Studies in Solvolysis. Part VI. An Examination of the Heat Capacity of Activation for the Hydrolysis of 4-Methoxybenzyl Trifluoroacetate
The heat capacity of activation for the hydrolysis of 4-methoxybenzyl trifluoroacetate in water containing 9.05 × 10−2 mol fraction of acetone has been measured and shown to be positive. This unusual result is consistent with the notion that the ester reacts by two distinct routes: one involving acyl–oxygen fission, the other, alkyl–oxygen fission. The relative importance of the two paths for the 4-methoxy ester has been established quantitatively via a Hammett σ–ρ correlation for a series of 4-substituted-benzyl trifluoroacetates. Such an assessment allows the observed heat capacity, entropy, and enthalpy of activation to be factored into parts appropriate to each of the two reaction paths.