SOLVOLYSIS OF STERICALLY HINDERED ARENESULFONYL CHLORIDES
749
Table IV SKIE Observed for the Solvolysis of 2 and 2D
with Different Solvents as Nucleophiles between 303
and 323 K
involving at least a second solvent molecule in the
TS. No SKIE is observed when hydrogens of the o-
alkyl groups are replaced by deuteriums, which discard
σ–π hyperconjugation. Activation parameters are sim-
ilar regardless of the steric hindrance of the substrates,
which points to a similar reaction mechanism for all of
them. Large negative ꢁS╪ and low comparable ꢁH╪
are consistent with a SN2 mechanism with participa-
tion of, at least, a second solvent molecule in the TS,
and most possibly with a cyclic TS in which a reduced
number of solvent molecules form chains, in a general-
base catalysis mechanism. The reasons for the “posi-
tive steric effect” of o-alkyl (methyl) groups should be
attributed to structural features of the SN2 transition
state. Further experimental and computational studies
are in progress to clarify this point.
Nucleophile
H2O
T (K)
SKIE (k2/k2D)
293
298
303
308
313
318
303
313
318
323
328
303
323
323
1.03 0.01
0.98 0.01
0.97 0.01
1.06 0.02
0.93 0.02
0.95 0.02
1.00 0.01
1.01 0.01
0.93 0.02
1.00 0.01
1.03 0.01
1.06 0.01
1.05 0.01
0.96 0.02
EtOH
MeOH
PrOH
i-PrOH
Authors gratefully acknowledge EU financial support for the
mobility of MI to the UDC within the trans-European mo-
bility Erasmus Mundus action TEMPO (372283–1–2012–1-
PT-ERA MUNDUS-EMA21).
point to a highly concerted TS, which would support
the hypothesis of formation of solvent chains as in
Scheme 5.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
To check for nonbonding intramolecular interac-
tions between the hydrogens of the ortho-methyl
groups and the oxygens of the sulfonyl groups, ac-
tivation parameters and SKIEs were investigated for
the solvolysis of mesitylene sulfonyl chloride, 2,4,6-
(CH3)3-C6H2SO2Cl (2) and its deuterated analog
2,4,6-(CD3)3-C6D2SO2Cl (2D) (SKIE = k2/k2D), using
different solvents as nucleophiles. Comparable results
were obtained in both cases (Tables III and IV).
The reactivities of 2 and 2D are similar, within sta-
tistical error, for all solvolytic processes. Similarly ac-
tivation parameters are statistically indistinguishable
(Table III). Values of SKIE are in all cases very close
to unity, within statistical error, for all studied nucle-
ophiles (Table IV). Thus, it follows that noncovalent
intramolecular interactions between the ortho-methyl
hydrogens and oxygen atoms of the sulfonyl group
are not a significant factor in the stabilization of the
SN2-transition state. This conclusion also poses seri-
ous doubts on the applicability of the idea of σ–π
hyperconjugation to this particular case [8].
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CONCLUSIONS
SIE in the ethanolysis of sterically hindered arenesul-
fonyl chlorides slows the reaction rate by ca. 35%.
Such a result rules out a proton transfer in the rate-
determining step, and the analysis of the SIE in terms
of fractionation factors agrees with a SN2 mechanism
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F.; D’Souza, M. J. J Phys Org Chem 2007, 20(6), 431–
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International Journal of Chemical Kinetics DOI 10.1002/kin.20945