Acid-Catalyzed Hydration of anti-Sesquinorbornene

The acid-catalyzed hydration of anti-sesquinorbornene (1) has been studied at 25 degrees C in 20% DME/H(2)O from 0.001 M < [HC1] < 0.05 M. The second-order rate constant for hydration is 5.35 +/- 0.07 M(-)(1) s(-)(1) which can be compared with a value of 1.38 +/- 0.06 M(-)(1) s(-)(1) for ethyl vinyl ether determined under the same conditions. The solvent deuterium kinetic isotope effect for hydration of 1 is 2.7, and a plot of the observed second-order rate constant for the hydration in a mixed solvent system of H(2)O/D(2)O against the atom fraction of deuterium (n) is bowed upward. The reaction also shows marked buffer catalysis by formic, chloroacetic, and dichloroacetic acids, the Brønsted alpha being 1 for these three carboxylic acids: H(3)O(+) does not fit on this Brønsted line. A mechanism for the reaction is presented which is consistent with the generally accepted one for acid-catalyzed hydration of an alkene in which the rate-limiting step involves proton transfer from H(3)O(+) to the double bond. Whether attack of a second water on the developing carbocation occurs simultaneously with protonation cannot be ascertained from the data for 1, but if so, the extent of its C-OH(2) bond formation must be small enough that there is little change in the bonding of these O-H bonds.