Acid-base equilibria of substituted pyridine N-oxides in methanol

Abstract

Acid dissociation constants in methanol for eight substituted pyridine N-oxides having a wide range of acid-base properties, [quinoline N-oxide (bi-cyclic amine N-oxide) and pyridine (heterocyclic amine)] have been determined using the potentiometric titration method. A linear correlation between ourmethanol data and aqueous pKa values from the literature has been found. As in polar aprotic solvents cationic homoconjugation phenomenon has been found to be present for sufficiently basic N-oxides. The tendency of substituted pyridine N-oxides towards cationic homoconjugation in methanol is weaker than in polar aprotic solvents and increases with increasing basicity of N-oxides. It has also been found that, in contrast to polar aprotic solvents, the cationic homoconjugation phenomenon in methanol is much more pronounced for heterocyclic amines than their N-oxides.