The ion-pair mechanism and bimolecular displacement at saturated carbon. VII. Racemization of substituted 1-phenylbromoethanes; ionic strength effects

Abstract

No, or at most very small, salt effects have been detected for second-order racemizations of various 1-phenylbromoethanes, confirming that the "mixed kinetics", previously reported for 4-methyl- and 3,4-dimethylphenylbromoethanes with tetrabutylammonium bromide in acetonitrile and nitromethane, did not reflect a salt effect on a unimolecular reaction. Thus the uni- and bimolecular rate components can be evaluated using the equation:[Formula: see text]where k1 = first-order or unimolecular rate constant, the intercept, and [Formula: see text], the latter being the rate constant for the bimolecular substitution. A "special salt effect" was found for the unimolecular component; it was especially pronounced for 3,4-dimethyl substrate in acetonitrile with Bu4NClO4 as the electrolyte. In acetone, where no unimolecular reaction component was detected even with those substrates giving the most stable carbocations, the only salt effect was a common ion, Bu4N+, effect on the incomplete dissociation of Bu4NBr. From an iterative best fit for plots of observed rate versus calculated bromide ion activity for unsubstituted, 4-methyl, and 3,4-dimethyl substrates, Kassoc ~ 15 ± 1 at 40 °C. The results are interpreted as additional support for a progression of mechanism with nucleophilic attack possible at any stage of the series of equilibria: substrate [Formula: see text] contact ion pair [Formula: see text] various solvated ion pairs [Formula: see text] dissociated ions. Keywords: special salt effects, ionic strength effects, racemization of 1-phenylbromoethanes, mechanism of nucleophilic substitution, ion pair mechanism.