• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.1897-1901
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• 2011

This report shows the rates of solvolyses for phenyl methanesulfonyl chloride ($C_6H_5CH_2SO_2Cl$, I) in ethanol, methanol, and aqueous binary mixtures incorporating ethanol, methanol, acetone, 2,2,2-trifluroethanol (TFE) and 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) are reported. Three representative solvents, studies were made at several temperatures and activation parameters were determined. The thirty kinds of solvents gave a reasonably precise extended Grunwald-Winstein plot, coefficient (R) of 0.954. The sensitivity values (l = 0.61 and m = 0.34, l/m = 1.8) of phenyl methanesulfonyl chloride (I) were smaller than those obtained for benzenesulfonyl chloride ($C_6H_5SO_2Cl$, II; l = 1.01 and m = 0.61) and 2-propanesulfonyl chloride ($(CH_3)_2CHSO_2Cl$, III; l = 1.28 and m = 0.64). As with the two previously studied solvolyses, an $S_N2$ pathway with somewhat ionization reaction is proposed for the solvolyses of I. The activation parameters, ${\Delta}H^{\neq}$ and ${\Delta}S^{\neq}$, were determined and they are also in line with values expected for a bimolecular reaction mechanism. The kinetic solvent isotope effect of 2.34 in $CH_3OH/CH_3OD$ is in accord with a bimolecular mechanism, probably assisted by general-base catalysis.