The hydrolysis of amides can have

Can acetate be acting as a base With a pJ aH of about 5 it certainly cannot remove the proton from the alcohol (pJ aH about 15) before the reaction starts. What it can do is to remove the proton from the alcohol as the reaction occurs. 

This type of catalysis, which is available to any base, not only strong bases, is called general base catalysis and will be discussed more in Chapters 41 and 50. It does not speed the reaction up very much but it does lower the energy of the transition state leading to the tetrahedral intermediate since that intermediate is first formed as a neutral compound instead of a dipolar species. Here is the mechanism for the uncatalysed reaction. 

The disadvantage of general base catalysis is that the first, rate-determining, step is termolecular. It is inherently unlikely that three molecules will collide with each other simultaneously and in the next section wc shall reject such an explanation for amide hydrolysis. In this case, however, if ROH is the solvent, it will always be present in any collision so a termolecular step is just about acceptable. 

When we come to reactions of amides we are at the bottom of the scale of reactivity. Because of the efficient delocalization of the nitrogen lone pair into the carbonyl group, nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl group is very difficult. In addition the leaving group (NH2, pkTaH about 35) is very bad indeed. 

You might indeed have guessed from our previous example, the hydrolysis of esters, where the transition states for formation and breakdown of the tetrahedral intermediate had about the same energies, that in the hydrolysis of amide the second step becomes rate-determining. This offers the opportunity for further base catalysis. If a second hydroxide ion removes the proton from the tetrahedral intermediate, the loss of NH j is made easier and the product is the more stable carboxylate ion. 

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The above studies indicate that metal ions catalyze the hydrolysis of amides and peptides at pH values where the carbonyl-bonded species (25) is present. At higher pH values where deprotonated complexes (26) can be formed the hydrolysis is inhibited. These conclusions have been amply confirmed in subsequent studies involving inert cobalt(III) complexes (Section 61.4.2.2.2). Zinc(II)-promoted amide ionization is uncommon, and the first example of such a reaction was only reported in 1981.103 Zinc(II) does not inhibit the hydrolysis of glycylglycine at high pH, and amide deprotonation does not appear to occur at quite high pH values. Presumably this is one important reason for the widespread occurrence of zinc(Il) in metallopeptidases. Other metal ions such as copper(II) would induce amide deprotonation at relatively low pH values leading to catalytically inactive complexes. 

So far, in this section, we have seen that we can make amides from acid halides, from acid anhydrides, or from esters. Now that we know how to make amides, let s explore some important reactions of amides. Specifically, we will explore hydrolysis of amides (under acidic or basic condition). It is worth mentioning that much of biochemistry is dependent on how, when, and why amides will undergo hydrolysis. So, if you plan on taking biochemistry, you should certainly be familiar with the hydrolysis of amides, which can occur under either basic conditions or acidic conditions ... 

Inspired by the many hydrolytically-active metallo enzymes encountered in nature, extensive studies have been performed on so-called metallo micelles. These investigations usually focus on mixed micelles of a common surfactant together with a special chelating surfactant that exhibits a high affinity for transition-metal ions. These aggregates can have remarkable catalytic effects on the hydrolysis of activated carboxylic acid esters, phosphate esters and amides. In these reactions the exact role of the metal ion is not clear and may vary from one system to another. However, there are strong indications that the major function of the metal ion is the coordination of hydroxide anion in the Stem region of the micelle where it is in the proximity of the micelle-bound substrate. The first report of catalysis of a hydrolysis reaction by me tall omi cell es stems from 1978. In the years that... 

The main application of the enzymatic hydrolysis of the amide bond is the en-antioselective synthesis of amino acids [4,97]. Acylases (EC 3.5.1.n) catalyze the hydrolysis of the N-acyl groups of a broad range of amino acid derivatives. They accept several acyl groups (acetyl, chloroacetyl, formyl, and carbamoyl) but they require a free a-carboxyl group. In general, acylases are selective for i-amino acids, but d-selective acylase have been reported. The kinetic resolution of amino acids by acylase-catalyzed hydrolysis is a well-established process [4]. The in situ racemization of the substrate in the presence of a racemase converts the process into a DKR. Alternatively, the remaining enantiomer of the N-acyl amino acid can be isolated and racemized via the formation of an oxazolone, as shown in Figure 6.34. 

