Pushing the Upper Limit of Nucleophilicity Scales by Mesoionic N-Heterocyclic Olefins

Abstract

A series of mesoionic, 1,2,3-triazole-derived N-heterocyclic olefins (mNHOs), which have an extraordinarily electron-rich exocyclic CC-double bond, was synthesized and spectroscopically characterized, in selected cases by X-ray crystallography. The kinetics of their reactions with arylidene malonates, ArCH=C(CO2Et)2, which gave zwitterionic adducts, were investigated photometrically in THF at 20 °C. The resulting second-order rate constants k2(20 °C) correlate linearly with the reported electrophilicity parameters E of the arylidene malonates (reference electrophiles), thus providing the nucleophile-specific N and sN parameters of the mNHOs according to the correlation lg k2(20 °C)=sN(N+E). With 21