Theoretical and experimental investigation of the formation of E- and Z-Aldimines from the reaction of methylamine with acetaldehyde

• Autor(a) principal: Pliego Jr.,Josefredo R.
• Data de Publicação: 1999
• Outros Autores: Alcântara,Antônio Flávio de C., Veloso,Dorila Piló, Almeida,Wagner B. de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-50531999000500008
• topic: reaction mechanism; E- and Z-Aldimines equilibrium; ab initio calculations

The reaction of methylamine with acetaldehyde in pentane at 230 K leads to formation of both E- and Z- aldimines, the Z-isomer being the main product and generated upon kinetic control. The E- form is more stable than the Z- form by 3.3 kcal/mol (deltaG*). Ab initio calculations have indicated that a tetrahedral zwitterion intermediate is not formed, and the bimolecular process, forming the aminoalcohol intermediate, occurs through a four center transition state, with concerted formation of C-N bond and proton transfer. However, the predicted deltaG*<FONT FACE="Symbol">¹</FONT> is very high, indicating that the true mechanism for this step is not bimolecular. A catalyzed pathway must be actuating. The following step, unimolecular elimination of water, also presents a very high activation free energy. Similarly, a catalyzed mechanism is needed. The isomerization from the Z- form to the E- form through inversion of the nitrogen atom has a predicted deltaG*<FONT FACE="Symbol">¹</FONT> of 27.0 kcal/mol at 298.15 K, resulting in a lifetime of four months for the Z-isomer.