Quantitative correlations of substituent effects

3 QUANTITATIVE CORRELATIONS OF SUBSTITUENT EFFECTS The theories outlined above are concerned with the way in which substituents modify the reactivity of the aromatic nucleus. An alternative approach to the effects of substituents is provided by quantitative 

Irrespective of the precision of these quantitative correlations, this approach is useful in emphasizing that relative rates depend on the nature of the reaction as well as of the aromatic compound. 

The best-known equation of the type mentioned is, of course, Hammett s equation. It correlates, with considerable precision, rate and equilibrium constants for a large number of reactions occurring in the side chains of m- and p-substituted aromatic compounds, but fails badly for electrophilic substitution into the aromatic ring (except at wi-positions) and for certain reactions in side chains in which there is considerable mesomeric interaction between the side chain and the ring during the course of reaction. This failure arises because Hammett s original model reaction (the ionization of substituted benzoic acids) does not take account of the direct resonance interactions between a substituent and the site of reaction. This sort of interaction in the electrophilic substitutions of anisole is depicted in the following resonance structures, which show the transition state to be stabilized by direct resonance with the substituent  

There were two schools of thought concerning attempts to extend Hammett s treatment of substituent effects to electrophilic substitutions. It was felt by some that the effects of substituents in electrophilic aromatic substitutions were particularly susceptible to the specific demands of the reagent, and that the variability of the polarizibility effects, or direct resonance interactions, would render impossible any attempted correlation using a two-parameter equation. - o This view was not universally accepted, for Pearson, Baxter and Martin suggested that, by choosing a different model reaction, in which the direct resonance effects of substituents participated, an equation, formally similar to Hammett s equation, might be devised to correlate the rates of electrophilic aromatic and electrophilic side chain reactions. We shall now consider attempts which have been made to do this. 

Streitwieser pointed out that the eorrelation whieh exists between relative rates of reaetion in deuterodeprotonation, nitration, and ehlorination, and equilibrium eonstants for protonation in hydrofluorie aeid amongst polynuelear hydroearbons (ef. 6.2.3) constitutes a relationship of the Hammett type. The standard reaetion is here the protonation equilibrium (for whieh p is unity by definition). For eon-venience he seleeted the i-position of naphthalene, rather than a position in benzene as the referenee position (for whieh o is zero by definition), and by this means was able to evaluate /) -values for the substitutions mentioned, and cr -values for positions in a number of hydroearbons. The p -values (for protonation equilibria, i for deuterodeprotonation, 0-47 for nitration, 0-26 and for ehlorination, 0-64) are taken to indieate how elosely the transition states of these reaetions resemble a cr-eomplex. 

The more extensive problem of correlating substituent effects in electrophilic substitution by a two-parameter equation has been examined by Brown and his co-workers.32 In order to define a new set of substituent constants, Brown chose as a model reaction the solvolysis of substituted dimethylphenylcarbinyl chlorides in 90% aq. acetone. In the case of p-substituted compounds, the transition state, represented by the following resonance structures, is stabilized by direct resonance interaction between the substituent and the site of reaction. 

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Hine, Structural Effects on Equilibria in Organic Chemistry, Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1975, p. 65. This book offers a very broad coverage of quantitative correlations of substituent effects on processes as diverse as radical formation and rates of rotation around single C-C bonds. 

The quantitative correlation of the effects of substituents upon reactivity holds a venerable place in physical-organic chemistry. Substituent constants, such as Hammett s a, measure the perturbation which a substituent makes on the electron distribution in a molecule and the reaction constant p measures the consequence of this for a reactivity of interest. The correlation of ESR parameters by substituent constants holds promise, for it compares the empirical parameters with a real function of the very property they measure. Various endeavors have been made in this direction which are discussed in later Sections. 

Although a detailed discussion of the influence of aromatic substituents on the rates of aromatic substitution is outside the scope of this book, it is nevertheless helpful to note that quantitative correlations of directing effects have been made using various forms of the Hammett equation ... 

The alkyl and alkoxy substituents of phosphate or phosphonate esters also affect the phosphorylating abiUty of the compound through steric and inductive effects. A satisfactory correlation has been developed between the quantitative measure of these effects, Tafts s O, and anticholinesterase activity as well as toxicity (33). Thus long-chain and highly branched alkyl and alkoxy groups attached to phosphoms promote high stabiUty and low biological activity. 

