Corrrelation of the Specific Rates of Solvolysis of Ethyl Fluoroformate Using the Extended Grunwald-Winstein Equation

Classical tosylate/chloride leaving group approach supports a tetrahedral transition state for additions to trigonal carbon

The experimentally measured rates of solvolysis of 2-chloroethoxycarbonyl chloride (2-chloroethyl chloroformate, 3), 2-chloroethoxycarbonyl p-toluenesufonate (5), and phenoxycarbonyl p-toluenesulfonate (6) were followed at 25.0 °C in various pure and binary aqueous-organic solvents with varying degrees of polarity. An analysis of the rate constants for 3, 5, and 6, was carried out using the two-term extended Grunwald-Winstein equation and comparisons are made to the previously published results for ethyl and phenyl chloroformate esters. The k OTS/k Cl rate ratios and the Grunwald-Winstein l/m ratios indicate the probability of a dominant bimolecular carbonyl-addition pathway in the more nucleophilic solvents. Nevertheless in 3 and 5, in the strongly hydrogen-bonding 70% and 50% HFIP mixtures, a side-by-side ionization mechanism is favored.

Application of the Grunwald-Winstein Equations to Studies of Solvolytic Reactions of Chloroformate and Fluoroformate Esters

Chloroformates are important laboratory and industrial chemicals with almost one hundred listed in the catalogs of leading suppliers. They are, for example, of prime importance as protecting groups in peptide synthesis. In some instances, the more stable fluoroformate is preferred. In recent years, the specific rates of solvolysis (k) for chloroformates and fluoroformates in solvents of widely ranging nucleophilicity and ionizing power have been studied. Analysis of these rates using the extended (two-term) Grunwald-Winstein equation has led to important information concerning reaction mechanism. Also assisting in this effort have been studies of kinetic solvent isotope effects (KSIE), of leaving group effects (especially kF/kCl ratios), and of entropies of activation from studies of specific rate variations with temperature. For solvolyses of chloroformate esters, two mechanisms (addition-elimination and ionization) are commonly encountered. For solvolyses of fluoroformates, mainly because of a strong C-F bond, the ionization pathway is rare and the addition-elimination pathway is in most situations the one encountered.

Correlation of the rates of solvolysis of i-butyl fluoroformate and a consideration of leaving-group effects

The specific rates of solvolysis of isobutyl fluoroformate (1) have been measured at 40.0 °C in 22 pure and binary solvents. These results correlated well with the extended Grunwald-Winstein (G-W) equation, which incorporated the N(T) solvent nucleophilicity scale and the Y(Cl) solvent ionizing power scale. The sensitivities (l and m-values) to changes in solvent nucleophilicity and solvent ionizing power, and the k(F)/k(Cl) values are very similar to those observed previously for solvolyses of n-octyl fluoroformate, consistent with the additional step of an addition-elimination pathway being rate-determining. The solvent deuterium isotope effect value (k(MeOH)/k(MeOD)) for methanolysis of 1 was determined, and for solvolyses in ethanol, methanol, 80% ethanol, and 70% TFE, the values of the enthalpy and the entropy of activation for the solvolysis of 1 were also determined. The results are compared with those reported earlier for isobutyl chloroformate (2) and other alkyl haloformate esters and mechanistic conclusions are drawn.

On the Importance of the Aromatic Ring Parameter in Studies of the Solvolyses of Cinnamyl and Cinnamoyl Halides

In solvolysis studies using Grunwald-Winstein plots, dispersions were observed for substrates with aromatic rings at the α-carbon. Several examples for the unimolecular solvolysis of monoaryl benzylic derivatives and related diaryl- or naphthyl- substituted derivatives have now been reported, where the application of the aromatic ring parameter (I) removes this dispersion. A recent claim suggesting the presence of an appreciable nucleophilic component to the I scale, has now been shown, in a review of the solvolysis of highly-hindered alkyl halides, to be unlikely to be correct. Attention is now focused on the application of the hI term for the solvolysis of compounds containing a double bond in the vicinity of any developing carbocation. Available specific rates of solvolysis (plus some new values) at 25°C of cinnamyl chloride, cinnamyl bromide, cinnamoyl chloride, p-chlorocinnamoyl chloride, and p-nitrocinnamoyl chloride are analyzed using the simple and extended (including the hI term) Grunwald-Winstein equations.