Nucleophilic Substitution Reactions of 2‐Methoxy‐3‐X‐5‐nitrothiophenes: Effect of Substituents and Structure–Reactivity Correlations

Abstract

ABSTRACTA kinetic study is reported for reactions of 2‐methoxy‐3‐X‐5‐nitrothiophenes 1a–d (X = SO2CH3, CO2CH3, CONH2, H) with piperidine in different solvents at 20°C. It is shown that the reactions take place through a SNAr mechanism with the initial nucleophilic addition step being rate limiting. The satisfactory Hammett correlations (log k1 vs. σ) obtained in the present system confirms that a 3‐X substituent exerts an effect on the 2‐position of the same type as that exerted from the 5‐position. The second‐order rate constants associated with these reactions are employed to determine the electrophilicity parameters E of the thiophenes 1a–d according to the relationship log k (20°C) = s(E + N) (Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1994, 33, 938–957). The E values of 1a–d are found to cover a range from −21.33 to −17.18, going from 1d, the least reactive, to 1a, the most reactive thiophene. Interestingly, a linear correlation (r2 = 0.9910) between the electrophilicity parameters E determined in this work and the Hammett's σ constants values has been observed and discussed. On the other hand, we have found that the reported rate constants of some thiophenes 1 complexation by the methoxide ion in methanol are 3.5–73.5 times higher than predicted by Mayr's approach.