Tetrahedral nucleophilic attack

Protonation of the carbonyl oxygen as emphasized earlier makes the carbonyl group more susceptible to nucleophilic attack A water molecule adds to the carbonyl group of the protonated ester m step 2 Loss of a proton from the resulting oxonium ion gives the neutral form of the tetrahedral intermediate m step 3 and completes the first stage of the mechanism... 

All these facts—the observation of second order kinetics nucleophilic attack at the carbonyl group and the involvement of a tetrahedral intermediate—are accommodated by the reaction mechanism shown m Figure 20 5 Like the acid catalyzed mechanism it has two distinct stages namely formation of the tetrahedral intermediate and its subsequent dissociation All the steps are reversible except the last one The equilibrium constant for proton abstraction from the carboxylic acid by hydroxide is so large that step 4 is for all intents and purposes irreversible and this makes the overall reaction irreversible... 

Silicon halides are typically tetrahedral compounds. The siUcone—halogen bond is very polar thus the siUcon is susceptible to nucleophilic attack, which in part accounts for the broad range of reactivity with various chemicals. Furthermore, reactivity generally increases with the atomic weight of the halogen atom. 

The reaction involves the nucleophilic attack of a peracid anion on the unionized peracid giving a tetrahedral diperoxy intermediate that then eliminates oxygen giving the parent acids. The observed rate of the reaction depends on the initial concentration of the peracid as expected in a second-order process. The reaction also depends on the stmcture of the peracid (specifically whether the peracid can micellize) (4). MiceUization increases the effective second-order concentration of the peracid because of the proximity of one peracid to another. This effect can be mitigated by the addition of an appropriate surfactant, which when incorporated into the peracid micelle, effectively dilutes the peracid, reducing the rate of decomposition (4,90). 

The kinetics of the hydrolysis of some imines derived from benzophenone anc primary amines revealed the normal dependence of mechanism on pH with ratedetermining nucleophilic attack at high pH and rate-determining decomposition of the tetrahedral intermediate at low pH. The simple primary amines show a linear correlation between the rate of nucleophilic addition and the basicity of the amine Several diamines which were included in the study, in particular A, B, and C, al showed a positive (more reactive) deviation from the correlation line for the simple amines. Why might these amines be more reactive than predicted on the basis of thei ... 

The 5/) -hybridized carbon of an acyl chloride is less sterically hindered than the sp -hybridized carbon of an alkyl chloride, making an acyl chloride more open toward nucleophilic attack. Also, unlike the Sn2 transition state or a carbocation intennediate in an SnI reaction, the tetrahedral intennediate in nucleophilic acyl substitution has a stable anangement of bonds and can be fonned via a lower energy transition state. 

When written in this way it is clear what is happening. The mechanisms of these reactions are probably similar, despite the different p values. The distinction is that in Reaction 10 the substituent X is on the substrate, its usual location but in Reaction 15 the substituent changes have been made on the reagent. Thus, electron-withdrawing substituents on the benzoyl chloride render the carbonyl carbon more positive and more susceptible to nucleophilic attack, whereas electron-donating substituents on the aniline increase the electron density on nitrogen, also facilitating nucleophilic attack. The mechanism may be an addition-elimination via a tetrahedral intermediate ... 

Equations (7-66) and (7-67), or related versions, have been used by Hupes and Jencks and by Castro and co-workers to account for curvature. The quantity p/(S defines the center of eurvature of the plot and is expected to occur when the Y>Ka of the nucleophile is equal to the p/( of the leaving group." For weaker nucleophiles pKa < p/(S), breakdown of the tetrahedral intermediate will be rate determining, because the leaving group X is a stronger nucleophile than is N , so 2 < -li if, however, p/( > p/(S, the nucleophilic attack is rate determining. 

O Nucleophilic attack on the ketone or aldehyde by the lone-pair electrons of an amine leads to a dipolar tetrahedral intermediate. 

The homologation of selenoesters 379 with diazomethane in the presence of Cu or Cul to give a-selenoketones is thought not to involve a carbenoid pathway and an Se-ylide intermediate but rather a tetrahedral species resulting from nucleophilic attack of CH2N2 at the carbonyl carbon atom. The role of the catalyst is seen in facilitating nucleophilic attack at C=0 by complexation at the selenium atom. 

Next to tetrahedral systems, trigonal systems are considered as reaction centres in Baldwin s rules. These predict that 3- to 1-exo-trig reactions are all favoured processes. Very accurate EM s have been reported by Bruice and Benkovic (1963) for intramolecular nucleophilic attack on carbonyl in [39] and [40]. When Ar is varied from C6H5 to p-NOzC6H4, the EM of [39]... 

Type II nitrosamines have two reaction pathways. One pathway involves nucleophilic attack at the carbon of C=0 to generate a tetrahedral intermediate which decomposes to an active diazotate ion (R-N=N-0 ). The other pathway involves the nucleophililc attack on the nitrogen of the nitroso group resulting in denitrosation (Scheme 3.5). The nucleophile can be a biologically prevalent thiol, therefore type II compounds are often used as NO donors for the formation of S-nitrosothiols [67, 68]. 

The term acid catalysis is often taken to mean proton catalysis ( specific acid catalysis ) in contrast to general acid catalysis. In this sense, acid-catalyzed hydrolysis begins with protonation of the carbonyl O-atom, which renders the carbonyl C-atom more susceptible to nucleophilic attack. The reaction continues as depicted in Fig. 7. l.a (Pathway a) with hydration of the car-bonium ion to form a tetrahedral intermediate. This is followed by acyl cleavage (heterolytic cleavage of the acyl-0 bond). Pathway b presents an mechanism that can be observed in the presence of concentrated inorganic acids, but which appears irrelevant to hydrolysis under physiological conditions. The same is true for another mechanism of alkyl cleavage not shown in Fig. 7.Fa. All mechanisms of proton-catalyzed ester hydrolysis are reversible. 

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