To verify such a steric effect a quantitative structure-property relationship study (QSPR) on a series of distinct solute-selector pairs, namely various DNB-amino acid/quinine carbamate CSPpairs with different carbamate residues (Rso) and distinct amino acid residues (Rsa), has been set up [59], To provide a quantitative measure of the effect of the steric bulkiness on the separation factors within this solute-selector series, a-values were correlated by multiple linear and nonlinear regression analysis with the Taft s steric parameter Es that represents a quantitative estimation of the steric bulkiness of a substituent (Note s,sa indicates the independent variable describing the bulkiness of the amino acid residue and i s.so that of the carbamate residue). For example, the steric bulkiness increases in the order methyl < ethyl < n-propyl < n-butyl < i-propyl < cyclohexyl < -butyl < iec.-butyl < t-butyl < 1-adamantyl < phenyl < trityl and simultaneously, the s drops from -1.24 to -6.03. In other words, the smaller the Es, the more bulky is the substituent. The obtained QSPR equation reads as follows ... 

With information available regarding the quantitative effects of the heteroatoms on the reactivity of various systems, the correlation of the effects of heteroatoms on different reactions and different substrates could be examined. Mutual interactions with substituents and other het-... 

The above queries are only a few of the scores which one can readily imagine to be of value in a truly comprehensive quantitative structure-activity system. In addition to structure—activity equations correlating biochemical systems it is important to include in the data bank as many examples as possible of substituent effects in homogeneous organic reac-... 

The measured data also were used (700) in a quantitative representation of the effect of structure on the reactivity and adsorptivity of substrates by means of the Taft-Pavelich equation (22). The adsorption data suffered from a larger scatter than the rate data. No substrate or substituent could be detected that would fail to satisfy completely the correlation equations. In the correlation of the initial reaction rates and relative adsorption coefficients the parameter p was negative, while the parameter S was positive. In correlations of the reaction rates obtained by the hydrogenation of a similar series of substrates on the same catalyst in a number of solvents, the parameters p and had the same sign as in the hydrogenation in solvent-free systems, while in the correlation of the adsorption coefficients the signs of the parameters p and in systems with solvents were opposite to those in solvent-free systems. This clearly indicates that solvents considerably affect the influence of the structure of substrates on their reactivity. 

Analysis of the 6-parameter for alkyl substituents in reactivity correlation data suggests its possible utility in quantitative treatment of steric effects in organic reactions (see, for example, the results in Table 15.3). 

So far the four metal ions have been compared with respect to their effect on (1) the equilibrium constant for complexation to 2.4c, (2) the rate constant of the Diels-Alder reaction of the complexes with 2.5 and (3) the substituent effect on processes (1) and (2). We have tried to correlate these data with some physical parameters of the respective metal-ions. The second ionisation potential of the metal should, in principle, reflect its Lewis acidity. Furthermore the values for Iq i might be strongly influenced by the Lewis-acidity of the metal. A quantitative correlation between these two parameters... 

In the benzene series, an approximately linear relationship has been obtained between the chemical shifts of the para-hydrogen in substituted benzenes and Hammett s a-values of the substituents. Attempts have been made, especially by Taft, ° to use the chemical shifts as a quantitative characteristic of the substituent. It is more difficult to correlate the chemical shifts of thiophenes with chemical reactivity data since few quantitative chemical data are available (cf. Section VI,A). Comparing the chemical shifts of the 5-hydrogen in 2-substituted thiophenes and the parahydrogens in substituted benzenes, it is evident that although —I—M-substituents cause similar shifts, large differences are obtained for -j-M-substituents indicating that such substituents may have different effects on the reactivity of the two aromatic systems in question. Differences also... 

The most reliable method of preparing benzofuroxans is by decomposition of o-nitrophenyl azides. Decomposition can be achieved by irradiation, or more usually by pyrolysis temperatures between 100° and 1.50° are commonly used. Refluxing in glacial acetic acid is the recommended procedure for 4- or 5-sub-stituted 2-nitrophenyl azides, but with 3- or 6-substituted compounds higher boiling solvents are usually necessary. Quantitative studies on the reaction rate have been made, and a cyclic transition state invoked, an argument which has been used to account for the greater difficulty of decomposition of the 6-substituted 2-nitrophenyl azides. Substituent effects on the reaction rate have also been correlated with Hammett a constants, ... 

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