Kinetic study on SNAr reaction of 1-(y-substituted-phenoxy)-2,4-dinitrobenzenes with cyclic secondary amines in acetonitrile: evidence for cyclic transition-state structure.

A kinetic study is reported for SNAr reactions of 1-(Y-substituted-phenoxy)-2,4-dinitrobenzenes (1a-1h) with amines in MeCN. The plots of pseudo-first-order rate constant versus amine concentration curve upward, indicating that the reactions are catalyzed by a second amine molecule. The Brønsted-type plots for the reaction of 1-(4-nitrophenyl)-2,4-dinitrobenzene (1a) with secondary amines are linear with βnuc = 1.