Solvent isotope effects water

If one limits the consideration to only that limited number of reactions which clearly belong to the category of nucleophilic aromatic substitutions presently under discussion, only a few experimental observations are pertinent. Bunnett and Bernasconi30 and Hart and Bourns40 have studied the deuterium solvent isotope effect and its dependence on hydroxide ion concentration for the reaction of 2,4-dinitrophenyl phenyl ether with piperidine in dioxan-water. In both studies it was found that the solvent isotope effect decreased with increasing concentration of hydroxide ion, and Hart and Bourns were able to estimate that fc 1/ for conversion of intermediate to product was approximately 1.8. Also, Pietra and Vitali41 have reported that in the reaction of piperidine with cyclohexyl 2,4-dinitrophenyl ether in benzene, the reaction becomes 1.5 times slower on substitution of the N-deuteriated amine at the highest amine concentration studied. 

The experiments of Bott (17) and Noyce (19-21) show that a vinyl cation best represents the intermediate in the hydration of phenylacetylenes. In particular, the large solvent Isotope effects observed indicate a rate-limiting protonation and formation of a vinyl cation, for these values are not in agreement with solvent isotope effects observed for compounds which react by other possible mechanisms, such as one involving equilibrium formation of the vinyl cation followed by the slow attack by water. 

The basicities of some phosphinamides (84) have been measured and the acid-catalysed hydrolysis studied. Unsubstituted and A -alkyl derivatives follow an A2 mechanism of reversible protonation followed by ratedetermining water attack. However, the rates for the A -aryl derivatives follow Hq (but with a slope of 0.5), and an A mechanism was suggested as most consistent with this fact and the solvent isotope effect. The anomalous dependence on Ho, together with the large negative value of A5, while not necessarily excluding an ionization mechanism, leaves the question in some doubt. 

This is the same mechanism as that given above for esters, in equation (42). The difference between esters and amides is apparent from a comparison of the two tetrahedral intermediates [5] and [17], The former contains three oxygens, any of which can be protonated, resulting in much lsO exchange being observed when the reaction takes place in 180-enriched water,275,276 but [17] contains a much more basic nitrogen, which will be protonated preferentially and lead to much less 180 exchange, as observed.274 277,278 Also, ammonium ion formation makes the overall reaction irreversible, unlike ester hydrolysis. The calculated solvent isotope effect for the Scheme 15 process is 1.00,280 exactly in accord with experimental observation.278,279... 

Kinetic solvent isotope effect as a measure of electrophilic solvent assistance to bromide ion departure limiting value Br- = 1.35 in MeOL. From h>r and kinetic data in water, methanol, ethanol and their aqueous mixtures. c( aqEtoH/ AcOH>r measurement of nucleophilic solvent assistance. Calculated from data in Ruasse and Dubois (1975) and Ruasse et al. (1978). Ruasse and Lefebvre (1984). - Ruasse and Lefebvre (unpublished results). "Ruasse (1985). 

The small solvent isotope effect shows clearly that a proton transfer is not part of the rate-determining step of the hydrolysis. Christensen (1966, 1967) favors an SN2-type mechanism (164) for the hydrolysis, with nucleophilic attack of water on a sulfonyl group synchronous with the departure of ArSO. The alternative formulation (165), however, where a pentacovalent inter-... 

The mechanism of the spontaneous hydrolysis of aryl cr-disulfones (188) in aqueous dioxan has been studied in some detail (Kice and Kasperek, 1969). The reaction is approximately 104 times slower under a given set of conditions than the very rapid spontaneous hydrolysis of aryl sulfinyl sulfones (135) discussed earlier in Section 5. The large difference in rate arises because AH for the spontaneous hydrolysis of a given cr-disulfone is about 6 kcal mol-1 larger than AH for the spontaneous hydrolysis of the corresponding sulfinyl sulfone. However, despite the large difference in rate and AH, the two spontaneous hydrolyses show a remarkable similarity in (a) Hammett p, (b) increase in rate with increasing water content of the solvent, (c) solvent isotope effect, and (d) AS. ... 

