Transition state probe

H. Biirsing, P. Vohringer, Transition state probing and fragment rotational dynamics of Hgiz. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2, 73 (2000)... 

Williams, D.H. A Transition State Probe. Accounts of Chemical Research 1977, 10, 280-286. 

Hatano M, Yamanaka M, Mikami K (2003) A new N,P-ligand with achiral gem-dimethyloxazoline for palladium(II)-catalyzed cyclization of 1,6-enynes transition state probe for the N/C trans mode in Mizoroki-Heck-type C-C bond formation. Eur J Org Chem 2552-2555... 

It should be emphasized that isomerization is by no means the only process involving chemical reactions in which spectroscopy plays a key role as an experimental probe. A very exciting topic of recent interest is the observation and computation [73, 74] of the spectral properties of the transition state [6]—catching a molecule in the act as it passes the point of no return from reactants to products. Furthennore, it has been discovered from spectroscopic observation [75] that molecules can have motions that are stable for long times even above the barrier to reaction. 

Lee S-Y 1995 Wave-packet model of dynamic dispersed and integrated pump-probe signals in femtosecond transition state spectroscopy Femtosecond Chemistry ed J Manz and L Wdste (Heidelberg VCH)... 

Ionov S I, Brucker G A, Jaques C, Chen Y and Wittig C 1993 Probing the NO2 —>NO+0 transition state via time resolved unimolecular decomposition J. Chem. Phys. 99 3420-35... 

Dantus M, Rosker M J and Zewail A H 1987 Real-time femtosecond probing of transition states in chemical reactions J. Chem. Phys. 87 2395-7... 

Let us now return to the question of solvolysis and how it relates to the stracture under stable-ion conditions. To relate the structural data to solvolysis conditions, the primary issues that must be considered are the extent of solvent participation in the transition state and the nature of solvation of the cationic intermediate. The extent of solvent participation has been probed by comparison of solvolysis characteristics in trifluoroacetic acid with the solvolysis in acetic acid. The exo endo reactivity ratio in trifluoroacetic acid is 1120 1, compared to 280 1 in acetic acid. Whereas the endo isomer shows solvent sensitivity typical of normal secondary tosylates, the exx> isomer reveals a reduced sensitivity. This indicates that the transition state for solvolysis of the exo isomer possesses a greater degree of charge dispersal, which would be consistent with a bridged structure. This fact, along with the rate enhancement of the exo isomer, indicates that the c participation commences prior to the transition state being attained, so that it can be concluded that bridging is a characteristic of the solvolysis intermediate, as well as of the stable-ion structure. ... 

The most general method for synthesis of cyclic enamines is the oxidation of tertiary amines with mercuric acetate, which has been investigated primarily by Leonard 111-116) and applied in numerous examples of structural investigation and in syntheses of alkaloids 102,117-121). The requirement of a tram-coplanar arrangement of an a proton and mercury complexed on nitrogen, in the optimum transition state, confers valuable selectivity to the reaction. It may thus be used as a kinetic probe for stereochemistry as well as for the formation of specific enamine isomers. 

Lolis, E., and Petsko, G., 1990. Transition-state analogues in protein crystallography Probes of the structural source of enzyme catalysis. Annual Review of Biochemistry 59 597—630. 

The relatively small dependence of the rate on solvent is demonstrated in Table 5. The rate coefficients are a little greater in the more polar solvents but the overall effects are small. This is taken to indicate that there is only little polar character to the transition state. Another probe to determine the polarity of the transition state is the effect of substituents on the rate. The results obtained for the ortho rearrangement by varying the para substituents are shown in Table 6131 for the conversion... 

Transition state theory has been useful in providing a rationale for the so-called kinetic isotope effect. The kinetic isotope effect is used by enzy-mologists to probe various aspects of mechanism. Importantly, measured kinetic isotope effects have also been used to monitor if non-classical behaviour is a feature of enzyme-catalysed hydrogen transfer reactions. The kinetic isotope effect arises because of the differential reactivity of, for example, a C-H (protium), a C-D (deuterium) and a C-T (tritium) bond. 

Probing Structures and Dynamics of the Quantized Transition States 140... 

Probing the Structures of Quantized Transition States in the H + D2 Reaction... 

In the following sections, studies of isomeric ions are reported in which the ions are reactively probed. Where calculations are available, information on potential energy surfaces is given. This is usually the structure of the stable isomeric forms and transition states and their relative energies thus only points on the potential surface are known. The detailed form of the potential surface is almost never available nor is the connectivity between the various states usually established theoretically (chemical intuition is often used to connect the states). Pertinent experimental data on CID and metastable ions, isomers produced in binary reactions, and potential surfaces probed by binary reactions (with the excited isomeric ion as the reaction intermediate) are also given. 

Most importantly, the careful kinetic analysis of the rise and decay of the transient species in equation (69) shows that the decarboxylation of Ph2C(OH)CO occurs within a few picoseconds (kc c = (2-8) x 1011 s-1). The observation of such ultrafast (decarboxylation) rate constants, which nearly approach those of barrier-free unimolecular reactions, suggests that the advances in time-resolved spectroscopy can be exploited to probe the transition state for C—C bond cleavages via charge-transfer photolysis. 

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