AM1 calculational and experimental evidence that a β-nitroxyl group significantly enhances the thermodynamic and kinetic acidities of ketones

Abstract

The kinetics of NaOD-catalysed H/D exchange of 3,3,5,5-tetramethylcyclohexanone (1), 1-hydroxy-4-oxo-2,2,6,6-tetrame-thylpiperidine (2), 4-oxo-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (3), 9-hydroxynorpseudopelletierine (4), and norpseudopelle-tierine-9-oxyl (5) have been studied in 60:40 dioxane–D2O(v/v) at 25.0 °C. The second-order rate constants are 9.20 × 10−3, 6.39 × 10−2, 1.59, 2.20 × 10−2, and 5.67 × 10−1 L mol−1 s−1 for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Gas-phase enthalpies of ionization (the values are 363.0, 359.4, 352.0, 360.7, and 354.1 kcal mol−1 for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively) calculated with AM1 correlate with the relative rates of enolization. Thus replacement of the β-hydroxylamino groups of 2 and 4 with a nitroxyl group produces sizable increases in the kinetic and thermodynamic acidities of the hydrogens α to the carbonyl group.