How does organic structure determine organic reactivity? The effect of <i>ortho</i>-dimethyl groups on the nucleophilic substitution and alkene-forming elimination reactions of ring-substituted cumyl derivatives

Abstract

The addition of a pair of ortho-methyl groups to ring-substituted cumyl derivatives to give the corresponding 2,6-dimethylcumyl derivatives X-1-Y leads to modest (<5-fold) changes in the observed rate constant for reaction in 50:50 (v:v) trifluoroethanol-water (I = 0.50, NaClO4). The reactions of X-1-Y proceed by a stepwise mechanism through the liberated 2,6-dimethylcumyl carbocations X-2 that partition between nucleophilic addition of solvent and deprotonation to give good yields ( 67%) of the corresponding 2-(2,6-dimethylaryl)propenes X-3. The carbocations X-2 are also trapped by nucleophilic addition of azide ion to give good yields ( 68% at [N3-] = 0.50 M) of the corresponding 2,6-dimethylcumyl azides X-1-N3. In the presence of high concentrations of azide ion there are constant limiting yields of the alkenes X-3, which shows that X-2 also undergo significant reactions with azide ion as a Brønsted base. The product rate constant ratios for partitioning of the 2,4,6-trimethylcumyl carbocation Me-2 between reaction with azide ion as a Lewis and a Brønsted base, kaz/kB, the nucleophilic addition of azide ion and solvent, kaz/ks (M-1), and deprotonation by solvent, kaz/ke (M-1), were combined with (kaz + kB) = 5 × 109 M-1 s-1 for the diffusion-limited reaction of azide ion to give absolute rate constants for the reactions of Me-2. The data show that the addition of a pair of ortho-methyl groups to the 4-methylcumyl carbocation to give the sterically hindered Me-2 results in a 70-fold decrease in the rate constant for nucleophilic addition of solvent to the benzylic carbon, but a 60-fold increase in the rate constant for deprotonation of the carbocation by solvent.Key words: carbocation, ortho-substituent effects, steric effects, solvolysis, elimination.