Ester Aminolysis: New Reaction Series for the Quantitative Measurement of Steric Effects

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja00347a036

Further development of theoretical methods for computing steric effects on chemical reactivity requires a large body of new reliable quantitative data for calibration and for testing.We report here on design criteria for reaction series suitable for obtaining these data and on a successful implementation that shows promise of providing access to a particularly broad range of steric hindrance and which additionally has shown a new form of steric hindrance.The series examined in the present study is ester aminolysis in the form RCOOC6H4NO2-p + R'NH2 in acetonitrile solution.A primary purpose of the examination has been to ascertain whether aminolysis may be a useful general series or whether known or unexpected complications might render it unsuitable.We have measured rate constants for a matrix of reactions using five different R groups and four different R' groups, each reaction at a series of concentrations of amine.This is the first systematic study of the sumultaneous action of steric hindrance effects in both the acylating agent and the entering nucleophile.The reactions showed both a second-order term k₂ and a relatively less important third-order term k₃².The Taft equation was applied to subsets of the rate constants.For each amine there were data for a set of esters for which the R group was the variable.The slopes ρ_s for these sets were nearly unity.For each ester there were corresponding data for a series of amine reactions in which R' was the variable.These sets also gave good correlations, but the slopes ρ_s' were considerably larger, about 2.3.This unusually large difference in response to structural effects in the acylating agent and in the nucleophile is unexpected and appears to arise from a new type of steric hindrance.An obvious explanation based on bond lengths proves to be quantitatively insufficient; that explanation postulates that there is greater hindrance for the amine because the C-N bond is short in comparison with the C-C bond.The difference may be due instead to a requirement for special orientation within the transition state, a matter currently under theoretical investigation.The k₂ and the k₃ sets gave similar correlations, an important finding in at least two respects.It means that steric effects are well-defined in this example of ester aminolysis, and it means also that the extra molecule of amine is far enough from the reaction center so that no additional steric hindrance results.The reactions observed in the present study cover a range of 5 powers of 10 in relative rate constants.Preliminary studies with other examples of aminolysis suggest that a range of relative rate constants covering well in excess of 12 powers of 10 should be observable.