Hydride transfer reactions. Substituent effects in oxidation of N-benzylacridans by π acceptors

Abstract

The kinetics of oxidation of a series of eight N-(substituted benzyl)acridans (3, NBA's) by 1,4-benzoquinone (BQ), p-chloranil (CA), 2,3-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DCBQ), 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ), and tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) in acetonitrile (AN) and by BQ in 50:50 (v/v) AN-water were measured at 25 °C. Equilibrium constants for pseudobase formation, [Formula: see text], from the corresponding acridinium ions (4) were measured in water at 25 °C. Hammett correlations of the second-order rate constants for reaction of the NBA's without ortho substitutents (3a–e) led to ρ values of −0.29 (BQ, AN), −0.55 (CA), −0.56 (DCBQ), −0.64 (TCNQ), −0.41 (TCNE), and −0.47 (BQ, 50:50 AN–water). The second-order rate constants for 3a–e also give good linear free energy correlations with the [Formula: see text] values of 4a–e. These correlations and the [Formula: see text] values for the ortho-substituted acridinium ions (4f, g, h) are used to calculate rate constants for oxidation of the corresponding ortho-substituted NBA's (3f, g, h). The rate constants calculated in this way are 4.7 to 6.6 times and 6.4 to 12 times larger, respectively, than the observed rate constants for N-(2,4,6-trimethylbenzyl) and N-(2,6-dichlorobenzyl)acridan (3g and h). The variations in ρ values are attributed mainly to differences in the amount of electrostatic stabilization in the transition state resulting from differences in the separation of donor and acceptor and the degree of delocalization of the negative charge. The rate retarding effect of a pair of ortho substituents is attributed to sterie effects in a preferred face-to-face transition state.