Phosphate ester hydrolysis metaphosphate intermediates

J. P. Guthrie, Hydration and Dehydration of Phosphoric Acid Derivatives Free Energies of Formation of the Pentacoordinate Intermediates for Phosphate Ester Hydrolysis and of Monomeric Metaphosphate, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1977, 99, 3391. 

Phosphate esters have a variety of mechanistic paths for hydrolysis. Both C-O and P-0 cleavage are possible depending on the situation. A phosphate monoanion is a reasonable leaving group for nucleophilic substitution at carbon and so 8 2 or SnI reactions of neutral phosphate esters are well known. PO cleavage can occur by associative (by way of a pentacoordinate intermediate), dissociative (by way of a metaphosphate species), or concerted (avoiding both of these intermediates) mechanisms. 

Many mechanistic aspects of the hydrolysis of phosphate esters in protic media remain uncertain. In spite of predictions that racemization at phosphorus should be the final outcome if indeed the (hypothetical) metaphosphate intermediate is involved in the solvolysis of monoesters, the results of several studies on the methanolysis of appropriately O-isotopically labelled compounds are consistent with reactions proceeding with inversion of configuration, as observed for all enzymic and non-enzymic systems so far examined this has resulted in the suggestion that if metaphosphate is actually formed, then it must be in a masked form. 

Linear free-energy relationships (LFER) with monoanionic phosphorylated pyr-idines indicate a loose transition state in which metaphosphate is not an intermediate.16 The hydrolysis of the monoanion of 2,4-dinitrophenyl phosphate is thought to be concerted,39 but the possibility of a metaphosphate intermediate has not been ruled out with esters having less activated leaving groups. A stereochemical study of the hydrolysis of phenyl phosphate monoanion indicates that the reaction proceeds with inversion.21 This result implies either a concerted mechanism, or a discrete metaphosphate intermediate in a pre-associative mechanism. 

Thus, even though free metaphosphate anion cannot be considered a mechanistically significant intermediate in enzyme-catalyzed phosphate monoester ester hydrolysis, since it is unlikely that an acceptor nucleophile will not be present to participate in a preassociative mechanism, it can exist in solution under appropriate solvent conditions when an acceptor nucleophile is unavailable. 

Although the structure/reactivity studies conducted by Jencks and co-workers suggest that metaphosphate will not occur as an intermediate in aqueous reactions (54), and it is known that phosphorothioate esters undergo dissociative hydrolysis more rapidly than phosphate esters (40), Weiss and Cleland have recently utilized secondary 0 isotope effects to probe the mechanism of the hy-... 

Structure of the substrate and the reaction conditions determine the transition state for reaction with a particular nucleophile 104, 105). The extreme cases are generally described as the dissociative and associative substitution mechanisms. The fully dissociative mechanism entails the formation of monomeric metaphosphate monoanion as a discrete intermediate and was first formulated by F. H. Westheimer, who pioneered the physical organic chemistry of the hydrolysis of phosphate esters 106, 107). This mechanism is depicted in Eq. (40) and is possible only for phosphomonoesters with good leaving groups, examples of which are shown. 

Until fairly recently, the monomeric metaphosphate ion (POg ) was assumed not to exist. Now, however, important work has provided evidence that the metaphosphate ion, which is analogous to NO, may be an important intermediate in the hydrolysis of bioorganic phosphate esters. 

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