Kinetic study of hydrolysis of benzoates. part xxvii. ortho substituent effect in alkaline hydrolysis of phenyl esters of substituted benzoic acids in aqueous Bu4NBr

Abstract

The second-order rate constants k (in dm3 mol–1 s–1) for alkaline hydrolysis of phenyl esters of meta-, para- and ortho-substituted benzoic acids, X-C6H4CO2C6H5, have been measured spectrophotometrically in aqueous 0.5 and 2.25 M Bu4NBr at 25 °C. The substituent effects for para and meta derivatives were described using the Hammett relationship. For the ortho derivatives the Charton equation was used. For ortho-substituted esters two steric scales were involved: the EsB and the Charton steric (υ) constants. When going from pure water to aqueous 0.5 and 2.25 M Bu4NBr, the meta and para polar effects, the ortho inductive and resonance effects in alkaline hydrolysis of phenyl esters of substituted benzoic acids, became stronger nearly to the same extent as found for alkaline hydrolysis of C6H5CO2C6H4-X. The steric term of ortho-substituted esters was almost independent of the media considered. The rate constants of alkaline hydrolysis of ortho-, meta- and para-substituted phenyl benzoates (X-C6H4CO2C6H5, C6H5CO2C6H4-X) and alkyl benzoates, C6H5CO2R, in water, 0.5 and 2.25 M Bu4NBr were correlated with the corresponding IR stretching frequencies of carbonyl group, (ΔνCO)X.