in the intersection of the two planes of the carboxy groups is
formed. The carboxy groups should be attached to a carbon
skeleton such that no change in conformation of the carbon
skeleton is allowed, but the carboxy group may rotate.22
The pKa1/pKa2 ratios of 1,8- and 2,3-Acid were ca. 1.6, imply-
ing an intramolecular bonding of the same effectiveness. How-
ever, 1,8-Acid cyclizes at pH’s below 4.0 while the 2,3-Acid does
not cyclize, to a measurable extent, even at 50 ЊC and 6.0 M
HCl. The cyclization of 2,3-Acid cannot be observed using our
methods, probably because the equilibrium strongly favours the
acid. Hence, the correlation between ∆pK and anhydride for-
mation does not hold for the comparison between 2,3-Acid and
1,8-Acid. In fact, although correlations between ∆pK and rates
of anhydride formation do exist in a limited series of diacids,
they cannot hold for all diacids.38 In order for a diacid to exhibit
a high ∆pK its geometry should allow the formation of an
internal hydrogen bond of about 2.40 Å with little change in
molecular strain on going from the open chain to the cyclic
form. If, on the other hand, the hydrogen bond in the mono-
anion is formed at the expense of a large increase in strain, the
∆pK of the diacid may be small. Thus, an important require-
ment for fast cyclization, apart from the existence of steric
strain in the diacid, appears to be that the carboxy groups are as
closely situated as possible.12
reactants in the gas phase and obtained good agreement with
relative rate constants measured in solution. No such series of
rate constants is available for the present system. Nonetheless,
the calculated mechanism (Figs. 5 and 6) is a possible pathway
for the 1,8-Acid cyclization reaction and shows the same
proximity and strain features present in the reaction studies of
Bruice and Lightstone40 which account for reaction rate
enhancements.
Hawkins’11 studies of the hydrolysis of phthalic, PTAn,
and 3,6-dimethylphthalic, DMPAn, anhydrides show that in
aqueous acid DMPAn is in equilibrium with 3,6-
dimethylphthalic acid, DMPAcid, while PTAn is quantitatively
hydrolysed to phthalic acid, PTAcid, and the equilibrium con-
stant cannot be measured. In water PTAn hydrolyses ca. 8 times
faster than DMPAn and the cyclization step is ca. 6 times faster
for DMPAcid. The slower hydrolysis rate of DMPAn is prob-
ably not due to steric hindrance towards water attack, but to the
relief of steric strain by the methyl groups of DMPAcid, when
compared with the corresponding anhydride. Comparison of
the thermodynamic parameters for the cyclization reaction for
1,8-Acid and DMPAcid (Table 3) shows that the difference in
equilibrium constants reflects differences in the enthalpy term
for the equilibrium and not an entropic difference as has been
suggested in related systems.40
It has been suggested that strain is released in the intra-
molecular diacid to anhydride conversion.34 As seen from the
calculated structures (see Fig. 5), 1,8-Acid is a rigid and highly
strained system, where each carboxy group lies in an opposite
side of the aromatic ring plane. On the other hand, the 1,8-An is
a rigid but planar structure, without any carboxy interaction
resulting in strain.10,12,13 It was suggested previously that the
carboxy group proximity is also determinant in anhydride
formation.12,35–38 Here, and in other bridged cyclic anhydrides
where the equilibrium constant for anhydride formation is rela-
tively high, 3 carbon atoms and the anhydride bonds, forming a
6-membered ring, separate both carboxy groups.13,39 The dis-
tance between the attacking oxygen (O2) and electrophilic car-
bon (C1) is just 2.76 Å in the 1,8-Acid, reaching 2.27 Å in TS1
(Fig. 5). As in similar dicarboxylic acids, strain release and car-
boxy group proximity are the major factors governing the rate
of anhydride formation from 1,8-Acid. The structures 1,8-Acid
(see Fig. 5, A) and TS1 (B) are quite different and the pathway
could include a previous proton transfer from one oxygen to the
other in the same carboxy group. Additional calculations would
be necessary to fully investigate this putative step. We can
assume, however, that this step may be unimportant kinetically.
If such a transfer is not a barrierless process, it would have a
smaller energy barrier than a hydrogen transfer between differ-
ent carboxy groups and, because of short transfer distance,
hydrogen tunnelling effects would be present.
Conclusions
Reversible 1,8-An formation from 1,8-Acid was observed in
acidified aqueous solution below pH 5.0 while the decom-
position of 2,3-An leads to quantitative formation of 2,3-Acid.
The undissociated 1,8-Acid, AH2, as well as the protonated
form, AH3ϩ, were the kinetically reactive species. The values of
the equilibrium constant for 1,8-An formation of ca. 4 and 100,
ϩ
respectively, for the AH2 and AH3 forms, indicated that
protonation stabilizes the anhydride relative to the dicarboxylic
acid. Ab initio calculations demonstrated that the pathway
for anhydride formation includes a rate determining intra-
molecular proton transfer concerted with oxygen alignment
towards the carbonyl centre.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Brazilian Agencies FAPESP,
CNPq, and CAPES for financial support. This work is part of
the MSc dissertation of T.C.B, IQUSP (1991) and of the PhD
thesis of S.Y., UFSC (1996). T.C.B. was a CAPES graduate
fellow and S.Y. was a CNPq and CAPES fellow. G.M. and
L.G.D. are graduate and post-doctoral fellows from FAPESP.
The authors thank Dr Jorge Masini, IQUSP, for his helpful
suggestions and for his computational advice in the calculation
of potentiometric pKa’s of the diacids and Professor C. A.
Bunton, UCSB, USA, for advice and helpful suggestions with
the manuscript.
The mechanism here proposed for the cyclization of the
diprotonated 1,8-Acid is similar to those described where the
reaction of a neutral diacid proceeds towards an intramolecular
carboxylate attack upon the other carboxy function with final
anhydride formation.35–38
References
The KE1 value obtained with 1,8-An at 50 ЊC (see results)
agrees reasonably well with the calculated free energy difference
between reactant and products (see Fig. 6). Although both the
calculated and experimental results are in the range obtained
for other similar systems, our purpose with the calculations
was not to theoretically obtain the value of the experimental
rate constants. Using a simplified model (PCM) to describe
solvation effects does not account for specific solvent–solute
interactions (e.g. hydrogen bonds) that are certainly important
in this particular reaction in aqueous solution. Theoretical
calculations for cyclization involving a number of explicit water
molecules, although possible, was not the subject of our present
interest.
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2349