The ion-pair mechanism and bimolecular displacement at saturated carbon. VI. Racemization and radio-bromide exchange for substituted 1-phenylbromoethanes; solvent effects

Abstract

Racemization and radio-bromide exchange kinetics for 1-phenylbromoethanes in acetonitrile and in nitromethane using tetrabutylammonium bromide are reported. The results, together with those previously reported for acetone solutions, provide direct empirical support for the ion-pair mechanism for nucleophilic substitution at saturated carbon. Changing the substituents on the phenyl from the 4-nitro through to the 3,4-dimethyl substrate and the solvent from acetone to the more polar acetonitrile and nitromethane shifts the transition state for bromide substitution from an early to a late stage of the equilibria series substrate [Formula: see text] intimate ion pair [Formula: see text] various solvated ion pairs [Formula: see text] free or dissociated ions. For all the substrates in acetone and, for the species giving the less stable carbocations, in acetonitrile and nitromethane, both racemizations and exchanges are bimolecular. In the latter solvents, the substrates giving the more stable carbocations show mixed kinetics.