Substitution reactions mechanism classification

A more detailed classification of chemical reactions will give specifications on the mechanism of a reaction electrophilic aromatic substitution, nucleophilic aliphatic substitution, etc. Details on this mechanism can be included to various degrees thus, nucleophilic aliphatic substitutions can further be classified into Sf l and reactions. However, as reaction conditions such as a change in solvent can shift a mechanism from one type to another, such details are of interest in the discussion of reaction mechanism but less so in reaction classification. 

But Ingold s triumph came in finally seeing the advantages of Robinson s explanation system, revising it, and substituting a new and clearer language and classification of types of reaction mechanisms. Lapworth, Robinson, and their collaborators referred to Ingold s "conversion" experience, a conversion in which Paul eventually helped create the myth of his role not as saint but as savior. 

Langford and Gray proposed in 1965 (13) a mechanistic classification for ligand substitution reactions, which is now generally accepted and summarized here for convenience. In their classification they divided ligand substitution reactions into three categories of stoichiometric mechanisms associative (A) where an intermediate of increased coordination number can be detected, dissociative (D) where an intermediate of reduced coordination number can be detected, and interchange (I) where there is no kinetically detectable intermediate [Eqs. (2)-(4)]. In Eqs. (2)-(4), MX -i and... 

The kinetics and mechanisms of substitution reactions studied in detail have been reviewed elsewhere 1-3). Here we shall summarize some recent data obtained in this field. As far as terminology is concerned, in the majority of cases that of Ingold 4) has been used, in which substitution of one ligand by another is regarded as a nucleophilic (SN) reaction. However, such a classification is rather rigid, and the term nucleophilicity is imprecise if one considers the variety of ligands from the simplest anions to olefins, acetylenes, arenes, etc. 

This classification is illustrated in Scheme 365. The synthesis of imidazoles under this classification is rare mainly due to the difficulty of C-C bond formation. A palladium-catalyzed coupling of imines 1415, 1417 and acid chloride 1416 to synthesize substituted imidazoles 1418 belongs to this category of ring formation. AT-Alkyl and AT-aryl imines can be used, as can imines of aryl and even nonenolizable alkyl aldehydes. A plausible reaction mechanism involving 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with miinchnones is illustrated in Scheme 366 <2006JA6050>. 

During the last two decades, the volume of activation has become a recognized criterion to complement traditional investigations of the mechanisms of substitution reactions. At this stage, it may be useful to recall the classification... 

Examples of photoreactions may be found among nearly all classes of organic compounds. From a synthetic point of view a classification by chromo-phore into the photochemistry of carbonyl compounds, enones, alkenes, aromatic compounds, etc., or by reaction type into photochemical oxidations and reductions, eliminations, additions, substitutions, etc., might be useful. However, photoreactions of quite different compounds can be based on a common reaction mechanism, and often the same theoretical model can be used to describe different reactions. Thus, theoretical arguments may imply a rather different classification, based, for instance, on the type of excited-state minimum responsible for the reaction, on the number and arrangement of centers in the reaction complex, or on the number of active orbitals per center. (Cf. Michl and BonaCid-Kouteck, 1990.)... 

The mechanism classification and the overall transformation classification are orthogonal to each other. For example, substitution reactions can occur by a polar acidic, polar basic, free-radical, pericyclic, or metal-catalyzed mechanism, and a reaction under polar basic conditions can produce an addition, a substitution, an elimination, or a rearrangement. Both classification schemes are important for determining the mechanism of a reaction, because knowing the class of mechanism and the overall transformation rales out certain mechanisms and suggests others. For example, under basic conditions, aromatic substitution reactions take place by one of three mechanisms nucleophilic addition-elimination, elimination-addition, or SrnL If you know the class of the overall transformation and the class of mechanism, your choices are narrowed considerably. 

The substitution reactions of organometallic compounds, in which heterolytic attack at the carbon is usually by electrophiles, are not susceptible to the simple mechanistic classification (SnI, Sn2, and S i) which is so useful in discussing nucleophilic reactions of organo-nonmetallic compounds. The situation is complicated by the propensity of the metal to increase its coordination number, and a spectrum of mechanisms has to be considered in which electrophilic attack at carbon is accompanied by or preceded by nucleophilic attack at the metal. 

Alcohols react with hydrogen halides (HCI, HBr, and HI) to give haloalkanes via substitution reactions. The mechanism of the reaction is either S l or S j2 depending on the classification (1°, 2°, or 3°) of the alcohol. 

Langford and Gray presented another classification for the mechanism of substitution reactions that is particularly appropriate for metal complexes [5], but also englobes the classification of Ingold and co-workers for organic substitutions. This classification makes a distinction between the stoichiometric mechanism and the activation mechanism. The stoichiometric mechanism concerns the nature of the intermediate. It distinguishes between ... 

Figure 11.2 Relationship between the mechanisms of substitution reactions and their energy profiles, and the classifications of Hughes-Ingold and Langford-Gray.

Figure 11.3 Energy profiles for the associative mechanism of substitution reactions, A in the Langford-Gray classification, showing the relation between the intermediate and the two TSs (a) The bond-breaking TS has higher energy, (b) The bond-making TS has higher energy.

Suitably designed experiments often provide information which permits the classification of substitution reactions as either SnI or Sn2. However it should be noted that the evidence is usually indirect and requires some interpretation. Unfortunately it is difficult to obtain direct, unequivocal evidence as to the exact reaction mechanism. For example, proof of an SnI process may be obtained by detecting the active intermediate of lower coordination number, M in Eq. (13). Direct detection of M is often impossible because it is so very reactive and its presence or absence is usually judged on the basis of indirect means. 

Other terms that he invented include the system of classification for mechanisms of aromatic and aliphatic substitution and elimination reactions, designated SN1, SN2, El, and E2. "S" and "E" refer to substitution and elimination, respectively, "N" to nucleophilic, and "1" and "2" to "molecularity," or the number of molecules involved in a reaction step (not kinetic order, having to do with the equation for reaction rate and the concentration of reactants). Ingold first introduced some of these ideas in 1928 in a... 

The classification within this section is based on the structural (rather than the mechanistic) relationship between the starting materials and products. Mechanistically, all of the reactions considered in this section involve nucleophilic substitution as the first step, except for aromatic substitution via the aryne mechanism, which involves elimination followed by nucleophilic addition. 

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