Nucleophilic substitution reactions basicity

Carbonates undergo nucleophilic substitution reactions analogous to chloroformates except in this case, an OR group (rather than chloride) is replaced by a more basic group. Normally these reactions are cataly2ed by bases. Carbonates are sometimes preferred over chloroformates because formation of hydrogen chloride as a by-product is avoided, which simplifies handling. However, the reactivity of carbonates toward nucleophiles is considerably less than chloroformates. 

The term nucleophilicity refers to the effect of a Lewis base on the rate of a nucleophilic substitution reaction and may be contrasted with basicity, which is defined in terms of the position of an equilibrium reaction with a proton or some other acid. Nucleophilicity is used to describe trends in the kinetic aspects of substitution reactions. The relative nucleophilicity of a given species may be different toward various reactants, and it has not been possible to devise an absolute scale of nucleophilicity. We need to gain some impression of the structural features that govern nucleophilicity and to understand the relationship between nucleophilicity and basicity. ... 

Azide is widely useful as a surrogate for ammonia in nucleophilic substitution reactions, due to its high nucleophilicity, low basicity, and stability towards a variety of conditions for subsequent transformations. In particular, the azidolysis of... 

Alternatively, the Sn2 nucleophilic substitution reaction between alcohols (phenols) and organic halides under basic conditions is the classical Williamson ether synthesis. Recently, it was found that water-soluble calix[n]arenes (n = 4, 6, 8) containing trimethylammonium groups on the upper rim (e.g., calix[4]arene 5.2) were inverse phase-transfer catalysts for alkylation of alcohols and phenols with alkyl halides in aqueous NaOH solution to give the corresponding alkylated products in good-to-high yields.56... 

In a comparative study of fluorination of l,2 3,4-di-0-isopropyli-dene-6-O-p-tolylsulfonyl-a-D-galactopyranose with tetrabutylammonium fluoride in a variety of dipolar, aprotic solvents (as well as 1,2-eth-anediol, in which no reaction was observed), acetonitrile was found to give the highest proportion of substitution of the sulfonic esters relative to their elimination.106 Elimination is the major, competing reaction in these nucleophilic-substitution reactions, because of the high basicity and low nucleophilicity of the fluoride ion or, in terms of the... 

Nucleophilic substitution reactions of halide anions in aprotic solvents are often accompanied by elimination reactions. For instance, reactions of secondary alkyl halides with potassium fluoride solubilized in acetonitrile with the aid of 18-crown-6 [3] give olefins as the main reaction product (Liotta and Harris, 1974). Similarly, the dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6 complex of potassium iodide acted exclusively as a base in its reaction with 2-bromo-octane in DMF (Sam and Simmons, 1974). The strongly basic character of weakly solvated fluoride has been exploited in peptide synthesis (Klausner and Chorev, 1977 Chorev and Klausner, 1976). It was shown that potassium fluoride solubilized... 

In contrast with the reactions involving sulphide or hydrogen sulphide anions, aryl alkyl thioethers and unsymmetrical dialkyl thioethers (Table 4.3) are obtained conveniently by the analogous nucleophilic substitution reactions between haloalkanes and aryl or alkylthiols under mildly basic conditions in the presence of a quaternary ammonium salt [9-15] or polymer-supported quaternary ammonium salt [16]. Dimethyl carbonate is a very effective agent in the formation of methyl thioethers (4.1.4.B) [17]. 

From Chapter 7 it is apparent that the trichloromethyl anion is formed under basic conditions from chloroform, as a precursor of the carbene. The anion can also react with Jt-deficient alkenes (see Section 7.3) and participate in nucleophilic substitution reactions, e.g. 1,1-diacyloxy compounds are converted into 1,1,1-trichloroalkan-2-ols [58] (Scheme 6.35). Similarly, benzyl bromides are converted into (2-bromoethynyl)arenes via an initial nucleophilic displacement followed by elimination of hydrogen bromide [59] (Scheme 6.35). 

Going over the basics and mechanisms of nucleophilic substitution reactions Mastering mechanisms of elimination/addition reactions Determining synthesis strategies for aromatic systems... 

The basic concepts of nucleophilic substitution reactions appeared in the first semester of organic chemistry. These reactions follow or Sp 2 mechanisms. (In aromatic nucleophilic substitution mechanism, we use the designation Sp Ar.) In Sfjl and Sp 2 mechanisms, a nucleophile attacks the organic species and substitutes for a leaving group. In aromatic systems, the same concepts remain applicable, but with some differences that result from the inherent stability of aromatic systems. 

The basic reaction for a nucleophilic substitution reaction to produce an amine. 

A mathematical analysis of all four isomeric thiadiazoles by the simple molecular orbital method has provided molecular diagrams of the free base and conjugate acid of each thiadiazole, with electron densities, bond orders, and free valencies. On this basis, predictions have been made concerning the reactivities of the six non-equivalent carbon atoms, the basicities of the nitrogen atoms, and the delocalization energies in these molecules. The 5-position in free 1,2,4-thiadiazole should possess maximum reactivity in nucleophilic substitution reactions. The treatment also accounts for the order of the polarographic half-wave potentials and the position of the absorption maxima in the ultraviolet region of the spectra of 1,2,4- and 1,3,4-thiadiazoles.4... 

