Solvents effect on nucleophilicity

The range of nueleophiles whieh have been observed to partieipate in nueleophilie aromatie substitution is similar to that for S[, 2 reactions and includes alkoxides, phenoxides, sulftdes, fluoride ion, and amines. Substitutions by earbanions are somewhat less common. This may be because there are frequently complications resulting from eleetron-transfer proeesses with nitroaromatics. Solvent effects on nucleophilic aromatic substitutions are similar to those discussed for S 2 reactions. Dipolar... 

Other measures of nucleophilicity have been proposed. Brauman et al. studied Sn2 reactions in the gas phase and applied Marcus theory to obtain the intrinsic barriers of identity reactions. These quantities were interpreted as intrinsic nucleo-philicities. Streitwieser has shown that the reactivity of anionic nucleophiles toward methyl iodide in dimethylformamide (DMF) is correlated with the overall heat of reaction in the gas phase he concludes that bond strength and electron affinity are the important factors controlling nucleophilicity. The dominant role of the solvent in controlling nucleophilicity was shown by Parker, who found solvent effects on nucleophilic reactivity of many orders of magnitude. For example, most anions are more nucleophilic in DMF than in methanol by factors as large as 10, because they are less effectively shielded by solvation in the aprotic solvent. Liotta et al. have measured rates of substitution by anionic nucleophiles in acetonitrile solution containing a crown ether, which forms an inclusion complex with the cation (K ) of the nucleophile. These rates correlate with gas phase rates of the same nucleophiles, which, in this crown ether-acetonitrile system, are considered to be naked anions. The solvation of anionic nucleophiles is treated in Section 8.3. 

It should be mentioned that the ionization step in Eq. (2-13) is analogous to that involved in SnI and Sn2 reactions of aliphatic substrates. For example, in solvolytic reactions of haloalkanes, the process of going from a covalently bonded initial state to a dipolar or ionic activated complex (transition state) is similar to the ionization step in Eq. (2-13). Therefore, those solvent properties that promote ionization are also important in the estimation of solvent effects on nucleophilic displacement reactions [161] (cf. Section 5.4.1). 

It should be mentioned that a solvent change affects not only the reaction rate, but also the reaction mechanism (see Section 5.5.7). The reaction mechanism for some haloalkanes changes from SnI to Sn2 when the solvent is changed from aqueous ethanol to acetone. On the other hand, reactions of halomethanes, which proceed in aqueous ethanol by an Sn2 mechanism, can become Sn 1 in more strongly ionizing solvents such as formic acid. For a comparison of solvent effects on nucleophilic substitution reactions at primary, secondary, and tertiary carbon atoms, see references [72, 784]. 

Solvent effects on nucleophilic substitution reactions have long been of interest (28b), and LFERs have been a major tool in studying these effects. Probably the best known such LFER is that of Grunwald and Winstein (29) ... 

Solvent effects on nucleophilic aromatic substitutions are similar to those discussed for Sn2 reactions. Dipolar aprotic solvents, crown ethers, and phase... 

Examination of Solvent Effect on Nucleophilic Fluorination with KF/ dicvclohexano-18 crown-6. Using 1-bromodocosane (12) as substrate and KF/DC-18-C-6 as reagent system, solvent effect was examined. Solvents were chosen from common dipolar aprotic solvent [acetonitrile, hexa-methylphosphoric triamide (HMPT), dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), diglyme], from weakly basic dipolar aprot c solvents (sulfolane, ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate) " and from acid amide solvents [N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), N,N-diethylacetamide (DEA), N-methyl-pyrrolidone (NMP), tetramethylurea]. ... 

Solvent Effects on the Rate of Substitution by the S 2 Mechanism Polar solvents are required m typical bimolecular substitutions because ionic substances such as the sodium and potassium salts cited earlier m Table 8 1 are not sufficiently soluble m nonpolar solvents to give a high enough concentration of the nucleophile to allow the reaction to occur at a rapid rate Other than the requirement that the solvent be polar enough to dis solve ionic compounds however the effect of solvent polarity on the rate of 8 2 reactions IS small What is most important is whether or not the polar solvent is protic or aprotic Water (HOH) alcohols (ROH) and carboxylic acids (RCO2H) are classified as polar protic solvents they all have OH groups that allow them to form hydrogen bonds... 

