181) (388, 397, 410, 414, 416, 419, 422, 426. 427) and methylation of 5-(4 -chlorophenyl)-A-2-thiazoline-4-one (416) (Scheme 94). 

Scheme 97). Stepanov has thoroughly studied this nucleophilic reactivity some examples are given in Refs. 423 and 424. The formation of 5-benzylidene derivatives involves the same nucleophilic reactivity (422). 5-Benzothiazoline and 5-benzose enazoline derivatives of 2-diphenylaminothiazoline-4-one, have been obtained by nucleophilic addition of the thiazolone on the corresponding benzothiazolium or ben-zoselenazolium salts (433). 

Several examples of the nucleophilic reactivity of the C-4 atom are known. 2-Phenyl-5 (4HVthiazolinone (212) has been condensed with various aldehydes or ketones in tetrahydrofuran with triethylamine as a catalyst to give 217 (Scheme 110) (392. 442, 444. 445, 447. 450). Mono... 

Oxidative dimerization of various 2-benzyloxy-2-thiazoline-5-ones (222) catalyzed by iodine and triethylamine is another example of the nucleophilic reactivity of the C-4 atom (469) (Scheme 112). Treatment of 212 with pyrrolidinocyclohexene yields the amide (223) (Scheme 113). The mechanism given for the formation of 223 is proposed by analogy with the reactivitx of oxazolones with enamines (4701. 4-Substituted 2-phenylthiazol-5(4Hi-ones react with A -morphoiino-l-cyclohexene in a similar manner (562j. Recently. Barret and Walker have studied the Michael addition products... 

With respect to thiazole, the selenazole system displays a lesser nucleophilic reactivity in the 2-position and a greater electrophilic reactivity of the 5-position, but undergoes fission of the cycle more easily. 

A more unusual fact observed in thiazole chemistiy is that also the other positions (4 and 5) are activated toward the nucleophilic substitution, as found independently by Metzger and coworkers (46) and by Todesco and coworkers (30, 47). Some kinetic data are reported in Table V-2. As the data in Table V-2 indicate, no simple relationship between nucleophilic reactivity and charge density, or other parameters available from more or less sophisticated calculation methods, can be applied. As a... 

The nucleophilic reactivity of 2-halogenothiazoles is strongly affected by the substituent effect, depending on the kind of substitution reaction. Positions 4 and 5 can be considered as meta and para , respectively, with regard to carbon 2 and to groups linked to it consequently, it is possible to correlate the reactivity data with Hammett s relationships. 

In most of their reactions phenols behave as nucleophiles and the reagents that act on them are electrophiles Either the hydroxyl oxygen or the aromatic ring may be the site of nucleophilic reactivity m a phenol Reactions that take place on the ring lead to elec trophilic aromatic substitution Table 24 4 summarizes the behavior of phenols m reac tions of this type... 

Tri- and pentacoordinate phosphoms compounds often react by electron-pair mechanisms as demonstrated by the nucleophilic reactivity of the lone pair electrons in trivalent compounds, and the electrophilicity of the phosphoms atom in the pentavalent compounds. Some compounds also react by free-radical mechanisms. The theoretical and synthetic aspects of the chemistry of phosphoms compounds have been described (6—9). 

Reactions other than those of the nucleophilic reactivity of alkyl sulfates iavolve reactions with hydrocarbons, thermal degradation, sulfonation, halogenation of the alkyl groups, and reduction of the sulfate groups. Aromatic hydrocarbons, eg, benzene and naphthalene, react with alkyl sulfates when cataly2ed by aluminum chloride to give Fhedel-Crafts-type alkylation product mixtures (59). Isobutane is readily alkylated by a dipropyl sulfate mixture from the reaction of propylene ia propane with sulfuric acid (60). 

Results for the neutral pyrazole molecule show a considerable spread. The tt-electron and total (Tr-l-cr) densities predict electrophilic substitution at the 4-position as found. Results for thiazole also agree with experimentally determined electrophilic and nucleophilic reactivity. 

The study of the chemistry of carbonyl compounds has shown that they can act as carbon nucleophiles in the presence of acid catalysts as well as bases. The nucleophilic reactivity of carbonyl compounds in acidic solution is due to the presence of the enol tautomer. Enolization in acidic solution is catalyzed by O-protonation. Subsequent deprotonation at carbon gives the enol ... 

The simplest method for obtaining selective fluonnation is to conduct reactions under conditions that invigorate the electrophilicity of fluorine In practice this method entails the creation of anionic or strongly nucleophilic reactive centers on substrate molecules while suppressing or reducing the tendency toward radical attack Numerous examples of seleetive fluorine attack on carbanionic, amido and carboxylato species are documented Especially abundant is alpha fluonnation of nitroalkanes in polar solvents [42 43, 44, 45 46] (equations 10-14)... 

