Proton transfer thermodynamics

Table 4-1 lists some rate constants for acid-base reactions. A very simple yet powerful generalization can be made For normal acids, proton transfer in the thermodynamically favored direction is diffusion controlled. Normal acids are predominantly oxygen and nitrogen acids carbon acids do not fit this pattern. The thermodynamicEilly favored direction is that in which the conventionally written equilibrium constant is greater than unity this is readily established from the pK of the conjugate acid. Approximate values of rate constants in both directions can thus be estimated by assuming a typical diffusion-limited value in the favored direction (most reasonably by inspection of experimental results for closely related... 

Chemists have estabhshed that a Dieckmann condensation will not succeed unless the final keto-ester product is deprotonated by a base. In our example, this would be a reaction between EtO" and the keto-ester (it is necessary, therefore, to use excess EtO ). What reaction products are generated by this proton transfer Obtain the energies of the reactants and products, and calculate the energy for this final proton transfer. Is this reaction thermodynamically favorable or unfavorable Does this step make the overall condensation reaction favorable or unfavorable ... 

Although thermodynamics can be used to predict the direction and extent of chemical change, it does not tell us how the reaction takes place or how fast. We have seen that some spontaneous reactions—such as the decomposition of benzene into carbon and hydrogen—do not seem to proceed at all, whereas other reactions—such as proton transfer reactions—reach equilibrium very rapidly. In this chapter, we examine the intimate details of how reactions proceed, what determines their rates, and how to control those rates. The study of the rates of chemical reactions is called chemical kinetics. When studying thermodynamics, we consider only the initial and final states of a chemical process (its origin and destination) and ignore what happens between them (the journey itself, with all its obstacles). In chemical kinetics, we are interested only in the journey—the changes that take place in the course of reactions. 

However, on heating to about 200°C, a thermodynamically more favorable reaction takes place. The proton transfer is reversed, and the amine acts as a nucleophile as it attacks the carbon atom of the carboxyl group in a condensation reaction ... 

Proton transfers between oxygen and nitrogen acids and bases are usually extremely fast. In the thermodynamically favored direction, they are generally diffusion controlled. In fact, a normal acid is defined as one whose proton-transfer reactions are completely diffusion controlled, except when the conjugate acid of the base to which the proton is transferred has a pA value very close (differs by g2 pA units) to that of the acid. The normal acid-base reaction mechanism consists of three steps ... 

Brouillard, R. and Delaporte, B., Chemistry of anthocyanin pigments. 2. Kinetic and thermodynamic study of proton-transfer, hydration, and tautomeric reactions of mal-vidin-3-glucoside, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 99, 8461, 1977. 

Aminolysis of simple esters is snrprisingly difficnlt, despite the greater thermodynamic stability of amides than esters the problem is that the initial tetrahedral intermediate preferentially reverts to starting material (not only is the amine the better leaving gronp, bnt loss of alkoxide would lead to an A-protonated amide), and only trapping of this intermediate by proton transfer allows the reaction to proceed. ... 

Another elegant example of the thermal generation and subsequent intramolecular cycloaddition of an o-QM can be found in Snider s biomimetic synthesis of the tetracyclic core of bisabosquals.2 Treatment of the starting material with acid causes the MOM ethers to cleave from the phenol core (Fig. 4.3). Under thermal conditions, a proton transfer ensues from one of the phenols to its neighboring benzylic alcohol residue. Upon expulsion of water, an o-QM forms. The E or Z geometry of the o-QM intermediate and its propensity toward interception by formaldehyde, water, or itself, again prove inconsequential as the outcome is decided by the relative thermodynamic stabilities among accessible products. 

In considering relative acidity, classically it is only the thermodynamics of the situation that are of interest in that the pKa value for the acid (cf. p. 54) can be derived from the equilibrium above. The kinetics of the situation are normally of little significance, as proton transfer from atoms such as O, N, etc., is extremely rapid in solution. With carbon acids such as (1), however, the rate at which proton is transferred to the base may well be sufficiently slow as to constitute the limiting factor the acidity of (1) is then controlled kinetically rather than thermodynamically (cf. p. 280). 