The solvent isotope effect produces an A-ratio (HOH/DOD) of three with isotope-independent A// of 17-18 kJ/mol. This result is more difficult to interpret, because it is unknown how many isotopic sites in the enzyme or water structure contribute to the isotope effect of 2-3. If a single site should be the origin of the effect, then the site could reasonably be a solvent-derived protonic site of the enzyme involved in general-acid catalysis of the hydride transfer, most simply by protonic interaction with the carbonyl oxygen of cyclohexenone or possibly by proton transfer to an olefinic carbon of cyclohexenone. 

The only kinetic isotope effects so far reported for these reactions are those given by Pocker (1960), without experimental detail. He reports closely similar values for the rates of solvent-catalysed hydration of the species CHg. CHO, CD3. CHO, CH3. CDO and CD3. CDO in water at 0° C the replacement of CH3 by OD3 increases the velocity by about 7%. The same effect is reported for solutions in deuterium oxide at 0° C, presumably super-cooled. A comparison was also made of rates of hydration in HjO and DgO at 0°C, giving the following values for k(H.z0)lk(T>20) in presence of different catalysts H+/D+, 1 -3 AcOH/AcOD, 2 5 AcO , 2-3 H2O/D2O, 3-6. Almost exactly the same ratios were obtained by measuring rates of dehydration at 25° C in dioxan containing 10% of H2O or D2O and various catalysts. The presence of a considerable solvent isotope effect is consistent with the mechanism given in Section IV,B, and it would not be expected that substitution of deuterium on carbon would have an appreciable effect on the rate. 

Kinetic studies of the reaction of Z-phenyl cyclopropanecarboxylates (1) with X-benzylamines (2) in acetonitrile at 55 °C have been carried out. The reaction proceeds by a stepwise mechanism in which the rate-determining step is the breakdown of the zwitterionic tetrahedral intermediate, T, with a hydrogen-bonded four-centre type transition state (3). The results of studies of the aminolysis reactions of ethyl Z-phenyl carbonates (4) with benzylamines (2) in acetonitrile at 25 °C were consistent with a four- (5) and a six-centred transition state (6) for the uncatalysed and catalysed path, respectively. The neutral hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl trifluoroacetate in acetonitrile solvent has been studied by varying the molarities of water from 1.0 to 5.0 at 25 °C. The reaction was found to be third order in water. The kinetic solvent isotope effect was (A h2o/ D2o) = 2.90 0.12. Proton inventories at each molarity of water studied were consistent with an eight-membered cyclic transition state (7) model. 

Figure 5A shows experimentally derived profiles of pH vs rate for reactions in H2O and D2O [30, 50, 71]. The magnitude of the apparent isotope effect (ratio of rate constants in H2O and D2O) is 4.4 and the profiles appear to support the possibility that a proton is transferred from (Mg -bound) water molecules. However, careful analysis led us to conclude that a metal ion binds directly to the 5 -oxygen. Since the concentration of the deproto-nated 2 -oxygen in H2O should be higher than that in D2O at a fixed pH, we must take into account this difference in pKa, namely ApKa (=pKa °-pKa ), when we analyze the solvent isotope effect of D2O [30, 50, 68, 71]. We can estimate the pKa in D2O from the pKa in H2O using the linear relationship shown in Fig. 5B [30, 68, 73-75]. If the pKa for a Mg -bound water molecule in H2O is 11.4, the ApKa is calculated to be 0.65 (solid line in Fig. 5B). Then, the pKa in D2O should be 12.0. Demonstrating the absence of an intrinsic isotope effect (kH2o/kD20=l)> the resultant theoretical curves closely fit the experimental data, with an approximate 4-fold difference in...

A concentration scale for solutes in aqueous solutions, equal to moles of solute/55.51 mol water. It is frequently used in studies of solvent isotope effects. As pointed out by Schowen and Schowen the choice of standard states can change the sign for the free energy of transfer of a species from one solvent to another, even from HOH and DOD. The commonly used concentration scales are molarity, mole fraction, aquamolality, and molality. Free energies tend to be nearly the same on all but the molality scale, on which they are about 63 cal mol more positive at 298 K than on the first three scales. The interested reader should consult Table I of Schowen and Schowen ... 

SOLVENT ISOTOPE EFFECTS FOR NEUTRAL WATER REACTIONS OF CARBOXYLIC ACID DERIVATIVES... 

