A kinetic study of 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions in micellar media

The kinetics of the 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions (DC) of benzonitrile oxide with a series of N-substituted maleimides in micellar media have been investigated. Surfactants studied include anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate, cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, and a series of nonionic alkyl poly(ethylene oxide) surfactants (CxEy). The kinetic data have been analyzed by using the pseudo-phase model for bimolecular reactions. Much larger micellar accelerations (up to a factor of 17) were observed for these reactions than was previously found for Diels-Alder (DA) reactions (J. Org. Chem. 2002, 67, 7369-7377). This is explained by the smaller solvent sensitivity of DC reactions, which causes the micellar rate constants to be much closer to the value of water (km/kw approximately 0.25-0.45 for DC reactions vs 0.02-0.05 for DA reactions). Further evidence is presented, that a water/1-propanol mixture ([H2O] ca. 15 M) is a fairly good mimic of the micellar reaction environment for these reactions. Isobaric activation parameters have been determined for the reaction in the micellar phase of C16E20, using micellar rate constants. They correspond well to values obtained for the aforementioned micelle mimic.