Alkyl ester transition states

Substitution reactions by the ionization mechanism proceed very slowly on a-halo derivatives of ketones, aldehydes, acids, esters, nitriles, and related compounds. As discussed on p. 284, such substituents destabilize a carbocation intermediate. Substitution by the direct displacement mechanism, however, proceed especially readily in these systems. Table S.IS indicates some representative relative rate accelerations. Steric effects be responsible for part of the observed acceleration, since an sfp- caibon, such as in a carbonyl group, will provide less steric resistance to tiie incoming nucleophile than an alkyl group. The major effect is believed to be electronic. The adjacent n-LUMO of the carbonyl group can interact with the electnai density that is built up at the pentacoordinate carbon. This can be described in resonance terminology as a contribution flom an enolate-like stmeture to tiie transition state. In MO terminology,.the low-lying LUMO has a... 

Sulfate monoesters can react by dissociative paths, and this is the favored path. Whether such reactions are concerted or involve a very short-lived sulfur trioxide intermediate has been the subject of debate. ° Benkovic and Benkovic reported evidence suggesting that the nucleophile is present (though there is little bond formation) in the transition state for the reaction of amines with p-nitrophenyl sulfate. Alkyl esters of sulfuric or sulfonic acids normally react with C-0 cleavage only when this is disfavored, as in aryl esters, does one see S-0 cleavage. Sulfate diester... 

The mechanism of phosphate ester hydrolysis by hydroxide is shown in Figure 1 for a phosphodiester substrate. A SN2 mechanism with a trigonal-bipyramidal transition state is generally accepted for the uncatalyzed cleavage of phosphodiesters and phosphotriesters by nucleophilic attack at phosphorus. In uncatalyzed phosphate monoester hydrolysis, a SN1 mechanism with formation of a (POj) intermediate competes with the SN2 mechanism. For alkyl phosphates, nucleophilic attack at the carbon atom is also relevant. In contrast, all enzymatic cleavage reactions of mono-, di-, and triesters seem to follow an SN2... 

The asymmetric induction cannot be explained simply by steric interaction because the R group in the aldehyde is far too remote to interact with the tartrate ester. In addition, the alkyl group present in the tartrate ligand seems to have a relatively minor effect on the overall stereoselectivity. It has thus been proposed that stereoelectronic interaction may play an important role. A more likely explanation is that transition state A is favored over transition state B, in which an n n electronic repulsion involving the aldehyde oxygen atom and the /Mace ester group causes destabilization (Fig. 3-6). This description can help explain the stereo-outcome of this type of allylation reaction. 

As outlined in Section 2, simple aliphatic compounds with short to medium length alkyl chains bind to CDs, and the strength of the binding increases in proportion to the chain length (C2 to C8) and size (Matsui et al., 1985 Tee, 1989 Tee et al., 1990b). Thus, with aryl esters having medium length alkanoate chains it is possible that inclusion of the acyl chain of the ester may become dominant in the initial state, and possibly in the transition state for esterolysis also. Several studies support this expectation. 

For the primary and secondary a-alkoxy radicals 24 and 29, the rate constants for reaction with Bu3SnH are about an order of magnitude smaller than those for reactions of the tin hydride with alkyl radicals, whereas for the secondary a-ester radical 30 and a-amide radicals 28 and 31, the tin hydride reaction rate constants are similar to those of alkyl radicals. Because the reductions in C-H BDE due to alkoxy, ester, and amide groups are comparable, the exothermicities of the H-atom transfer reactions will be similar for these types of radicals and cannot be the major factor resulting in the difference in rates. Alternatively, some polarization in the transition states for the H-atom transfer reactions would explain the kinetic results. The electron-rich tin hydride reacts more rapidly with the electron-deficient a-ester and a-amide radicals than with the electron-rich a-alkoxy radicals. 

The tertiary a-ester (26) and a-cyano (27) radicals react about an order of magnitude less rapidly with Bu3SnH than do tertiary alkyl radicals. On the basis of the results with secondary radicals 28-31, the kinetic effect is unlikely to be due to electronics. The radical clocks 26 and 27 also cyclize considerably less rapidly than a secondary radical counterpart (26 with R = H) or their tertiary alkyl radical analogue (i.e., 26 with R = X = CH3), and the slow cyclization rates for 26 and 27 were ascribed to an enforced planarity in ester- and cyano-substituted radicals that, in the case of tertiary species, results in a steric interaction in the transition states for cyclization.89 It is possible that a steric effect due to an enforced planar tertiary radical center also is involved in the kinetic effect on the tin hydride reaction rate constants. 

An ab initio investigation of the transition state for the Lewis acid-associated migration of an alkyl group from boron to an a-dichloro-carbon in a non-racemic boronic ester has been carried out." The calculated transition state has shown that it is important to have the non-participating chlorine atom anti to the metal, e.g. as in (301). The... 

Other examples of the formation of six-membered rings by means of an intramolecular alkylation of an ester enolate are given in Table 7. Entry 6, i.e., stereoselective transformation of the epoxy ester into the cyclohexane derivative, should be discussed briefly as a representative for the other cases. The probable reason for the unexpectedly high selectivity i.e., the nonappearance of the diastereomer 8, can be demonstrated by the two transition-state-like conformations 9 and 10. 9 displays a very severe 1,3-diaxial interaction in comparison to 10, thus, formation of the diastereomer 7 from conformation 10 is highly favored113. 

For alkyl esters the reaction is close to symmetrical, and it is likely that the breakdown of the tetrahedral intermediate is partially rate-determining, and will therefore be general acid-catalyzed. For aryl esters breakdown to products will be faster, and the formation of the tetrahedral intermediate should determine the rate. This might account for the more favourable entropies of activation found by Moffat and Hunt199 for the hydrolysis of aryl trifluoroacetates if the single transition state (of the addition step) occurs early, the loss of degrees of freedom compared with the initial state will also be less complete. 

Roberts269 has studied the hydrolysis of series of ethyl esters271 272 and alkyl benzoates273 in a limited range of water-dimethyl sulphoxide mixtures in some detail, and finds that the data for the hydrolysis of aliphatic ethyl esters (at 35°C in 85% dimethyl sulphoxide-water) fit the modified Taft equation (eqn. 5, p. 132). The values of p = 1.88 and 8 = 0.88 can be compared with p = 2.39 and 8 = 1.04 for 85% EtOH-water at the same temperature. The polar reaction constant is reduced in the dipolar aprotic solvent, consistent with a reduced degree of bond formation in the transition state, expected if the activity of the hydroxide ion is increased. However, Roberts considers that the sensitivity to steric effects, as measured by 8, would be reduced more substantially if bond formation were less advanced. It is difficult to accept this argument, since we... 

---