Ejfect ofSolvent. In addition to the solvent effects on certain SeI reactions, mentioned earlier (p. 764), solvents can influence the mechanism that is preferred. As with nucleophilic substitution (p. 448), an increase in solvent polarity increases the possibility of an ionizing mechanism, in this case SeI, in comparison with the second-order mechanisms, which do not involve ions. As previously mentioned (p. 763), the solvent can also exert an influence between the Se2 (front or back) and SeI mechanisms in that the rates of Se2 mechanisms should be increased by an increase in solvent polarity, while Sni mechanisms are much less affected. 

Di Valentin, C. Freccero, M. Zanaletti, C. Sarzi-Amade, M. o-Quinone methide as alkylating agent of nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur nucleophiles. The role of H-bonding and solvent effects on the reactivity through a DFT computational study, j. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001, 123, 8366-8377. 

Some studies have been made with bases of the type ArO , as this allows study of the effects of variation in basic strength (by introduction of p-substituents in C HsO ) without concomitant change in the steric requirements of the base. With a given base, transfer from a hydroxylic solvent, e.g. HjO or EtOH, to a bipolar aprotic one, e.g. HCONMej (DMF) or MejS —O (DMSO), can have a very pronounced effect as the strength of the base, e.g. OH, OR, is enormously increased thereby. This arises because the base has, in the latter solvents, no envelope of hydrogen-bonded solvent molecules that have to be stripped away before it can act as a base (c/ effect on nucleophilicity in S, 2, p. 81). Such change of solvent may result in a shift of mechanistic pathway from E1 to E2 for some substrate/base pairs. 

Correlation analysis of solvent effects on the heterolysis of p-methoxyneophyl tosyl-ate has been performed by using the Koppel-Palm and Kamlet-Taft equations. The reaction rate is satisfactorily described by the electrophilicity and polarity parameters of solvents, but a possible role for polarizability or nucleophilicity parameters was also examined. 

In this report the authors describe a surprising solvent effect on enantioselectivi-ties. Alcoholic solvents afford the opposite enantiomer using the same enantiomeric series of catalyst Eq. 9. This profound effect is presumably due to hydrogen bonding in the transition state on the nucleophilic enol and/or the carbonyl acceptor Eq. 10. These electrostatic interactions can be visualized with Models E and F. Although the enantioselectivity is reversed the values remain lower than when toluene is used. 

Hydroxylamine, oximate and hydroxamate as a-nucleophiles V. SOLVENT EFFECT ON a-NUCLEOPHILICITY... 

In addition to exploiting solvent effects on reactivity, there are two other valuable approaches to enhancing reactivity in nucleophilic substitutions. These are use of crown ethers as catalysts and the use of phase-transfer conditions. The crown ethers are a family of cyclic polyethers, three examples of which are shown below ... 

There is an ongoing controversy about whether there is any stabilization of the transition state for nucleophilic substitution at tertiary aliphatic carbon from interaction with nucleophilic solvent." ° This controversy has developed with the increasing sophistication of experiments to characterize solvent effects on the rate constants for solvolysis reactions. Grunwald and Winstein determined rate constants for solvolysis of tert-butyl chloride in a wide variety of solvents and used these data to define the solvent ionizing parameter T (Eq. 3). They next found that rate constants for solvolysis of primary and secondary aliphatic carbon show a smaller sensitivity (m) to changes in Y than those for the parent solvolysis reaction of tert-butyl chloride (for which m = 1 by definition). A second term was added ( N) to account for the effect of changes in solvent nucleophilicity on obsd that result from transition state stabilization by a nucleophilic interaction between solvent and substrate. It was first assumed that there is no significant stabilization of the transition state for solvolysis of tert-butyl chloride from such a nucleophilic interaction. However, a close examination of extensive rate data revealed, in some cases, a correlation between rate constants for solvolysis of fert-butyl derivatives and solvent nucleophicity. " ... 

Many other solvent parameters have been defined in an attempt to model as thoroughly as possible solvent effects on the rate constants for solvolysis. These include (a) Several scales of solvent ionizing power Tx developed for different substrates R—X that are thought to undergo limiting stepwise solvolysis. (b) Several different scales of solvent nucleophilicity developed for substrates of different charge type that undergo concerted bimolecular substitution by solvent. (c) An... 

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