Reactions of 4‐Nitrophenyl 5‐substituted Furan‐2‐carboxylates with R2NH/R2NH2+ in 20 mol% DMSO(aq): Effect of Aryl Group on the Acyl‐Transfer Reaction

Abstract

Reactions of 4‐nitrophenyl 2‐furoates (1a–e) with R2NH/R2NH2+ in 20 mol% DMSO(aq) have been studied. The reactions produced aminolysis products and exhibited second‐order kinetics. The Brönsted plots were linear with βnuc values of 0.75–0.89, which remained nearly the same for all 5‐furyl substituents. The rate data showed excellent correlations on the Yukawa‐Tsuno plots with ρ(x) = 0.72–1.1, and r = 0.55–0.95, respectively. The ρ value increased and r value decreased with a stronger nucleophile, indicating an increase in the electron density at the CO bond and a decrease in the resonance contribution. The results have been interpreted with the addition–elimination mechanism in which the second step is the rds. By comparing with the data for ArC(O)OC6H4‐4‐NO2 (Ar = Ph, thienyl), the effect of the aryl group on the acyl transfer reaction was assessed.