There is much evidence for this mechanism, similar to that discussed for ester hydrolysis. A MO study on the mechanism of amide hydrolysis is available. In certain cases, kinetic studies have shown that the reaction is second order in OH , indicating that 107 can lose a proton to give 108. Depending on the nature... 

Selective cleavage of peptides and proteins is an important procedure in biochemistry and molecular biology. The half-life for the uncatalyzed hydrolysis of amide bonds is 350 500 years at room temperature and pH 4 8. Clearly, efficient methods of cleavage are needed. Despite their great catalytic power and selectivity to sequence, proteinases have some disadvantages. Peptides 420,423,424,426 an(j proteins428 429 can be hydrolytically cleaved near histidine and methionine residues with several palladium(II) aqua complexes, often with catalytic turnover. 

EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY N-Methyltryptamine (monomethyltryptamine, NMT) is an alkaloid that has been found in the bark, shoots and leaves of several species of Virola, Acacia and Mimosa. However, the major snuffs associated with these plant have been shown to also contain 5-MeO-DMT and are discussed there. NMT has been synthesized in a number of ways. One can react 3-(2-bromoethyl)indole with methylamine. NMT can be isolated as the benzoyl derivative from the methylation of tryptamine with methyl iodide followed by reaction with benzoyl chloride, with the hydrolysis of this amide with alcoholic KOH. It can also be synthesized from indole with oxalyl chloride, with the resulting glyoxyl chloride reacting with methylamine in ether to give indol-3-yl N-methylglyoxalylamide (mp 223-224 °C from IPA) which is obtained in a 68% yield, which is reduced to NMT to give the amine hydrochloride (mp 175-177 °C from ) in a 75% yield. The most simple and direct synthesis is the formamide reduction given above. 

The kinetic order of base-catalysed amide hydrolyses may vary considerably with the structure of the amide. Orders in hydroxide ion both smaller and larger than unity have been observed for a number of hydrolyses28 29,33. An order less than unity is observed when the amide itself is sufficiently acidic to be partially ionised, as in the hydrolysis of trifluoroacetanilide27,28 and higher orders are observed in anilide hydrolyses in which it appears that the tetrahedral intermediate can be further ionised. 

Coordinated a-amino amides can be formed by the nucleophilic addition of amines to coordinated a-amino esters (see Chapter 7.4). This reaction forms the basis of attempts to use suitable metal coordination to promote peptide synthesis. Again, studies have been carried out using coordination of several metals and an interesting early example is amide formation on an amino acid imine complex of magnesium (equation 75).355 However, cobalt(III) complexes, because of their high kinetic stability, have received most serious investigation. These studies have been closely associated with those previously described for the hydrolysis of esters, amides and peptides. Whereas hydrolysis is observed when reactions are carried out in water, reactions in dimethyl-formamide or dimethyl sulfoxide result in peptide bond formation. These comparative results are illustrated in Scheme 91.356-358 The key intermediate (126) has also been reacted with dipeptide... 

Lehn and Wipff (72) and Gorenstein and co-workers (73-80) have proposed on the basis of molecular orbital calculations that stereoelectronic effects similar to those observed in esters and amides play also an important role in the hydrolysis of phosphate esters. For instance, calculations suggest that the axial P — OR bond in the trigonal bipyramid conformation 120 is weaker than that in the conformation 121 because in the former, the oxygen atom of the equatorial OR group has an electron pair anti peri planar to the axial P — OR bond. Experimental results tend to support this interesting proposal but additional experiments are needed before unambiguous conclusions can be reached (81). 

Crystallographic studies of native cysteine proteinases and enzyme-inhibitor complexes have been used to interpret much or the kinetic data for cysteine protemsse-caUlyzed hydrolysis of amide bonds. Analysis of the crystal structures of papain [16]. caricain [38], actinidain [56], etc. shows that these structures are closely related. The active site of all these cysteine proteinases contains the Cys-25 sulfhydryl group in close proximity to the His-159 imidazole ring nitrogens, where the latter can abstract the sulfhydryl proton to facilitate attack on the substrate amide carbonyl group [17]. 

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