Decarboxylation without CO2: why bicarbonate forms directly as trichloroacetate is converted to chloroform

Patterns in the observed catalysis of decarboxylation reactions required us to conclude that these reactions involve initial hydration of the carboxylate and subsequent loss of bicarbonate. This raises the important and general question of why CO2 is not formed directly. Reaction profiles for the direct decarboxylation of trichloroacetate were generated with DFT calculations and show no significant barrier to the recombination of the incipient trichloromethide and CO2. In contrast, cleavage of the C-C bond from the hydrated intermediate shows a substantial barrier to recombination that allows separation of the products. The free energy of the transition state for C-C bond cleavage following hydration is higher than the free energy for formation of the hydrate and is comparable to the free energy of activation for direct decarboxylation. Thus, we conclude that the advantage of the hydrolytic pathway is that it provides a means to overcome the problems of separation and solvation that hinder the direct loss of CO2. The resulting concepts are readily extended to explicating the mechanisms of processes in enzymic catalysis as well as providing a basis for producing C-C bonds by the addition of derivatives of carbanions to carbonates.