Transition states cumyl chloride solvolysis

Probably the most important development of the past decade was the introduction by Brown and co-workers of a set of substituent constants,ct+, derived from the solvolysis of cumyl chlorides and presumably applicable to reaction series in which a delocalization of a positive charge from the reaction site into the aromatic nucleus is important in the transition state or, in other words, where the importance of resonance structures placing a positive charge on the substituent - -M effect) changes substantially between the initial and transition (or final) states. These ct+-values have found wide application, not only in the particular side-chain reactions for which they were designed, but equally in electrophilic nuclear substitution reactions. Although such a scale was first proposed by Pearson et al. under the label of and by Deno et Brown s systematic work made the scale definitive. 

Results such as these have led to recurring discussions about the extent of stabihzation of the transition state for heterolytic cleavage at tertiary carbon by nucleophilic assistance from solvent. The difficulty lies in reconciling studies that suggest that there is a small dependence of obsd (s ) for solvolysis of tert-butyl chloride,and some cumyl derivatives, on solvent nucleophilicity with other work that shows there is no detectable stabilization of the transition state for these reactions by interaction with the strongly nucleophilic azide and hydroxide ions, and the strong neutral nucleophile propanethiol. ... 

Aroyl esters of anthracene-9-methanol are photolysed in methanol to give products consistent with the anthracene-9-methyl cation as an intermediate.41 Rate constants for the solvolyses of secondary alkyl tosylates in fluorinated solvents were analysed in terms of the possible involvement of very short-lived carbocation-tosylate ion pair intermediates.42 The effect of added electrolytes on the rate of solvolysis of cumyl chloride and its -methyl derivative was studied in 90% aqueous acetone and 80% aqueous DMSO, with the results revealing a combination of a special salt effect and a mass law effect.43 Kinetic parameters obtained for the solvolysis of (8) (R1 = R2 = Me and R1 = Ar, R2 = H) show that there is substantial n, n participation in the transition state [e.g. (9). 44... 

For the reactivity parameters Y, n, a+ (but not a) andN+ the lack of curvature is not unexpected. This is because these parameters are defined with respect to the rate of some standard reaction (solvolysis of t-butyl chloride, substitution of methyl iodide, solvolysis of cumyl chlorides, combination reaction of nucleophiles with a standard electrophile). Therefore the resultant plot is of the type log k vs. log k, while the curvature shown in a typical Br nsted plot (Figure 5) results from a plot of log k vs. log K. This curvature is due to a gradual change from a reactant-like transition state, which is insensitive to a perturbation in the reactivity parameter, to a product-like transition state in which equilibrium perturbations are largely reflected in the transition state (and hence the rate). A log k — log k plot is not expected to show this effect and hence is not expected to show curvature. 

The use of the Brown equation as a probe of reaction mechanism is essentially based on the alternative use of substituent parameters tr and a- the better correlation with one of the reference scales, i.e. in this analysis, indicates closer similarity in the mechanism or in the structure of the transition state to that of the reference reaction, solvolysis of a-cumyl chlorides [2]. While the broad applicability of the Brown treatment is widely appreciated, this (T treatment has the inevitable limitations of a single reference parameter relationship. 

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