• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.2909-2912
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• 2009

The amines studied in this study are less reactive toward ethyl propiolate (3) in MeCN than in H$_2$O although they are 7 to 9 pK$_a$ units more basic in the aprotic solvent. The reactivity of morpholine and deuterated morpholine toward 3 is found to be identical, indicating that proton transfer occurs after rate-determining step (RDS). The fact that kinetic isotope effect is absent excludes a stepwise mechanism in which proton transfer occurs in RDS as well as a concerted mechanism in which nucleophilic attack and proton transfer occur concertedly through a 4-membered cyclic transition state (TS). Thus, the reactions have been concluded to proceed through a stepwise mechanism in which proton transfer occurs after RDS. Brønsted-type plots are linear with small ${\beta}_{nuc}$ values, i.e., ${\beta}_{nuc}$ = 0.29 in H$_2$O and ${\beta}_{nuc}$ = 0.51 in MeCN, indicating that bond formation is not advanced significantly in RDS. The small ${\beta}_{nuc}$ value also supports the conclusion drawn from the study of kinetic isotope effect.