Ambident Heterocyclic Reactivity: Alkylation of 4-Substituted and 2,4-Disubstituted Benzimidazoles

1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 1523 ◽  
Author(s):  
MR Haque ◽  
M Rasmussen

The N1/N3-alkylation patterns of 4-amino-, 4-methyl- and 4-nitro-benzimidazole anions, and their 2-methyl analogues, with a standard set of primary alkyl halides (in dimethylformamide, 30°) have been determined and compared. The observed regioselectivities are dominated by proximal effects-electrostatic field, non-bonded steric and in some cases specific association (hydrogen bonding)-the interplay of which is critically dependent on the (variable) geometries of the SN2 transition states involved, in particular on the N---C distance of the developing N-alkyl bonds. The presence of a symmetrically placed 2-methyl group produces an enhanced N1/N3 site selectivity, very sensitive to the loose-tight nature of the transition state. Halide leaving group effects on butylation regioselectivities of 2-unsubstituted, 2-ethoxy-, 2-methyl- and 2-chloro-4-methylbenzimidazole anions, whilst small, are consistent with a Bell-Evans-Polanyi analysis of SN2 transition state variations, with the earlier transition states of CH3(CH2)3I leading to reduced regioselectivities.

1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (20) ◽  
pp. 2691-2699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Charles Westaway

Two research groups have used heavy atom leaving group kinetic isotope effects to determine how the structure of an SN2 transition state is affected by a change in solvent. Two completely different types of behaviour were observed in these studies. In one case, the leaving group kinetic isotope effect, and thus the transition state structure, changed markedly when the solvent was varied over a reasonably narrow range. In the other study, the leaving group kinetic isotope effect (transition state structure) remained constant over a wide range of solvents. A model describing the interaction between solvent molecules and SN2 transition states is developed and a SolvationruleforSN2reactions which rationalizes the different experimental results is explained and justified. Finally, predictions based on the solvation rule are shown to be in agreement with the results of theoretical calculations of solvent effects on SN2 transition states and secondary α deuterium kinetic isotope effect measurements.


1993 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1177 ◽  
Author(s):  
JR Howell ◽  
M Rasmussen

Alkylation of 5-substituted benzimidazole anions with a variety of primary alkyl halides in both protic and aprotic solvents showed only small regioselectivity , with a slight preference for reaction at N1 for 5-nitro and N3 for 5-methoxy systems. With 4-substituted benzimidazole anions, alkylation gave more divergent results with the N1 to N3 regioselectivity varying between 100:0 and 29:71. These alkylation patterns are interpreted as deriving from an interplay of electrostatic, thermodynamic, steric and associative control factors within the variable SN2 transition state structures involved. In the 4-substituted series, proximity effects, both electrostatic field and steric non-bonded, are clearly dominant.


1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 879-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Charles Westaway ◽  
W Jiang

The secondary alpha deuterium and primary leaving group nitrogen KIEs and Hammett ρ values found for the free ion and ion-pair SN2 reactions between benzyldimethylphenylammonium ion and sodium para-substituted thiophenoxides in methanol at 20.000°C show how (i) ion-pairing of the nucleophile, (ii) a change in substituent in the nucleophile, and (iii) a change in solvent alters the structure of a Type II SN2 transition state. Ion-pairing shortens the weaker sulfur - alpha carbon (S—Cα) transition state bond significantly but does not alter the stronger alpha carbon - leaving group (Cα—N) transition state bond as the bond strength hypothesis predicts. However, the effect of ion pairing, i.e., the decrease in the S—Cα bond on ion-pairing, decreases as a more electron-withdrawing substituent is added to the nucleophile, and the S—Cα bond actually increases when the nucleophile is the p-chlorothiophenoxide ion. The identical Hammett ρ values of -0.85 and -0.84 for the free ion and ion-pair reactions, respectively, may be observed because, on average, the S—Cα bonds are identical in the free ion and ion-pair transition states. When a more electron-donating substituent is added to the nucleophile, an earlier transition state is found in both the ion-pair and free ion reactions. However, the substituent effect is smaller in the ion-pair reactions, presumably because the change in the negative charge on the sulfur atom with substituent is greater in the free ion than in the ion-pair. The substituent effect on transition state structure suggested by the KIEs is not predicted by any of the theories that are used to predict substituent effects on SN2 reactions. Both the secondary alpha deuterium and primary leaving group nitrogen KIEs and the Hammett ρ values indicate that the transition state is earlier when the solvent is changed from DMF to methanol as the "solvation rule for SN2 reactions" predicts. This probably occurs because an earlier, more ionic, transition state is more highly solvated (more stable) in methanol.Key words: nucleophilic substitution, SN2, isotope effect, transition state, substituent, ion-pair.