Unlike the nucleophilic substitution reactions which generate stable onium halide after the reaction, nucleophilic additions to electrophilic C=X double bonds (X=C, N, O) provide rather basic onium anion species as an initial product. If the anion is sufficiently stable under the reaction conditions, onium anion will then exchange the counter ion for the other metal carbanion at the interface to regenerate the reactive onium carbanion Q+R. In another scenario, the basic onium anion may abstract the acidic hydrogen atom of the other substrate to provide Q 1 R directly. Such a reaction system ideally requires only a catalytic amount of the base although, in general, a substoichiometric or excess amount of the base is used to lead the reaction to completion. An additional feature of this system is the substantial possibility of a retro-process at the crucial asymmetric induction step, which might be problematic in some cases. 

Basically, two different routes are conceivable for their asymmetric construction 1) nucleophilic substitution reaction with a fluoride anion and 2) electrophilic addition of fluoronium cations to activated or masked carbanions. First attempts on enantioselective nucleophilic fluorination date back to the pioneering work of Hann and Sampson [3]. In an ambitious dehydroxylation/fluorination sequence the authors reacted a racemic a-trimethylsiloxy ester with a half molar equivalent of an enantiomerically pure proline-derived aminofluorosulphurane in hope to achieve a kinetic resolution. Unfortunately, the fluorinated product was obtained without significant enantiomeric excess. 

Although nucleophilicity and basicity are interrelated, they are fundamentally different. Basicity is a measure of how readily an atom donates its electron pair to a proton it is characterized by an equilibrium constant Kg in an acid-base reaction, making it a thermodynamic property. Nucleophilicity is a measure of how readily an atom donates its electron pair to other atoms it is characterized by the rate constant, k, of a nucleophilic substitution reaction, making it a kinetic property. 

We give below the basic data obtained from a systematic study of the factors (tetermining the mechanism and stoichiometry of the nucleophilic substitution reactions used for the synthesis of cellulose derivatives. 

The acetylide ion is a strongly basic and nucleophilic species which can induce nucleophilic substitution at positive carbon centres. Acetylene is readily converted by sodium amide in liquid ammonia to sodium acetylide. In the past alkylations were predominantly carried out in liquid ammonia. The alkylation of alkylacetylenes and arylacetylenes is carried out in similar fashion to that of acetylene. Nucleophilic substitution reactions of the alkali metal acetylides are limited to primary halides which are not branched in the -position. Primary halides branched in the P-position as well as secondary and tertiary halides undergo elimination to olefins by the NaNH2. The rate of reaction with halides is in the order I > Br > Cl, but bromides are generally preferred. In the case of a,o)-chloroiodoalkanes and a,to-bromoiodoalkanes. 

It is interesting to note that zeolite KY, which is most effective in promoting the benzylation mentioned above, has both moderately acidic and moderately basic sites. This suggests that the nucleophilic substitution reaction can be induced most efficiently by the cooperative function of weakly acidic and weakly basic sites alcohol and benzyl chloride molecules are located accessible to each other on the acidic and basic sites where the nucleophilicity of the OH group of the alcohol is enhanced by a basic site, and benzyl chloride is activated concertedly by an acidic site (Fig. 1). 

Like other acid derivatives, acid chlorides typically undergo nucleophilic substitution. Chlorine is expelled as chloride ion or hydrogen chloride, and its place is taken by some other basic group. Because of the carbonyl group these reactions take place much more rapidly than the corresponding nucleophilic substitution reactions of the alkyl halides. Acid chlorides are the most reactive of the derivatives of carboxylic acids. 

We take up the aryl halides in a separate chapter because they differ so much from the alkyl halides in their preparation and properties. Aryl halides as a class are comparatively unreactive toward the nucleophilic substitution reactions so characteristic of the alkyl halides. The presence of certain other groups on the aromatic ring, however, greatly increases the reactivity of aryl halides in the absence of such groups, reaction can still be brought about by very basic reagents or high temperatures. We shall find that nucleophilic aromatic substitution can follow two very different paths the bimolecular displacement mechanism for activated aryl halides and the elimination-addition mechanismy which involves the remarkable intermediate called benzyne. 

Warming the sulfonium salt (5) may cause elimination of a p-hydrogen to yield a mixture of the sulfide and the alkene, i.e. route (iv) in Scheme 3. On the other hand, proton abstraction from (5) by treatment with a strong base gives the sulfur ylide (6) which can undergo molecular rearrangement to form the sulfide (7). Sulfonium salts are unstable in basic media as a result of their tendency to undergo nucleophilic substitution reactions. 

We envisioned that the nucleophilic substitution reaction of alkyl halides with amines will be accelerated by microwave energy because of their polar nature. Indeed, a friendlier synthesis of tertiary amines via direct JV-alkylation of primary and secondary amines by alkyl halides under MW irradiation is possible the reaction proceeds in basic water witliout any phase transfer reagent. ... 

Most of the enzyme modification reactions, and hence of the coupling reactions, are nucleophilic reactions, in particular bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reactions following an 5 2-type mechanism. Therefore, the chemical reactivity is basically a function of nucleophilicity of the amino acid side chain. Following the overall nucleophilic order of Edwards and Pearson [22], the sulfhydryl group of cysteine is the most potent nucleophile in the protein, especially in its thiolate form. 

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