Pushing the Upper Limit of Nucleophilicity Scales by Mesoionic N-Heterocyclic Olefins

A series of mesoionic, 1,2,3-triazole-derived N-heterocyclic olefins (mNHOs), which have an extraordinarily electron-rich exocyclic CC-double bond, was synthesized and spectroscopically characterized, in selected cases by X-ray crystallography. The kinetics of their reactions with arylidene malonates, ArCH=C(CO₂Et)₂, which gave zwitterionic adducts, were investigated photometrically in THF at 20 °C. The resulting second-order rate constants k₂(20 °C) correlate linearly with the reported electrophilicity parameters E of the arylidene malonates (reference electrophiles), thus providing the nucleophile-specific N and s_N parameters of the mNHOs according to the correlation lg k₂(20 °C)=s_N(N+E). With 21<N<32, the mNHOs are much stronger nucleophiles than conventional NHOs. Some mNHOs even excel the reactivity of mono- and diacceptor-substituted carbanions. It is exemplarily shown that the reactivity parameters thus obtained allow to calculate the rate constants for mNHO reactions with further Michael acceptors and predict the scope of reactions with other electrophilic reaction partners including carbon dioxide, which gives zwitterionic mNHO-carboxylates. The nucleophilicity parameters N correlate linearly with a linear combination of the quantum-chemically calculated methyl cation affinities and buried volumes of mNHOs, which offers a valuable tool to tailor the reactivities of strong carbon nucleophiles.     

Reactions of nitroheteroarenes with carbanions: bridging aromatic, heteroaromatic, and vinylic electrophilicity

The relative rate constants for the vicarious nucleophilic substitution (VNS) of the anion of chloromethyl phenyl sulfone (1-) with a variety of nitroheteroarenes, for example, nitropyridines, nitropyrroles, nitroimidazoles, 2-nitrothiophene, and 4-nitropyrazole, have been determined by competition experiments. It was shown that nitropyridines are approximately four orders of magnitude more reactive than nitrobenzene. Among the five-membered heterocycles 2-nitrothiophene is the most active followed by nitroimidazoles and 4-nitropyrazole. Nitropyrroles are the least electrophilic nitroheteroarenes with reactivities comparable to nitrobenzene. Quantum chemically calculated methyl anion affinities (B3LYP/6-311G(d,p)//B3LYP/6-31G(d)) of the nitroarenes correlated only moderately with the partial relative rate constants. The correlation of these activities with the LUMO energies of nitroarenes is even worse. By measuring the second-order rate constants of the addition of 1- to nitroarenes and to diethyl arylidenemalonates 10, it was possible to link the electrophilic reactivities of nitroheteroarenes with the comprehensive electrophilicity scale based on the linear-free-energy-relationship log k(20 degrees C)=s(N+E).     

Determination of the electrophilicity parameters of diethyl benzylidenemalonates in dimethyl sulfoxide: reference electrophiles for characterizing strong nucleophiles

The second-order rate constants of the reactions of nine substituted diethyl benzylidenemalonates 1 a-i with the carbanions 2 a-e have been determined spectrophotometrically in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Product studies show that the nucleophiles attack regioselectively at the electrophilic C==C double bond of the Michael acceptors to form the carbanionic adducts 4. The correlation log k(20 degrees C)=s(N+E) allows the determination of the electrophilicity parameters E for the electrophiles 1 a-i from the rate constants determined in this work and the previously published N and s parameters for the nucleophiles 2 a-e. The electrophilicities E for compounds 1 a-i cover a range of six units (-17.7>E>-23.8) and correlate excellently with Hammett's substituent constants sigma(p). The title compounds are roughly ten orders of magnitude less reactive than analogously substituted benzylidene Meldrum's acids, their cyclic analogues. Due to their low reactivities, compounds 1 a-i are suitable reference electrophiles for determining the reactivities of highly reactive nucleophiles, such as carbanions with 16相似文献   