1993 ◽  
Vol 71 (12) ◽  
pp. 2084-2094 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Charles Westaway

The effects of substituents on the structure of SN2 transition states suggested by kinetic isotope effects and Hammett ρ values are often different and, moreover, often do not agree with substituent effects predicted by current theories whether the change in substituent is made in the nucleophile, in the leaving group, or at the α-carbon. The importance of the strength of the reacting bonds in determining the effects of substituents on transition-state structure is investigated. A bond strength hypothesis that suggests there will be a significant change in the weaker reacting bond but little or no change in the stronger reacting bond in an SN2 transition state when a substituent in the nucleophile, the substrate, or the leaving group is altered in an SN2 reaction, predicts a high percentage of the experimental results.


Author(s):  
Ik-Hwan Um ◽  
Seungjae Kim

Second-order rate constants (kN) for reactions of p-nitrophenyl acetate (1) and S-p-nitrophenyl thioacetate (2) with OH‒ have been measured spectrophotometrically in DMSO-H2O mixtures of varying compositions at 25.0 ± 0.1 oC. The kN value increases from 11.6 to 32,800 M‒1s‒1 for the reactions of 1 and from 5.90 to 190,000 M‒1s‒1 for those of 2 as the reaction medium changes from H2O to 80 mol % DMSO, indicating that the effect of medium on reactivity is more remarkable for the reactions of 2 than for those of 1. Although 2 possesses a better leaving group than 1, the former is less reactive than the latter by a factor of 2 in H2O. This implies that expulsion of the leaving group is not advanced in the rate-determining transition state (TS), i.e., the reactions of 1 and 2 with OH‒ proceed through a stepwise mechanism, in which expulsion of the leaving group from the addition intermediate occurs after the rate-determining step (RDS). Addition of DMSO to H2O would destabilize OH‒ through electronic repulsion between the anion and the negative-dipole end in DMSO. However, destabilization of OH‒ in the ground state (GS) is not solely responsible for the remarkably enhanced reactivity upon addition of DMSO to the medium. The effect of medium on reactivity has been dissected into the GS and TS contributions through combination of the kinetic data with the transfer enthalpies (ΔΔHtr) from H2O to DMSO-H2O mixtures for OH‒ ion.


1973 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 273 ◽  
Author(s):  
DE Giles ◽  
AJ Parker

Sulphur/nitrogen reactivity ratios in a series of aromatic nucleophilic substitution reactions of ambident thiocyanate ion have been determined. There are profound differences from the pattern found in SN2 reactions at a saturated carbon atom. Abnormal transition states, involving interactions between entering and leaving group, are likely in the bond-breaking step of the intermediate complex in reactions of thiocyanate ion with 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene and with 2,4- dinitrophenyl 4-toluenesulphonate. The nitro-substituted aryl thiocyanates are shown to be tri-functional electrophiles, with reactive centres at aromatic carbon, at cyanide carbon, and at sulphur. Aryl 4-toluenesulphonates are bifunctional electrophiles with reactive centres at aryl carbon and sulphonyl sulphur. The site of attack by nucleophiles depends on the nature of the nucleophile. The sulphur/nitrogen reactivity ratio of ambident SCN-, and the electrophilic reactivity of tri- and bi-functional substrates, are in most instances consistent with the Hard and Soft Acids and Bases principle. Exceptions to the principle in some instances reveal differences between the SNAr and SN2 mechanisms, and in others indicate abnormal transition states.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C1207-C1207
Author(s):  
Leighton Coates

β-lactam antibiotics have been used effectively over several decades against many types of highly virulent bacteria. The predominant cause of resistance to these antibiotics in Gram-negative bacterial pathogens is the production of serine β-lactamase enzymes. A key aspect of the class A serine β-lactamase mechanism that remains unresolved and controversial is the identity of the residue acting as the catalytic base during the acylation reaction. Multiple mechanisms have been proposed for the formation of the acyl-enzyme intermediate that are predicated on understanding the protonation states and hydrogen-bonding interactions among the important residues involved in substrate binding and catalysis of these enzymes. For resolving a controversy of this nature surrounding the catalytic mechanism, neutron crystallography is a powerful complement to X-ray crystallography that can explicitly determine the location of deuterium atoms in proteins, thereby directly revealing the hydrogen-bonding interactions of important amino acid residues. Neutron crystallography was used to unambiguously reveal the ground-state active site protonation states and the resulting hydrogen-bonding network in two ligand-free Toho-1 β-lactamase mutants which provided remarkably clear pictures of the active site region prior to substrate binding and subsequent acylation [1,2] and an acylation transition-state analog, benzothiophene-2-boronic acid (BZB), which was also isotopically enriched with 11B. The neutron structure revealed the locations of all deuterium atoms in the active site region and clearly indicated that Glu166 is protonated in the BZB transition-state analog complex. As a result, the complete hydrogen-bonding pathway throughout the active site region could then deduced for this protein-ligand complex that mimics the acylation tetrahedral intermediate [3].


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