Transition states push-pull

The mechanistic interpretation of the acid-catalyzed ring opening reaction of thiirane oxides125 is based on the push-pull mechanism162 with a transition state in which the bonded hydrogen atom plays a major role (see equation 59). 

In this model, the binding of the substrate to the enzyme strains specific chemical bonds, making the subsequent chemical reaction easier. If a bond has to be broken, the enzyme grabs onto both sides of the bond and pulls. If a bond has to be formed, the enzyme grabs onto both sides and pushes. By this model, the enzyme must be designed to apply the strain in the right direction—the direction that will help convert the reactant to the transition state (Fig. 7-5). 

The STRAIN AND DISTORTION model for catalysis involves pushing, pulling, or twisting a bond that is to be made or broken during the reaction. Parts of the substrate not involved directly in the chemical reaction are required to hold the substrate on the enzyme in the distorted form. The distortion and strain make it easier to reach the transition state. 

In the ground state, aminomethylenemalonates possess an essentially planar geometry, which maximizes the electron delocalization in the molecules. In the heteropolar transition state, the plane of the groups R3 and NR R2 and the plane of the two carbonyl groups occupy orthogonal positions. More details of the dynamic and static stereochemistry of push-pull ethylenes, as in compounds 1 and 2, are discussed in two excellent reviews (73TS295 83TS83). 

With push-pull ethylenes in which the donor part is a cyclic conjugated system with An + 2 ir electrons and/or the acceptor part is one with An tt electrons, the possibility exists for aromatic stabilization of the transition state to C=C rotation. Several such systems with both carbocylic and heterocyclic ring components have been studied. 

The low C=C barriers in push-pull ethylenes compared to the 6S.S kcal/ mol in ethylene show that die effects of delocalization on the tr-electron energy in the transition state must be much greater than the effects in the ground state— that is, the important substituent effects on the barriers must occur in the transition state. Besides, an effect that improves delocalization in the ground state would be barrier raising, if it were not accompanied by an at least equal stabilization of the transition state. 

In the first DNMR studies of push-pull ethylenes, a strong effect of solvent polarity on the C=C barriers was noted. Thus Kende et al. (64) found AG = 18.0 kcal/mol for 46a in N,/V-dimethylformamide (dielectric constant e = 38) and 19.4 kcal/mol in Ph20 ( = 4). Similar observations have been made by many other workers, and they have been seen as a strong support for a zwitterionic transition state. Kessler et al. (140) observed reasonably linear correlations between AG for two ketene aminals and the solvent polarity parameter T (141) with variations in AG of ca. 2.5 kcal/mol over T values between 25 and 46. Similarly, Shvo et al. (78) found linear correlations between log km and the polarity parameter Z (141) for three compounds from Table 12. 

The transition state to C—N rotation is less polar than the ground state, and therefore barriers to this rotation are increased by increased solvent polarity (20,83). For similar reasons, the barriers to passage through the planar state in Case 2 push-pull ethylenes increase moderately with increasing solvent polarity (143). 

One should expect the activation entropy (AS ) to C=C rotation in Case 1 push-pull ethylenes to be negative, since the increase in polarity in the transition state should increase the order in the solvated structure. The effect should increase with increasing difference in polarity between ground and transition states, and also with increasing solvent polarity. These expectations have been completely borne out by experiments (78,140,143), as Table 22 shows. Contrary to what is generally found for conformational processes (144), AS values -20 e.u. are frequently found for C=C rotation in push-pull systems. 

Activation Enthalpies (A//, kcal/mol) and Entropies (AS, cal/mol K) for Rotations Through Perpendicular (it) and Planar (S) Transition states (TS) in Case 1 and Case 2 Push-Pull Ethylenes... 

A recent example of this intramolecular tandem transformation is the Rh(ii)-catalyzed reaction of diazo keto ester 71. Depending on the structure of the diazo compound, a push-pull dipole intermediate derived from 71 can be trapped either by a tethered vinyl group (when n = 0) or by an indole 7r-bond (when n=l) (Equation (11)). This result clearly demonstrates a critical role of the conformation of the cycloaddition transition state. 

In the in-line push-pull mechanisms of Rabin and Roberts, the highest energy transition state may be either the pentacovalent intermediate or the alkoxide (hydroxide) state with 02 or 05" deprotonated but not bonded to P. Incipient deprotonation of 02 in an activated state is equivalent. Protonation of X or Y or nearby positive charge could stabilize the pentacovalent intermediate. Removal of either could facilitate formation of the alkoxide in the breakdown of the intermediate. Restoration of the initial state of the enzyme is required in this mechanism and could be rate limiting. In the adjacent (pseudorotation) models of Witzel, Hammes, Usher, or Wang protonation of X or Y would be required to allow one of the two pseudomers to exist. In step 1 this requirement (and thus perhaps a rate limiting process) applies to the attack by 02. Deprotonation would force or facilitate reversal or pseudorotation to... 

Winstein-Parker spectrum is the E2 transition state (42), in which the base pulls off the proton and pushes off the leaving group simultaneously.88... 

FIGURE 1. Schematic picture of ground and transition states in the rotation about the C=C bond in a push-pull ethylene. A1 and A2 are acceptor groups, D1 and D2 are donors... 

The simplest model consists of two centres, one donor (D) and one acceptor (A), separated by a distance I and contains two electrons. Here we consider this simple system to illustrate some general relations between charge transfer, transition intensities and linear as well as non-linear optical polarizabilities. We will show below that the electro-optic parameters and the molecular polarizabilities may be described in terms of a single parameter, c, that is a measure of the extent of coupling between donor and acceptor. Conceptually, this approach is related to early computations on the behaviour of inorganic intervalence complexes (Robin and Day, 1967 Denning, 1995), Mulliken s model for molecular CT complexes (Mulliken and Pearson, 1969) and a two-form/two-state analysis of push-pull molecules (Blanchard-Desce and Barzoukas, 1998). 

As a further elaboration of the "push-pull mechanism [106], the structures of the transition states for enolisation have been considered in more detail. With acid catalysis the O HA bond is considered to be well-developed i.e. short... 

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