Pyridines, activation energy

One reason for the low reactivity of pyridine is that its nitrogen atom because it IS more electronegative than a CH in benzene causes the rr electrons to be held more tightly and raises the activation energy for attack by an electrophile Another is that the nitrogen of pyridine is protonated in sulfuric acid and the resulting pyndinium ion is even more deactivated than pyndine itself... 

A unique method to generate the pyridine ring employed a transition metal-mediated 6-endo-dig cyclization of A-propargylamine derivative 120. The reaction proceeds in 5-12 h with yields of 22-74%. Gold (HI) salts are required to catalyze the reaction, but copper salts are sufficient with reactive ketones. A proposed reaction mechanism involves activation of the alkyne by transition metal complexation. This lowers the activation energy for the enamine addition to the alkyne that generates 121. The transition metal also behaves as a Lewis acid and facilitates formation of 120 from 118 and 119. Subsequent aromatization of 121 affords pyridine 122. 

The most thoroughly investigated compounds are the alkyl-pyridines. Coleman and Fuoss compared the reactions of pyridine, 4-picoline, and 4-isopropylpyridine with n-butyl bromide and found a steady increase in the rate in the order given the activation energies are 16.0,15.95, and 15.6 kcal per mole, respectively. Brown and Cahn carried out a detailed study of the reactions of 2-, 3-, and 4-alkyl-pyridines with methyl, ethyl, and isopropyl iodides in nitrobenzene the results are given in Table II. These data show the higher activation... 

For unactivated aromatics, the activation energy (ca. 30 kcaF ) is less than the calculated localization energies (ca. 40 kcal for complete separation of charges in pyridine ), and, therefore, complete localization prior to reaching the transition state appears to be unnecessary... 

Relative reactivity wiU vary with the temperature chosen for comparison unless the temperature coefficients are identical. For example, the rate ratio of ethoxy-dechlorination of 4-chloro- vs. 2-chloro-pyridine is 2.9 at the experimental temperature (120°) but is 40 at the reference temperature (20°) used for comparing the calculated values. The ratio of the rate of reaction of 2-chloro-pyridine with ethoxide ion to that of its reaction with 2-chloronitro-benzene is 35 at 90° and 90 at 20°. The activation energy determines the temperature coefficient which is the slope of the line relating the reaction rate and teniperature. Comparisons of reactivity will of course vary with temperature if the activation energies are different and the lines are not parallel. The increase in the reaction rate with temperature will be greater the higher the activation energy. 

Line No. Pyridine substituents Nucleophile (solvent) Rate constant" (temp. °C) 10 fc liter mole- seo-i Activation energy kcal mole-1 Entropy of activation cal mole i deg-i Frequency factor logioA Ref. 

The general principle that activation of para substitution is greater than of ortho substitution holds true also for an azinium moiety in the one instance studied. Thus, the activation energy for the 4-chloropyridine quaternary salt 280 (Table II, line 9) is 1 kcal lower than that for the 2-isomer (line 5). The rate relation (2- > 4-isomer) is controlled by the entropies of activation in this reaction due to electrostatic attraction in the transition state (281). The reverse rate relation (4- > 2-position) is predicted for aminations of such quaternary compounds due to electrostatic repulsion (282) plus the difference in E. A kinetic study of the 2- and 4-pyridine quaternary salts... 

The steric and dipole-dipole effects of the CF3 group on valence isomerization in the Dewar pyridine-azaprismane-pyridine system have been studied. These reveal themselves in the high stability, compared to the pyridine, of the valence isomer arising out of the large activation energy for rearomatization. The transformation of a 1-Dewar to 2-Dewar pyridine was observed (89T3115). 

Methyl- and 2,6-dimethylpyridine as catalysts with sterically hindered a-com-plexes give greater isotope effects (k2n/k2D up to 10.8). Such values are understandable qualitatively, since the basic center of these pyridine derivatives cannot easily approach the C-H group. The possibility of tunneling can be excluded for these reactions, as the ratio of the frequency factors 4h 4d and the difference in activation energies ED—EU (Arrhenius equation) do not have abnormal values. 

These results imply that substitution of the coordinated pyridine with CO (eq. 10) requires a considerable activation energy, a fea-... 

Despite its fleetingness, 78 has been captured by CO in a matrix at 10 K, affording low yields of ketene." Modarelli and Platz were unable to observe the formation of a pyridine ylide upon LFP generation of 78 in pyridine/pentane at —40°C. However, with perdeuterated methylcarbene (78- 4) a weak pyridine ylide signal was detected, and the rate constant of the 1,2-D shift could be estimated as ito 2 x 109 s-1 (r 0.5 ns) using a Stem-Volmer analysis (see Eqs. 3-6 in Section II).89 The activation energy for this 1,2-D shift was estimated at 2.3 kcal/mol, assuming A 1011 s-1.89 However, it seems likely that both 2sa and A are somewhat lower, with A 108 to 109 s (AS = —17 e.u.).89... 

Electronic effects. Nucleophilic attack is favoured by electron-withdrawing groups on the amide and the acyloxyl side chains. Interpolated bimolecular rate constants at 308 K for the series of para-substituted /V-acetoxy-/V-butoxybenzamides 25c, 26b-g and 26i (Table 5) gave a weak but positive Hammett correlation with a constants ip = 0.13, r = 0.86).42,43 These Sn2 reactions are analogous to those of aniline and substituted pyridines with phenacyl bromides, which have similar Arrhenius activation energies and entropies of activation in methanol (EA= 14-16 kcal mol-1, AS = — 27 to —31 calK-1 mol-1) and 4-substituted phenacyl halides afforded a similar Hammett correlation with pyridine in methanol (cr, p — 0.25).175... 

Hill, C.A.S. and Papadopoulos, A.N. (2002). The pyridine-catalysed acylation of pine sapwood and phenolic model compounds with carboxylic acid anhydrides. Determination of activation energies and entropy of activation. Holzforschung, 56(2), 150-156. 

The increase in reaction rate is accompanied by a decrease in activation energy. The reaction rates of trans [Pt(PEt3)2LCl] with pyridine show the approximate trans effect order (J). 

---