Thermodynamic pathways Intermediate reactions

Indeed, Antoine Lavoisier named nitrogen gas azote," meaning vvi life," because it is so unreactive. Nevertheless, the conversion of nitrogen and hydrogen to form ammonia is thermodynamically favorable the reaction is difficult kinetically because intermediates along the reaction pathway are unstable. 

Conra.d-Limpa.ch-KnorrSynthesis. When a P-keto ester is the carbonyl component of these pathways, two products are possible, and the regiochemistry can be optimized. Aniline reacts with ethyl acetoacetate below 100°C to form 3-anilinocrotonate (14), which is converted to 4-hydroxy-2-methylquinoline [607-67-0] by placing it in a preheated environment at 250°C. If the initial reaction takes place at 160°C, acetoacetanilide (15) forms and can be cyclized with concentrated sulfuric acid to 2-hydroxy-4-methylquinoline [607-66-9] (49). This example of kinetic vs thermodynamic control has been employed in the synthesis of many quinoline derivatives. They are useful as intermediates for the synthesis of chemotherapeutic agents (see Chemotherapeuticsanticancer). 

No single mechanism accounts for all the reactions. One pathway involves a concerted one-step process involving a cyclic transition state. This of necessity affords a c -product. Another possibility, more favoured in polar solvents, involves a cationic 5-coordinate intermediate [IrX(A)(CO)L2]+, which undergoes subsequent nucleophilic attack by B-. Other possibilities include a SN2 route, where the metal polarizes AB before generating the nucleophile, and radical routes. Studies are complicated by the fact that the thermodynamically more stable isolated product may not be the same as the kinetic product formed by initial addition. 

Table 10.4 lists the rate parameters for the elementary steps of the CO + NO reaction in the limit of zero coverage. Parameters such as those listed in Tab. 10.4 form the highly desirable input for modeling overall reaction mechanisms. In addition, elementary rate parameters can be compared to calculations on the basis of the theories outlined in Chapters 3 and 6. In this way the kinetic parameters of elementary reaction steps provide, through spectroscopy and computational chemistry, a link between the intramolecular properties of adsorbed reactants and their reactivity Statistical thermodynamics furnishes the theoretical framework to describe how equilibrium constants and reaction rate constants depend on the partition functions of vibration and rotation. Thus, spectroscopy studies of adsorbed reactants and intermediates provide the input for computing equilibrium constants, while calculations on the transition states of reaction pathways, starting from structurally, electronically and vibrationally well-characterized ground states, enable the prediction of kinetic parameters. 

It also explains the /Z selectivity of products at low conversions (kinetic ratio. Scheme 19). In the case of propene, a terminal olefin, E 2-butene is usually favoured (E/Z - 2.5 Scheme 19), while Z 3-heptene is transformed into 3-hexene and 4-octene with EjZ ratios of 0.75 and 0.6, respectively, which shows that in this case Z-olefins are favoured (Scheme 20). At full conversion, the thermodynamic equilibriums are reached to give the -olefins as the major isomers in both cases. For terminal olefins, the E olefin is the kinetic product because the favoured pathway involved intermediates in which the [ 1,2]-interactions are minimized, that is when both substituents (methyls) are least interacting. In the metathesis of Z-olefins, the metallacyclobutanes are trisubstituted, and Z-olefins are the kinetic products because they invoke reaction intermediates in which [1,2] and especially [1,3] interactions are minimized. 

The elementary reaction energies and thermodynamics for methanol dehydrogenation have been shown to be significantly influenced by electrode potential. The oxidation pathways become much more favorable at higher potentials. The relative barriers of O—H to C—H bond activation decrease with increasing potential, which decreases the overall selectivity to CO and CO2 and increases the yield of formaldehyde. This is consistent with experimental studies. The oxidation of CO intermediates appears to occur via adsorbed hydroxyl intermediates. The hydroxyl intermediates are more weakly held to the surface than atomic oxygen, and thus have significantly lower barriers for the oxidation of CO. 

The EfZ ratio of stilbenes obtained in the Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed reaction was independent of catalyst concentration in the range given in Table 22 357). This fact differs from the copper-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate, where the ratio diethyl fumarate diethyl maleate was found to depend on the concentration of the catalyst, requiring two competing mechanistic pathways to be taken into account 365), The preference for the Z-stilbene upon C ClO -or rhodium-catalyzed decomposition of aryldiazomethanes may be explained by the mechanism given in Scheme 39. Nucleophilic attack of the diazoalkane at the presumed metal carbene leads to two epimeric diazonium intermediates 385, the sterically less encumbered of which yields the Z-stilbene after C/C rotation 357,358). Thus, steric effects, favoring 385a over 385 b, ultimately cause the preferred formation of the thermodynamically less stable cis-stilbene. 

The cycloadditions in entries 1-3 are still believed to occur via a diradical stepwise pathway, as confirmed by obtaining a thermodynamic 78 22 trans/cis mixture of dispirooctanes 536 from frans-dicyanoethylene (533) (entry 3) [13b, 143], The cycloaddition to tetracyanoethylene (131) in the absence of oxygen gives only low yields of the [2 + 2] adduct, due to the simultaneous formation of products 542 and 543 (Scheme 74) [13b]. Still, the formation of the cyclobutanes 537 and 542 is noteworthy, since the reactions of TCNE with phenyl substituted MCPs exclusively afford methylenecyclopentane derivatives [37,144], The reaction is thought to occur via dipolar intermediates 539-541 formed after an initial SET process (Scheme 74) [13b]. The occurrence of intermediates 540 and 541 has been confirmed by trapping experiments [13b]. 

The probable pathway resulting in the stereoselective formation of silylated ene nitrile (586) from enoxime (584) is presented on the right of Scheme 3.282. At higher temperature, the latter eliminates trimethylsilanol to give ene-nitrile (586) under the action of silyl Lewis acid (TfOSiMe3). Evidently, the reaction of compound (585) with TfOSiMe3 at room temperature involves initial silylation of the nitrogen atom to form the cationic intermediate B, which is deprotonated with triethylamine, followed by the thermodynamically favorable l,3-N,C-shift... 

Lehnert and Tuczek further studied end-on terminal coordination by density functional theory (DFT) calculations on the compounds [Mo(N2)2(dppe)2], [MoF(NNH)(dppe)2], and [MoF(NNH2)(dppe)2]+, where dppe= 1,2-bis(diphenyl-phosphino)ethane.50 They proposed a reaction scheme, shown in reaction 6.13, for asymmetric dinitrogen reduction and protonation. The end-on model favored by Lehnert in reference 50, as shown in reaction 6.13, appears to be a less thermodynamically unfavorable pathway, at least to reach the M-NNH3 intermediate. Step 1 produces a metal-attached diazenido ion (NNH-), step 2 produces a hydrazido ion (NNH2 ), and step 3 produces a hydrazidium ion (NNHj). 

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