Kinetics and mechanism of the reaction of benzyl bromide with copper in hexamethylphosphoramide

The reaction of copper with benzyl bromides in hexamethylphosphoramide has been studied. The kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the reaction have been obtained. Hammett plots of log (k/k^o) vs the substituent constant σ gave good correlations (ρ = 0.15, S_ρ = 0.02, r = 0.954). The structure of the organic group has little effect on the rate of reaction of benzyl bromide with copper. In the absence of atmospheric oxygen, the oxidative dissolution of copper occurred by the mechanism of single‐electron transfer with the formation of 1,2‐diphenylethane and copper(I) complexes. The stereochemistry and intermediates compound was also investigated. The reaction mechanism is discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 37: 296–305, 2005