Medium effects on the α-effect in DMSO–H2O mixtures — Comparative studies of p-nitrophenyl benzoate and acetate — Dissection of ground-state and transition-state effects

In a study of the origin of the α-effect and its dependence on the nature of the reaction medium as well as structural effects, we report herein a kinetic study of the reactions of p-nitrophenyl benzoate (PNPB) with butan-2,3-dione monoximate (Ox–, α-nucleophile) and p-chlorophenoxide (p-ClPhO–, the reference nucleophile) in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)–H2O mixtures of varying compositions at 25.0 ± 0.1 °C. The second-order rate constants (kN) decrease modestly on addition of DMSO to the medium up to 10 mol% DMSO but increase significantly beyond that point for both nucleophiles. Ox– is more reactive than p-ClPhO– in all solvent mixtures studied (i.e., the α-effect). The α-effect increases as the DMSO content in the medium increases up to 40 mol% DMSO and then decreases beyond that point resulting in a bell-shaped α-effect profile. The bell-shaped α-effect profile obtained for the current reaction is similar to that found previously for the corresponding reaction of p-nitrophenyl acetate (PNPA), differing no...