Kinetics of the equilibration of 3-hydroxyphthalide and o-formylbenzoic acid. Hemiacetal breakdown with a carboxylic acid leaving group

A temperature-jump relaxation study is reported for the equilibration: 3-hydroxyphthalide (SH) [Formula: see text]o-formylbenzoate (R−) [Formula: see text]o-formylbenzoic acid (RH). A kinetic analysis is carried out in which SH and R− interconvert with catalysis in the ring opening direction by water and by added general bases. Excellent Brønsted plots based upon a series of oxyacid buffer catalysts are obtained. These have slopes β for the base-catalyzed ring opening of 0.81 and α for the reverse acid-catalyzed ring closing of 0.19. A mechanism where S−, the conjugate base of SH, is a discrete intermediate can be ruled out on the basis of the Brønsted values and the magnitudes of the rate constants. The lifetime of S− is estimated to lie in the range 10−11–10−15 s. Two mechanisms can be proposed. A fully concerted mechanism "enforced" by lifetimes less than 10−13 s involves direct interconversion of SH and R− with no intermediate. A preassociated mechanism "enforced" by lifetimes in the 10−11–10−12 s range requires, in the ring closing direction, that an acid catalyst be hydrogen bonded to the carbonyl in R−.