Aminolysis of 2,4-Dinitrophenyl 2-Furoate and 2-Thiophenecarboxylate: Effect of Modification of Nonleaving Group from Furoyl to Thiophenecarbonyl on Reactivity and Mechanism

Second-order rate constants have been determined spectrophotometrically for reactions of 2,4-dinitrophenyl 2- thiophenecarboxylate (2) with a series of alicyclic secondary amines in 80 mol % $H_2O$/20 mol % DMSO at 25.0 ${\pm}$ 0.1 ${^{\circ}C}$. The Brønsted-type plot exhibits a downward curvature, i.e., the slope decreases from 0.74 to 0.34 as the amine basicity increases. The $pK_a$ at the center of the Brønsted curvature, defined as $pK_a^o$, has been determined to be 9.1. Comparison of the Brønsted-type plot for the reactions of 2 with that for the corresponding reactions of 2,4-dinitrophenyl 2-furoate (1) suggests that reactions of 1 and 2 proceed through a common mechanism, although 2 is less reactive than 1. The curved Brønsted-type plot has been interpreted as a change in RDS of a stepwise mechanism. The replacement of the O atom in the furoyl ring by an S atom (1 $\rightarrow$ 2) does not alter the reaction mechanism but causes a decrease in reactivity. Dissection of the apparent second-order rate constants into the microscopic rate constants has revealed that the $k_2/k_{-1}$ ratio is not influenced upon changing the nonleaving group from furoyl to thiophenecarbonyl. However, $k_1$ has been calculated to be smaller for the reactions of 2 than for the corresponding reactions of 1, indicating that the C=O bond in the thiophenecarboxylate 2 is less electrophilic than that in the furoate 1. The smaller k1 for the reactions of 2 is fully responsible for the fact that 2 is less reactive than 1.