title: Europium ion catalyzed methanolysis of esters at neutral pH and ambient temperature. catalytic Involvement of Eu3+(CH3O-)(CH3OH)x.
abstract: The Eu(3+)-promoted methanolysis of three esters, p-nitrophenyl acetate (1), phenyl acetate (2), and ethyl acetate (3) is reported, as well as the potentiometric titration of Eu(3+) in MeOH at various [Eu(SO(3)CF(3))(3)] (SO(3)CF(3) = OTf). The titration data are analyzed in terms of two ionizations corresponding to macroscopic and values, which are respectively defined as the values at which the [CH(3)O(-)]/[Eu(3+)] = 0.5 and 1.5. As a function of increasing [Eu(OTf)(3)], increases slightly due to a proposed Eu(3+)/(-)OTf ion pairing effect, which tends to reduce the acidity of the metal-coordinated CH(3)OH, while decreases due to the formation of Eu(3+) dimers and oligomers which stabilize the (Eu(3+)(CH(3)O(-))(2))(n)forms through bridging of the methoxides between two or more metal ions. For ester 1, a detailed kinetic analysis of the reaction rates as a function of both [Eu(OTf)(3)] and in buffered methanol reveals that the /second-order rate constant (k(2)) plot for the catalyzed reaction follows a bell-shaped profile, suggesting that the active form is a Eu(3+)(CH(3)O(-)) monomer with a kinetic of 6.33 +/- 0.06 for formation and a of 8.02 +/- 0.10 for its conversion into the inactive (Eu(3+)(CH(3)O(-))(2))(n)oligomeric form. At higher values, plots of k(obs) vs [Eu(OTf)(3)] are linear at low metal concentration and plateau at higher metal concentration due to the formation of inactive higher order aggregates. The Eu(3+)(CH(3)O(-)) catalysis of the methanolysis of esters 1, 2, and 3 is substantial. Solutions of 10(-2) M of the catalyst at 7.12 accelerate the reaction relative to the methoxide reaction at that by 8 530 000-, 195 000 000- and 7 813 000-fold, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexei A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Neverov
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Brown