Concerted mechanism of the reactions of 2,4-dinitrophenyl 4-cyanobenzoate with secondary alicyclic amines in aqueous ethanol

The title reactions are subjected to a kinetic analysis in 44 wt% ethanol-water, at 25.0°C, ionic strength 0.2 (KCl). With a large excess of amine over the substrate, pseudo-first-order rate coefficients (kobs) are obtained, which are linearly dependent on the amine concentration. The nucleophilic rate constants (kN) are determined from plots of kobs vs. amine concentration. The Brönsted-type plot obtained with the kN values is linear, with slope β=0.63. The magnitude of this slope suggests that the mechanism is concerted, as opposed to a stepwise process with rate-determining breakdown of a zwitterionic tetrahedral intermediate (T±), in which the value of β is usually 0.8–1.0. The pyridinolysis of the same substrate in the same solvent is stepwise with the breakdown of T± as the rate-determining step. The change to a concerted mechanism for the title reactions is attributed to the superior nucleofugality of the alicyclic amines, compared to the isobasic pyridines, which destabilizes kinetically the “intermediate” T± in such a way that it does not exist, and the mechanism becomes enforced concerted.