Inverse solvent effects in carbocation carbanion combination reactions: the unique behavior of trifluoromethylsulfonyl stabilized carbanions

Second-order rate constants for the reactions of the trifluoromethylsulfonyl substituted benzyl anions 1a-e (CF3SO2CH(-)-C6H4-X) with the benzhydrylium ions 2f-j and structurally related quinone methides 2a-e have been determined by UV-vis spectroscopy. The reactions proceed approximately 10-40 times faster in methanol than in DMSO leading to the unique situation that these carbocation carbanion combinations are faster in protic than in dipolar aprotic media. The pK(a) values of some benzyl trifluoromethylsulfones were determined in methanol (1c-H, 17.1; 1d-H, 16.0; 1e-H, 15.0) and found to be 5 units larger than the corresponding values in DMSO. Rate and equilibrium measurements thus agree that the trifluoromethylsulfonyl substituted benzyl anions 1a-e are more effectively solvated by ion-dipole interactions in DMSO than by hydrogen bonding in methanol. Br?nsted correlations show that in DMSO the trifluoromethylsulfonyl substituted carbanions 1 are less nucleophilic than most other types of carbanions of similar basicity, indicating that in DMSO the intrinsic barriers for the reactions of the localized carbanions 1 are higher than those of delocalized carbanions, including nitroalkyl anions. The situation is reversed in methanol, where the reactions of the localized carbanions 1 possess lower intrinsic barriers than those of delocalized carbanions as commonly found for proton-transfer processes. As a consequence, the relative magnitudes of intrinsic barriers are strongly dependent on the solvent.     

Nucleophilicities and carbon basicities of pyridines

Rate and equilibrium constants for the reactions of pyridines with donor‐substituted benzhydrylium ions have been determined spectrophotometrically. The correlation equation log k(20 °C)=s(N+E), in which s and N are nucleophile‐specific parameters and E is an electrophile‐specific parameter, has been used to determine the nucleophilicity parameters of various pyridines in CH₂Cl₂ and aqueous solution and to compare them with N of other nucleophiles. It is found that the nucleophilic organocatalyst 4‐(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) and tertiary phosphanes have comparable nucleophilicities and carbon basicities despite widely differing Brønsted basicities. For that reason, these reactivity parameters are suggested as guidelines for the development of novel organocatalysts. The Marcus equation is employed for the determination of the intrinsic barriers of these reactions.     

Nucleophilicities of primary and secondary amines in water

The kinetics of the reactions of 26 primary and secondary amines with benzhydrylium ions in water were investigated photometrically. Because the parallel reactions of the benzhydrylium ions with hydroxide and water are much slower, the second-order rate constants for the reactions of amines with benzhydrylium ions could be determined reliably. Reactivities of anilines were also studied in acetonitrile solution. Plots of log k2,N for these reactions vs the electrophilicity parameters E of the benzhydrylium ions were linear, which allowed us to derive the nucleophilicity parameters N and s for amines as defined by the equation log k(20 degrees C)=s(E+N). Because the slope parameters for the different amines are closely similar; the relative nucleophilicities are almost independent of the electrophiles and can be expressed by the nucleophilicity parameters N. The correlation between nucleophilicity N and pKaH values is poor, and it is found that secondary alkyl amines and anilines are considerably more nucleophilic, while ammonia is much less nucleophilic than expected on the basis of their pKaH values.     

Electrophilicity of 5-benzylidene-1,3-dimethylbarbituric and -thiobarbituric acids

The kinetics of reactions of acceptor-stabilized carbanions 2a-m with benzylidenebarbituric and -thiobarbituric acids 1a-e has been determined in a dimethyl sulfoxide solution at 20 degrees C. Second-order rate constants were employed to determine the electrophilicity parameters E of the benzylidenebarbituric and -thiobarbituric acids 1a-e according to the correlation equation log k(20 degrees C) = s(N + E). With E parameters in the range of -10.4 to -13.9, the electrophilicities of 1a-e are comparable to those of analogously substituted benzylidenemalononitriles.