Pyrazole protonation

The basicity and the protonation site of 3-amino, 4-amino, 5-amino 1-methyl-, and 1-phenyl-pyrazoles has been determined most protonate on the pyrazole Nj ring nitrogen (only 4-amino-pyrazoles protonate on the amino group) <85JHC997,85MRC367,89JCS(P2)1941>. 

Nuclear Overhauser enhancement (NOE) spectroscopy has been used to measure the through-space interaction between protons at and the protons associated with the substituents at N (20). The method is also useful for distinguishing between isomers with different groups at and C. Reference 21 contains the chemical shifts and coupling constants of a considerable number of pyrazoles with substituents at N and C. NOE difference spectroscopy ( H) has been employed to differentiate between the two regioisomers [153076 5-0] (14) and [153076 6-1] (15) (22). N-nmr spectroscopy also has some utility in the field of pyrazoles and derivatives. 

Annular tautomerism (e.g. 133 134) involves the movement of a proton between two annular nitrogen atoms. For unsubstituted imidazole (133 R = H) and pyrazole (135 R = H) the two tautomers are identical, but this does not apply to substituted derivatives. For triazoles and tetrazoles, even the unsubstituted parent compounds show two distinct tautomers. Flowever, interconversion occurs readily and such tautomers cannot be separated. Sometimes one tautomeric form predominates. Thus the mesomerism of the benzene ring is greater in (136) than in (137), and UV spectral comparisons show that benzotriazole exists predominantly as (136). 

Substituted imidazoles can be acylated at the 2-position by acid chlorides in the presence of triethylamine. This reaction proceeds by proton loss on the (V-acylated intermediate (241). An analogous reaction with phenyl isocyanate gives (242), probably via a similar mechanism. Benzimidazoles react similarly, but pyrazoles do not (80AHC(27)24l) cf. Section 4.02.1.4.6). 

For )V-unsubstituted pyrazoles the tautomeric proton was generally located without ambiguity. 3-Substituted tautomers were favoured in the solid state (45), (46) and (48) (Table 5). For the pyrazolyltriazole (47) the authors (77JHC65) concluded that the X-ray analysis indicates that the proton on the pyrazole ring populates either nitrogen atom to... 

Aromatic pyrazoles and indazoles, in the broad sense defined in Sections 4.04.1.1.1 and 4.04.1.1.2, will be discussed here. Tautomerism has already been discussed (Section 4.04.1.5) and acid-base equilibria will be considered in Section 4.04.2.1.3. These two topics are closely related (Scheme 10) as a common anion (156a) or a common cation (156b) is generally involved in the mechanism of proton transfer (e.g. 78T2259). For aromatic pyrazoles with exocyclic conjugation there is also a common anion (157) for the three tautomeric forms... 

The pyrazole molecule resembles both pyridine (the N(2)—C(3) part) and pyrrole (the N(l)—C(5)—C(4) part) and its reactivity reflects also this duality of behaviour. The pyridinic N-2 atom is susceptible to electrophilic attack (Section 4.04.2.1.3) and the pyrrolic N-1 atom is unreactive, but the N-1 proton can be removed by nucleophiles. However, N-2 is less nucleophilic than the pyridine nitrogen atom and N(1)H more acidic than the corresponding pyrrolic NH group. Electrophilic attack on C-4 is generally preferred, contrary to pyrrole which reacts often on C-2 (a attack). When position 3 is unsubstituted, powerful nucleophiles can abstract the proton with a concomitant ring opening of the anion. 

Unsubstituted pyrazoles and indazoles are cleaved by strong bases. Indazoles undergo ring opening more readily than pyrazoles since the fused benzene ring enhances the ease of removal of the C-3 proton in the initiating step. 

The chemical behaviour of the mesoionic pyrazole (459) has been studied by Boyd et al (74JCS(P1)1028). Protonation and alkylation take place on the exocyclic nitrogen atom and a thermal rearrangement of a methyl group is observed when (459) is boiled in benzonitrile for several hours giving (460). 

Which nitrogen in each molecule is more basic Compare energies of the alternative conjugate acids (Nprotonated imidazole, NH protonated imidazole, N protonated pyrazole and NH protonated pyrazole). Which compound, imidazole or pyrazole, is more basic Compare the energies of protonation (leading to the favored conjugate acid in each case). Rationalize your result. 

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