Kinetics and Mechanism of the Addition of Benzylamines to Benzylidene-3,5-heptadione in Acetonitrile

The addition reaction of benzylamine (XC6H4CH2NH2) to benzylidene-3,5-heptadione (BHD; YC6H(4-)CH=C(COEt)(2)) in acetonitrile is investigated. The rate is slower than the corresponding rate for benzylidenediethylmalonate (YC6H4CH=C(OOEt)(2)) as the result of a greater steric hindrance in the planar dicarbonyl transition state. The kinetic isotope effects (k(H)/k(D)) involving deuterated amine nucleophiles (XC6H4CH2ND2) are greater than 1 (1.37-2.04), indicating N-H bond stretching with concurrent N-C(alpha) and H-C(beta) bond formation in the TS. The trend of change in k(H)/k(D) with variation of substituent X in the nucleophile conforms to the Bell-Evans-Polanyi principle. It has been stressed that the dicarbonyl group activated olefins exhibit insignificant charge imbalance in the TS for the benzylamine additions in acetonitrile as a result of the two strong n(c) --> pi*(C=O) vicinal charge-transfer interactions.

Kinetics and mechanism of benzylamine additions to ethyl α-acetyl-β-phenylacrylates in acetonitrile

Kinetic studies of the addition of benzylamines to a noncyclic dicarbonyl group activated olefin, ethyl alpha-acetyl-beta-phenylacrylate (EAP), in acetonitrile at 25.0 degrees C are reported. The rates are lower than those for the cyclic dicarbonyl group activated olefins. The addition occurs in a single step with concurrent formation of the Calpha-N and Cbeta-H bonds through a four-center hydrogen bonded transition state.The kinetic isotope effects (kH/kD > 1.0) measured with deuterated benzylamines (XC6H4CH2ND2) increase with a stronger electron acceptor substituent (deltasigmaX > 0) which is the same trend as those found for other dicarbonyl group activated series (1-4), but is in contrast to those for other (noncarbonyl) group activated series (5-9). For the dicarbonyl series, the reactivity-selectivity principle (RSP) holds, but for others the anti-RSP applies. These are interpreted to indicate an insignificant imbalance for the former, but substantial lag in the resonance delocalization in the transition state for the latter series.