Conversion of 3-chloropentafluoropropene to 1 chlorodifluoromethyl-1,2,2-trifluorooxirane in alkaline solution is negatively influenced by the high nucleophilic reactivity of allyhc chlorine [14] The reaction is performed at very low temperature to favor the attack of hydroperoxyl anion in a competition with hydroxyl anion Acceptable yields of 31-38% are obtained in the presence of a phase-transfer catalyst [14] (equation 8)... 

Other measures of nucleophilicity have been proposed. Brauman et al. studied Sn2 reactions in the gas phase and applied Marcus theory to obtain the intrinsic barriers of identity reactions. These quantities were interpreted as intrinsic nucleo-philicities. Streitwieser has shown that the reactivity of anionic nucleophiles toward methyl iodide in dimethylformamide (DMF) is correlated with the overall heat of reaction in the gas phase he concludes that bond strength and electron affinity are the important factors controlling nucleophilicity. The dominant role of the solvent in controlling nucleophilicity was shown by Parker, who found solvent effects on nucleophilic reactivity of many orders of magnitude. For example, most anions are more nucleophilic in DMF than in methanol by factors as large as 10, because they are less effectively shielded by solvation in the aprotic solvent. Liotta et al. have measured rates of substitution by anionic nucleophiles in acetonitrile solution containing a crown ether, which forms an inclusion complex with the cation (K ) of the nucleophile. These rates correlate with gas phase rates of the same nucleophiles, which, in this crown ether-acetonitrile system, are considered to be naked anions. The solvation of anionic nucleophiles is treated in Section 8.3. 

I, pp. 162-8 jencks PP- uses the selectivity—reactivity relationship between Br nsted slopes and nucleophilic reactivity to distinguish between general acid catalysis and specific acid—general base catalysis. 

Sn2 reactions with anionic nucleophiles fall into this class, and observations are generally in accord with the qualitative prediction. Unusual effects may be seen in solvents of low dielectric constant where ion pairing is extensive, and we have already commented on the enhanced nucleophilic reactivity of anionic nucleophiles in dipolar aprotic solvents owing to their relative desolvation in these solvents. Another important class of ion-molecule reaction is the hydroxide-catalyzed hydrolysis of neutral esters and amides. Because these reactions are carried out in hydroxy lie solvents, the general medium effect is confounded with the acid-base equilibria of the mixed solvent lyate species. (This same problem occurs with Sn2 reactions in hydroxylic solvents.) This equilibrium is established in alcohol-water mixtures ... 

Table 8-8 gives some nonelectrolyte transfer free energies, and Table 8-9 lists single ion transfer activity coefficients. Note especially the remarkable values for anions in dipolar aprotic solvents, indicating extensive desolvation in these solvents relative to methanol. This is consistent with the enhanced nucleophilic reactivity of anions in dipolar aprotic solvents. Parker and Blandamer have considered transfer activity coefficients for binary aqueous mixtures. 

Experimental evidence, obtained in protonation (3,6), acylation (1,4), and alkylation (1,4,7-9) reactions, always indicates a concurrence between electrophilic attack on the nitrogen atom and the -carbon atom in the enamine. Concerning the nucleophilic reactivity of the j3-carbon atom in enamines, Opitz and Griesinger (10) observed, in a study of salt formation, the following series of reactivities of the amine and carbonyl components pyrrolidine and hexamethylene imine s> piperidine > morpholine > cthyl-butylamine cyclopentanone s> cycloheptanone cyclooctanone > cyclohexanone monosubstituted acetaldehyde > disubstituted acetaldehyde. 

Hydrolysis of an enamine yields a carbonyl compound and a secondary amine. Only a few rate constants are mentioned in the literature. The rate of hydrolysis of l-(jS-styryl)piperidine and l-(l-hexenyl)piperidine have been determined in 95% ethanol at 20°C 13). The values for the first-order rate constants are 4 x 10 sec and approximately 10 sec , respectively. Apart from steric effects the difference in rate may be interpreted in terms of resonance stabilization by the phenyl group on the vinyl amine structure, thus lowering the nucleophilic reactivity of the /3-carbon atom of that enamine. 

Another way to assess nucleophilic reactivity is to examii the shape of the nucleophile s electron-donor orbital (th is the highest-occupied molecular orbital or HOMC Examine the shape of each anion s HOMO. At which ato would an electrophile, like methyl bromide, find the be orbital overlap (Note This would involve overlap of tl the HOMO of the nucleophile and the lowest-unoccupif molecular orbital or LUMO of CH3Br.) Draw all of tl products that might result from an Sn2 reaction wi CHaBr at these atoms. 

The pyrylium cation possesses, according to the substituents in positions 2, 4, and 6, a more or less pronounced electrophilic reactivity which enables it to add nucleophiles in these positions. According to the nucleophilic reactivity and the carbon basicity " of the anions, an ion pair (a substituted pyrylium cation and an anion halide, perchlorate, sulfate, fluoroborate, chloroferrate, etc.), or a covalently bonded 2H- or 4//-pyran may be formed. With the more basic anions... 

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