Substitution, nucleophilic substrate effects

A reaction described as Sn2, abbreviation for substitution, nucleophilic (bimolecular), is a one-step process, and no intermediate is formed. This reaction involves the so-called backside attack of a nucleophile Y on an electrophilic center RX, such that the reaction center the carbon or other atom attacked by the nucleophile) undergoes inversion of stereochemical configuration. In the transition-state nucleophile and exiphile (leaving group) reside at the reaction center. Aside from stereochemical issues, other evidence can be used to identify Sn2 reactions. First, because both nucleophile and substrate are involved in the rate-determining step, the reaction is second order overall rate = k[RX][Y]. Moreover, one can use kinetic isotope effects to distinguish SnI and Sn2 cases (See Kinetic Isotope Effects). 

In a few reactions, nucleophilic substitution proceeds with retention of configuration, even where there is no possibility of a neighboring-group effect. In the SNi mechanism (substitution nucleophilic internal) part of the leaving group must be able to attack the substrate, detaching... 

Electronic Effects. Singlet oxygen is an electrophilic oxidant that exhibits a clear preference for reactions with nucleophilic substrates. This preference is strikingly evident in a comparison of the rates constants for ene reactions of simple methyl substituted alkenes 2,3-dimethyl-2-butene (A = 2.2 x 107M-1s-1) [19] reacts more than 30 times faster than the tri-substituted alkene 2-methyl-2-butene (k = 7.2 x 105 M-1s-1) [19] and more than 500 times faster than the di-substituted alkene Z-2-butene ( = 4.8 x 104M-1s-1) [19]. The practical implications of these electronic effects are... 

The effects of the nucleophile on aromatic substitution which are pertinent to our main theme of relative reactivity of azine rings and of ring-positions are brought together here. The influence of a nucleophile on relative positional reactivity can arise from its characteristics alone or from its interaction with the ring or with ring-substituents. The effect of different nucleophiles on the rates of reaction of a single substrate has been discussed in terms of polarizability, basicity, alpha effect (lone-pair on the atom adjacent to the nucleophilic atom), and solvation in several reviews and papers. ... 

The effect of a nitro group at the 6 position on the nucleophilic substitution reaction has been examined using l-methoxy-6-nitroindole (82) as a substrate (2001H1151). The reaction with NaOMe in refluxing DMF generates 6-nitroin-dole (83, 57%), 2-methoxy- (199, 22%), and 3-methoxy-6-nitroindoles (84, 6%) (Scheme 29). The formation of 199 and 84 can be explained by the SN2 -type nucleophilic substitution reaction at the 2 and 3 positions, respectively, with the... 

In contrast, Cozzi and Umani-Ronchi found the (salen)Cr-Cl complex 2 to be very effective for the desymmetrization of meso-slilbene oxide with use of substituted indoles as nucleophiles (Scheme 7.25) [49]. The reaction is high-yielding, highly enantioselective, and takes place exclusively at sp2-hybridized C3, independently of the indole substitution pattern at positions 1 and 2. The successful use of N-alkyl substrates (Scheme 7.25, entries 2 and 4) suggests that nucleophile activation does not occur in this reaction, in stark contrast with the highly enantioselective cooperative bimetallic mechanism of the (salen)Cr-Cl-catalyzed asymmetric azidolysis reaction (Scheme 7.5). However, no kinetic studies on this reaction were reported. 

In the discussion of electrophilic aromatic substitution (Chapter 11) equal attention was paid to the effect of substrate structure on reactivity (activation or deactivation) and on orientation. The question of orientation was important because in a typical substitution there are four or five hydrogens that could serve as leaving groups. This type of question is much less important for aromatic nucleophilic substitution, since in most cases there is only one potential leaving group in a molecule. Therefore attention is largely focused on the reactivity of one molecule compared with another and not on the comparison of the reactivity of different positions within the same molecule. 

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