Quantifiable polarity match effect on C–H bond cleavage reactivity and its limits in reaction design

0567641 - ÚFCH JH 2024 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Maldonado-Domínguez, Mauricio - Srnec, Martin
Quantifiable polarity match effect on C–H bond cleavage reactivity and its limits in reaction design.
Dalton Transactions. Roč. 52, č. 5 (2023), s. 1399-1412. ISSN 1477-9226. E-ISSN 1477-9234
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA21-10383S
Research Infrastructure: e-INFRA CZ - 90140
Institutional support: RVO:61388955
Keywords : polarity * H-atom abstraction * physical chemistry
OECD category: Physical chemistry
Impact factor: 4, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access

When oxidants favour cleaving a strong C−H bond at the expense of weaker ones, which are otherwise inherently preferred due to their favourable reaction energy, reactivity factors such as the polarity match effect are often invoked. Polarity match follows the intuition of electrophilic (nucleophilic) oxidants reacting faster with nucleophilic (electrophilic) C−H bonds. Nevertheless, this concept is purely qualitative and is best suited for a posteriori rationalization of experimental observations. Here, we propose and inspect two methods to quantify polar effects in C−H cleavage reactions, one by computation via the difference of atomic charges (Δq) of reacting atoms, and one amenable to experimental measurement through asynchronicity factors, η. By their application to three case studies, we observe that both Δq and η faithfully capture the notion of polarity match. The polarity match model, however, proves insufficient as a predictor of H-atom abstraction reactivity and we discourage its use as a standalone variable in reaction design. Besides this caveat, η and Δq (through its mapping on η) allow the implementation of polarity match into a Marcus-type model of reactivity, alleviating its shortcomings and making reaction planning feasible.

Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0338871