Predominant role of basicity of leaving group in α-effect for nucleophilic ester cleavage

It has been found that α-effects in nucleophilic reactions, unexpectedly large nucleophilicity due to adjacent unpaired electrons, are strongly dependent on the structure of substrate. The nucleophilic cleavages of 4-nitrobenzoate esters and 4-methylbenzoate esters by HOO− have been systematically investigated in detail. When the leaving groups of substrates are sufficiently good (aryl, 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl, and 2,2-dichloroethyl esters), α-effect is evident. However, this effect drastically decreases as the leaving group gets poorer, and is only marginal for the cleavages of 2-fluoroethyl and methyl esters. In the nucleophilic cleavages by salicylaldoxime and acetohydroxamic acid, α-effect is also notable only for the esters having good leaving groups. These enormous dependences of α-effects on the substrate-structure have been interpreted in terms of the difference in the position of transition-state in the reaction coordinate.