Mechanism of α-ketol-type rearrangement of benzoin derivatives under basic conditions.

The mechanism of base-catalyzed rearrangement of ring-substituted benzoins in aqueous methanol was examined by kinetic and product analyses. Substituent effects on the rate and equilibrium constants revealed that the kinetic process has a different electron demand compared to the equilibrium process. Reactions in deuterated solvents showed that the rate of H/D exchange of the α-hydrogen is similar to the overall rate toward the equilibrium state.

Origin of regioselectivity in the reactions of nitronate and enolate ambident anions.

The reactions of nitronates of ring-substituted phenylnitromethanes and enolates of ring-substituted 1-phenyl-2-propanones with MeOBs gave exclusively the O-methylated and C-methylated products, respectively. DFT calculations suggested that two factors, namely, intrinsic barriers and metal-cation coordination, control the C/O selectivity. The kinetic preference for O-methylation in the reactions of nitronates arises from the intrinsic barriers, which are ca.

FMO-MD simulations on the hydration of formaldehyde in water solution with constraint dynamics.

Full-quantum mechanical fragment molecular orbital-based molecular dynamics (FMO-MD) simulations were applied to the hydration reaction of formaldehyde in water solution under neutral conditions. Two mechanisms, a concerted and a stepwise one, were considered with respect to the nucleophilic addition and the proton transfer. Preliminary molecular orbital calculations by means of polarized continuum model reaction field predicted that the hydration prefers a concerted mechanism.

Reaction pathway and rate-determining step of the Schmidt rearrangement/fragmentation: a kinetic study.

The Schmidt rearrangement of substituted 3-phenyl-2-butanone with trimethylsilyl azide in 90% (v/v) aqueous TFA gave two types of product, fragmentation and rearrangement, the ratio of which depends on the substituent: more fragmentation for a more electron-donating substituent. Rate measurements by azotometry indicated the presence of an induction period, and the pseudo-first-order rate constants showed saturation kinetics with respect to the azide concentration. It was indicated that the reaction proceeds through pre-equilibrium in the formation of iminodiazonium (ID) ion and that the N(2) liberation from the ID ion is rate-determining.

Computational study on the reaction pathway of α-bromoacetophenones with hydroxide ion: possible path bifurcation in the addition/substitution mechanism.

The reaction of an α-haloketone with a nucleophile has three reaction channels: carbonyl addition, direct substitution, and proton abstraction. DFT calculations for the reaction of PhCOCH(2)Br with OH(-) showed that there exists an addition/substitution TS on the potential energy surface, in which OH(-) interacts with both the α- and carbonyl carbons. The intrinsic reaction coordinate calculations revealed that the TS serves as the TS for direct substitution for XC(6)H(4)COCH(2)Br with an electron-donating X or a X less electron-withdrawing than m-Cl, whereas the TS serves as the TS for carbonyl addition for derivatives with a X more electron-withdrawing than m-CF(3).