Transition structure solvent effects

It is interesting that the molecular structure in the transition state is also subject to a solvent effect. Compared to the gas phase, the solute molecular geometry at the transition state shifts toward the reactant side in aqueous solution the C—N and C—Cl distances... 

We will discuss shortly the most important structure-reactivity features of the E2, El, and Elcb mechanisms. The variable transition state theoiy allows discussion of reactions proceeding through transition states of intermediate character in terms of the limiting mechanistic types. The most important structural features to be considered in such a discussion are (1) the nature of the leaving group, (2) the nature of the base, (3) electronic and steric effects of substituents in the reactant molecule, and (4) solvent effects. 

After an introductory chapter, phenomenological kinetics is treated in Chapters 2, 3, and 4. The theory of chemical kinetics, in the form most applicable to solution studies, is described in Chapter 5 and is used in subsequent chapters. The treatments of mechanistic interpretations of the transition state theory, structure-reactivity relationships, and solvent effects are more extensive than is usual in an introductory textbook. The book could serve as the basis of a one-semester course, and I hope that it also may be found useful for self-instruction. 

Solvent effects also depend on the ground-state structure of the substrate and on the transition-state structure, as is shown below. Here let us merely note that A-heterocyclic compounds tend to form a hydrogen bond with hydroxylic solvents even in the ground state. Hydrogen-bond formation in this case is a change in the direction of quaternization of the aza group, as demonstrated by spectral evidence. Therefore, it is undoubtedly a rate-enhancing interaction. 

Levy (Chapter 6) has also explored the use of supercomputers to study detailed properties of biological macromolecule that are only Indirectly accessible to experiment, with particular emphasis on solvent effects and on the Interplay between computer simulations and experimental techniques such as NMR, X-ray structures, and vltratlonal spectra. The chapter by Jorgensen (Chapter 12) summarizes recent work on the kinetics of simple reactions In solutions. This kind of calculation provides examples of how simulations can address questions that are hard to address experimentally. For example Jorgensen s simulations predicted the existence of an Intermediate for the reaction of chloride Ion with methyl chloride In DMF which had not been anticipated experimentally, and they Indicate that the weaker solvation of the transition state as compared to reactants for this reaction In aqueous solution Is not due to a decrease In the number of hydrogen bonds, but rather due to a weakening of the hydrogen bonds. 

TABLE 2.5 Solvent Effect on the Asynchronicity (Ad, in A) and Energies (AE, in kcal/mol) of MEV-TSexo Transition Structure at B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) Level"... 

A structural comparison of the calculated (B3LYP/6-311+G ) ts (transition state in the gas phase), ts-wc (transition state in the cluster of five extra water molecules), ts-CPCM (transition state within the CPCM-solvent model (B3LYP(CPCM)/6-311+G )) and ts-PCM (transition state optimized within the PCM-solvent model (B3LYP(PCM)/6-311+G )), shows no large differences (see Fig. 8), which is also valid for the precursor complexes (see Fig. 9). Modeling solvent effects shrinks in all cases the Be-0 bonds of the entering/leaving water molecules (159). 

The existence of critical solvation numbers for a given process to happen is an important concept. Quantum chemical calculations using ancillary solvent molecules usually produce drastic changes on the electronic nature of saddle points of index one (SPi-1) when comparisons are made with those that have been determined in absence of such solvent molecules. Such results can not be used to show the lack of invariance of a given quantum transition structure without further ado. Solvent cluster calculations must be carefully matched with experimental information on such species, they cannot be used to represent solvation effects in condensed phases. 

The Claisen rearrangement is an electrocyclic reaction which converts an allyl vinyl ether into a y,8-unsaturated aldehyde or ketone, via a (3.3) sigmatropic shift. The rate of this reaction can be largely increased in polar solvents. Several works have addressed the study of the reaction mechanism and the electronic structure of the transition state (TS) by examining substituent and solvent effects on the rate of this reaction. 

The activation of various reactions by Lewis acids is now an everyday practice in synthetic organic chemistry. In contrast, solvent effects on Lewis acid catalysed Diels-Alder reactions have received much less attention. A change in the solvent can affect the association step leading to the transition structure. Ab initio calculations on the Diels-Alder reaction of cyclopentadiene and methyl vinyl ketone in aqueous media showed that there is a complex of the reactants which also involves one water molecule119. In an extreme case solvents can even impede catalysis120. The use of inert solvents such as dichloromethane and chloroform for synthetic applications of Lewis acid catalysed Diels-Alder reactions is thus well justified. General solvent effects, in particular those of water, will be discussed in the following section. 

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. 

While the information has certainly advanced the understanding of the form of the transition structures, the issues of counterion and explicit solvent effects have yet to be addressed, largely as a result of limitations of the computational methods so far employed. 

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