The α-Effect in Hydrazinolysis of 4-Chloro-2-Nitrophenyl X-Substituted-Benzoates: Effect of Substituent X on Reaction Mechanism and the α-Effect

Second-order rate constants ($k_N$) have been measured spectrophotometrically for the reaction of 4-chloro-2-nitrophenyl X-substituted-benzoates (6a-6h) with a series of primary amines including hydrazine in 80 mol % $H_2O$/20 mol % DMSO at $25.0^{\circ}C$. The Br${\o}$nsted-type plot for the reaction of 4-chloro-2-nitrophenyl benzoate (6d) is linear with ${\beta}_{nuc}$ = 0.74 when hydrazine is excluded from the correlation. Such a linear Br${\o}$nsted-type plot is typical for reactions reported previously to proceed through a stepwise mechanism in which expulsion of the leaving group occurs in the rate-determining step (RDS). The Hammett plots for the reactions of 6a-6h with hydrazine and glycylglycine are nonlinear. In contrast, the Yukawa-Tsuno plots exhibit excellent linear correlations with ${\rho}_X$ = 1.29-1.45 and r = 0.53-0.56, indicating that the nonlinear Hammett plots are not due to a change in RDS but are caused by resonance stabilization of the substrates possessing an electron-donating group (EDG). Hydrazine is ca. 47-93 times more reactive than similarly basic glycylglycine toward 6a-6h (e.g., the ${\alpha}$-effect). The ${\alpha}$-effect increases as the substituent X in the benzoyl moiety becomes a stronger electron-withdrawing group (EWG), indicating that destabilization of the ground state (GS) of hydrazine through the repulsion between the nonbonding electron pairs on the two N atoms is not solely responsible for the substituent-dependent ${\alpha}$-effect. Stabilization of transition state (TS) through five-membered cyclic TSs, which would increase the electrophilicity of the reaction center or the nucleofugality of the leaving group, contributes to the ${\alpha}$-effect observed in this study.