Orientational steric effects

If, on the other hand, the encounter pair were an oriented structure, positional selectivity could be retained for a different reason and in a different quantitative sense. Thus, a monosubstituted benzene derivative in which the substituent was sufficiently powerfully activating would react with the electrophile to give three different encounter pairs two of these would more readily proceed to the substitution products than to the starting materials, whilst the third might more readily break up than go to products. In the limit the first two would be giving substitution at the encounter rate and, in the absence of steric effects, products in the statistical ratio whilst the third would not. If we consider particular cases, there is nothing in the rather inadequate data available to discourage the view that, for example, in the cases of toluene or phenol, which in sulphuric acid are nitrated at or near the encounter rate, the... 

If the medium is sufficiently basic to generate the arabident anion 31. mixtures of products resulting from N-nng and N-exocyclic reactivity are observed. Here again steric effects can preferentially orient the whole reaction toward one of the two nitrogens. A general study clearly delineating the rules of behavior for 31 accordine to the nature of R. the... 

Resonance effects are the primary influence on orientation and reactivity in electrophilic substitution. The common activating groups in electrophilic aromatic substitution, in approximate order of decreasing effectiveness, are —NR2, —NHR, —NH2, —OH, —OR, —NO, —NHCOR, —OCOR, alkyls, —F, —Cl, —Br, —1, aryls, —CH2COOH, and —CH=CH—COOH. Activating groups are ortho- and para-directing. Mixtures of ortho- and para-isomers are frequently produced the exact proportions are usually a function of steric effects and reaction conditions. 

Thermolysis of the aziridine (446) in the presence of diphenylketene gave a mixture of the pyrrolidone (447 minor product) and the oxazolidine (448 major product). In this instance the preferential addition to the C=0 bond is explained in terms of steric effects (72CC199). Similar addition to diphenylacetaldehyde takes place with the same orientation and the oxazolidine (448a) was obtained. When the reaction of the aziridine with the aldehyde was carried out in the presence of hydrogen selenide a selenazolidine was obtained (72BSB295). 

The scope of heteroaryne or elimination-addition type of substitution in aromatic azines seems likely to be limited by its requirement for a relatively unactivated leaving group, for an adjacent ionizable substituent or hydrogen atom, and for a very strong base. However, reaction via the heteroaryne mechanism may occur more frequently than is presently appreciated. For example, it has been recently shown that in the reaction of 4-chloropyridine with lithium piperidide, at least a small amount of aryne substitution accompanies direct displacement. The ratio of 4- to 3-substitution was 996 4 and, therefore, there was 0.8% or more pyridyne participation. Heteroarynes are undoubtedly subject to orientation and steric effects which frequently lead to the overwhelming predominance of... 

The question of the occurrence of cine or aryne substitution in some of these reactions has been raised but not answered adequately. The normal product, 2-methoxynaphthalene was shown to be formed from 2-chloronaphthalene and methoxide ion, and the normal 6- and 8-piperidinoquinolines were proved to be products of piperidino-debromination of 6- and 8-bromoquinolines, all in unspecified yield. More highly activated compounds were then assumed not to react via the aryne mechanism. Even if the major product had been characterized, the occurrence of a substantial or predominant amount of aryne reaction may escape notice when strong orientation or steric effects lead to formation of the normal displacement product from the aryne. A substantial amoimt of concurrent aryne reaction may also escape detection if it yields an amount of cine-substituted material easily removed in purification or if the entire reaction mixture is not chromatographed Kauffman and Boettcher have demonstrated that activated compounds such as 4-chloropyridine do indeed react partially via the aryne mechanism (Section I,C,1). 

A variety of such ternary catalytic systems has been developed for diastereoselective carbon-carbon bond formations (Table). A Cp-substituted vanadium catalyst is superior to the unsubstituted one,3 whereas a reduced species generated from VOCl3 and a co-reductant is an excellent catalyst for the reductive coupling of aromatic aldehydes.4 A trinuclear complex derived from Cp2TiCl2 and MgBr2 is similarly effective for /-selective pinacol coupling.5 The observed /-selectivity may be explained by minimization of steric effects through anti-orientation of the bulky substituents in the intermediate. 

In some cases one finds that steric effects lead to clear changes in activity. The most obvious examples are the cases where the enzyme or the substrate are modified so that the reacting part of the substrate cannot assume the proper orientation in the active site. For example, introducing a bulky... 

Formation of trans isomers in overwhelming predominance in the ISOC reaction leading to five-membered rings (Entries a-d) has been ascribed to the orientation in which H% H , and R are on the exo face of TS 182b (this avoids a possible strain between R and NO or between H and [48b] that is presumably present in TS 182 a). Since elimination of silanol involving H in no way interferes with the orientation of H and R, a trans relationship between H and is abundantly clear. This fully accords with the widely accepted view that approach of the dipole and dipolarophile takes place in two parallel planes [49] and that the endo TS is preferred in the absence of obvious steric effects [50]. Formation of approximately 5% cis isomer when the dipolarophile terminus is disubstituted is accountable in terms of the cycloaddition taking place via TS 182a. 

The TS proposed for these proline-catalyzed reactions is very similar to that for the proline-catalyzed aldol addition (see p. 132). In the case of imines, however, the aldehyde substituent is directed toward the enamine double bond because of the dominant steric effect of the (V-aryl substituent. This leads to formation of syn isomers, whereas the aldol reaction leads to anti isomers. This is the TS found to be the most stable by B3LYP/6-31G computations.199 The proton transfer is essentially complete at the TS. As with the aldol addition TS, the enamine is oriented anti to the proline carboxy group in the most stable TS. 

The lack of clear-cut hallucinogen-type activity for the 2-aminotetralins could be explained in several ways. The known deleterious effect of molecular bulk in the alpha-position would seem to direct attention to the steric effect of the reduced ring of the tetralins as detrimental to activity. In 18b, however, it has been noted (156) that the 5-methoxy group is forced out of plane by the adjacent 6-methyl and 4-methylene groups. The importance to activity of maintaining the methoxy groups coplanar with the aromatic ring has been emphasized earlier. Both substituent orientation and N-alkylation must also be important to activity, and it may not be realistic to make direct comparisons between the phenethyl-amines and the 2-aminotetralins. 

In addition to steric effects, which make use of repulsive interactions between a reactant molecule and the environment of the active site, it is also possible to make use of attractive interactions. An example of this is the selective terminal activation of hexane by Co-AlPO. The high selectivity in the oxidation of hexane to 1,6-hexanediacid over a Co-AlPO (Co/Al = 0.1) catalyst was attributed to the attractive interaction of the hexane molecule with the cage wall of AlPO, orienting the molecule in such a way that the two terminal carbons are in close proximity to the two Co atoms. 

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