Nucleophilic substitution, aromatic deuterium exchange

Indications of the occurrence of cycloaddition were first obtained from reactions of specifically deuterated allyl anions with tetrafluoroethylene. Assuming that no hydrogen/deuterium exchange occurs in the collision complex as shown for the allyl anions themselves (Dawson el al., 1979a), the results obtained (Nibbering, 1979) may be interpreted as indicating that 65% of the allyl anions react by a linear addition (51), 20% by a [2 + 2] atom cycloaddition (52) and 15% by a [2 + 3] atom cycloaddition. (53). It should be noted here that the precise mechanistic details of the losses of HF molecules from the collision complexes in eqns (51)—(53) are not known. However, in view of the nucleophilic aromatic substitution discussed in the previous section, it is quite likely that they occur in a stepwise fashion in which complexes solvated by fluoride anions play a role. 

Four nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions with amines have been studied for deuterium isotope effects. Hawthorne (81) found that the rates of reaction of o- and p- nitrochlorobenzene with piperidine in xylene are not altered by substitution of deuterium for hydrogen on the amino group of the nucleophile. Similarly, 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene reacts at identical rates with -butylamine and with iV,iV-dideuterio-n-butylamine containing 0.75% ethanol (76). Under the conditions of the rate measurements the deuterated amine does not undergo exchange with either the chloroform or the ethanol present. Finally, the reaction of trichloro-s-triazene with aniline shows no isotope effect with AT,JV-dideuterioaniline in benzene as well as in benzene saturated with deuterium oxide (82). 

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