Stoichiometry (28) is followed under neutral or in alkaline aqueous conditions and (29) in concentrated mineral acids. In acid solution reaction (28) is powerfully inhibited and in the absence of general acids or bases the rate of hydrolysis is a function of pH. At pH >5.0 the reaction is first-order in OH but below this value there is a region where the rate of hydrolysis is largely independent of pH followed by a region where the rate falls as [H30+] increases. The kinetic data at various temperatures both with pure water and buffer solutions, the solvent isotope effect and the rate increase of the 4-chloro derivative ( 2-fold) are compatible with the interpretation of the hydrolysis in terms of two mechanisms. These are a dominant bimolecular reaction between hydroxide ion and acyl cyanide at pH >5.0 and a dominant water reaction at lower pH, the latter susceptible to general base catalysis and inhibition by acids. The data at pH <5.0 can be rationalised by a carbonyl addition intermediate and are compatible with a two-step, but not one-step, cyclic mechanism for hydration. Benzoyl cyanide is more reactive towards water than benzoyl fluoride, but less reactive than benzoyl chloride and anhydride, an unexpected result since HCN has a smaller dissociation constant than HF or RC02H. There are no grounds, however, to suspect that an ionisation mechanism is involved. 

Queen153 has recently measured the activation parameters A//, A5 and ACp for the hydrolyses of Me, Et, /z-Pr, /-Pr, and phenyl chloroformates and dimethyl carbamyl chloride in pure water (Table 22), and concluded that a change of mechanism (SN2 to SN1) takes place with increasing electron donation to the chlorocarbamyl group the data, which include solvent isotope effects, are consistent with a unimolecular hydrolysis of isopropyl chloro-formate and dimethyl carbamyl chloride and a bimolecular hydrolysis of the other four compounds. 

Kivinen proposes that the neutral hydrolysis of acetic anhydride is promoted by water acting as a weak base. The solvent isotope effect, kH20lkDl0 — 3, is suggestive of general base catalysis. 

Kinetic evidence for the involvement of a-hydroxydialkylnitrosamines (142) in the pH-independent solvolysis of the a-(acyloxy)dialkylnitrosamines (141) has been obtained.120 The aminolysis in benzene of 0-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)-/7,/ -disubstituted benzophenone oximes (143) with pyrrolidine and piperidine are third order in amine.121 Hir st s mechanism involving electrophilic catalysis operates and can explain the various effects observed. The bis(pentamethylphenyl)-A-isopropylketenimine (144) undergoes pre-equilibrium /V-protonation in aqueous acetonitrile followed by water attack. An inverse solvent isotope effect and the observation of the diol (145) confirm this.122... 

D KIE of 6.35 has been observed in the oxidation of a-deuteriomandelic acid by pyri-dinium bromochromate to the corresponding oxo acid. The analysis of the D KIE indicated that the reaction involves a symmetric transition state443. The oxidations of phosphinic and phosphorous acids by pyridinium bromochromate exhibits a substantial primary deuterium KIE444. The hydroxyacids, glycolic, lactic, mandelic and malic acids are oxidized by pyridinium hydrobromide perbromide in acetic acid-water mixtures to oxo acids445. The primary KIE in the oxidation of a-deuteriomandelic acid is kn/kn = 5.07, and it does not exhibit a solvent isotope effect. A mechanism involving hydride ion transfer to the oxidant has been proposed445. 

The second explanation for the solvent isotope effect arises from the dynamic medium effect . At 25 °C the rotational and translational diffusion of DjO molecules in D20 is some 20% slower than H20 molecules in H20 (Albery, 1975a) the viscosity of D20 is also 20% greater than H20. Hence any reaction which is diffusion controlled will be 20% slower in D20 than in H20. This effect would certainly apply to transition state D in Fig. 3 where in the transition state the leaving group is diffusing away. A similar effect may also apply to the classical SN1 and SN2 transition states, if the rotational diffusion of water molecules to form the solvation shell is part of the motion along the reaction co-ordinate in the transition state. Robertson (Laughton and Robertson, 1959 Heppolette and Robertson, 1961) has indeed correlated solvent isotope effects for both SN1 and SN2 reactions with the relative fluidities of H20 and D20. However, while the correlation shows that this is a possible explanation, it may also be that the temperature variation of the solvent isotope effect and of the relative fluidities just happen to be very similar (see below). 

The relation of the solvent isotope effect to transition state structure depends firstly on the contribution from the medium effect (0 ) and secondly on the limiting value, bMe, used for the fractionation on structure [19] solvated in water. 

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