Seminal studies on the dynamics of proton transfer in the triplet manifold have been performed on HBO [109]. It was found that in the triplet states of HBO, the proton transfer between the enol and keto tautomers is reversible because the two (enol and keto) triplet states are accidentally isoenergetic. In addition, the rate constant is as slow as milliseconds at 100 K. The results of much slower proton transfer dynamics in the triplet manifold are consistent with the earlier summarization of ESIPT molecules. Based on the steady-state absorption and emission spectroscopy, the changes of pKa between the ground and excited states, and hence the thermodynamics of ESIPT, can be deduced by a Forster cycle [65]. Accordingly, compared to the pKa in the ground state, the decrease of pKa in the... 

The extent to which the effect of changing substituents on the values of ks and kp is the result of a change in the thermodynamic driving force for the reaction (AG°), a change in the relative intrinsic activation barriers A for ks and kp, or whether changes in both of these quantities contribute to the overall substituent effect. This requires at least a crude Marcus analysis of the substituent effect on the rate and equilibrium constants for the nucleophile addition and proton transfer reactions (equation 2).71-72... 

To what extent is the partitioning of simple aliphatic and benzylic a-CH-substituted carbocations in nucleophilic solvents controlled by the relative thermodynamic driving force for proton transfer and nucleophile addition reactions It is known that the partitioning of simple aliphatic carbocations favors the formation of nucleophile adducts (ksjkp > 1, Scheme 2) and there is good evidence that this reflects, at least in part, the larger thermodynamic driving force for the nucleophilic addition compared with the proton transfer reaction of solvent (A dd U Scheme 6).12 21,22,24... 

The results described in this review provide support for the following generalizations about the influence of thermodynamics and intrinsic kinetic barriers on the partitioning of carbocations between nucleophilic addition of aqueous solvents to form a tetrahedral adduct (ks) and proton transfer to these solvents to form an alkene (kp). 

A normal proton transfer was defined by Eigen as one whose rate in the thermodynamically favourable direction was diffusion-controlled (Eigen, 1964). By use of relaxation techniques Eigen was able to show that many proton transfers involving oxygen and nitrogen acids and bases were in this category. If the reactions (5) of an acid (HA) with a series of bases (B-) shows normal proton-transfer behaviour, the rate coefficients in the forward... 

All these reactions are thermodynamically favourable in the direction of proton transfer to hydroxide ion but the rate coefficients are somewhat below the diffusion-limited values. In broad terms, the typical effect of an intramolecular hydrogen bond on the rate coefficient for proton removal is to reduce the rate coefficient by a factor of up to ca 105 below the diffusion limit. Correspondingly the value of the dissociation constant of the acid is usually decreased by a somewhat smaller factor from that of a non-hydrogen-bonded acid. There are exceptions, however. 

In this region, the equilibrium constant for the proton-transfer step in Scheme 7 has a value K2> 1 and the proton transfer step is strongly favourable thermodynamically in the forward direction. This reaction step is a normal proton transfer between an oxygen acid which does not possess an intramolecular hydrogen bond and a base (B) and will therefore be diffusion-limited with a rate coefficient k2 in the range 1 x 109 to 1 x 1010dm3mol-1 s 1. It follows from (65) that kB will have a value which is... 

For this mechanism, values of kr =k 2 = 1.3 x 10lodm3mol-1s-1 are calculated from the experimental value for k in (94), and this means that the proton-transfer steps in (96) are diffusion-controlled in the thermodynamically favourable directions. The hydroxide ion catalysed tautomerisation... 

The general features discussed so far can explain the complexity of these reactions alone. However, thermodynamic and kinetic couplings between the redox steps, the complex equilibria of the metal ion and/or the proton transfer reactions of the substrate(s) lead to further complications and composite concentration dependencies of the reaction rate. The speciation in these systems is determined by the absolute concentrations and the concentration ratios of the reactants as well as by the pH which is often controlled separately using appropriately selected buffers. Perhaps, the most intriguing task is to identify the active form of the catalyst which can be a minor, undetectable species. When the protolytic and complex-formation reactions are relatively fast, they can be handled as rapidly established pre-equilibria (thermodynamic coupling), but in any other case kinetic coupling between the redox reactions and other steps needs to be considered in the interpretation of the kinetics and mechanism of the autoxidation process. This may require the use of comprehensive evaluation techniques. 

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