The MNDO-PM3 study of the mechanism of nucleophilic substitution of the phenoxide anion for the nitro group in 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in the gas phase and in polar solvents

Abstract

The semi-empirical quantum chemical MNDO-PM3 calculations of the enthalpies of formation of Meisenheimerortho- andipso-σ-complexes of 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TNB) and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) with the phenoxide anion in the gas phase and in water are performed within the framework of the point dipole model. Based on the calculated heats and activation barriers to substitution of the nitro group by the phenoxyl group in TNB and TNT, the possibility of the reactions of TNB and TNT with the phenoxide anion in water is shown. These reactions in water occurvia the SNAr mechanism involving the correspondingipso-σ-complex as an intermediate. In the gas phase, the SNAr mechanism is impossible, because the reaction is strongly endothermic. In the case of TNT, the exothermic reaction of elimination of a proton from the methyl group by the phenoxide anion competes with nucleophilic substitution in a polar solvent. The activation energy calculated for this exothermic reaction is 8 kcal mol−1.