• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.1375-1378
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• 2011

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.2628-2632
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• 2011

The nucleophilic substitution reactions of Y-O-aryl phenyl phosphonochloridothioates with substituted anilines ($XC_6H_4NH_2$) and deuterated anilines ($XC_6H_4ND_2$) are kinetically investigated in acetonitrile at $55.0^{\circ}C$. The deuterium kinetic isotope effects (DKIEs) invariably increase from an extremely large secondary inverse ($k_H/k_D$ = 0.439; min) to a primary normal ($k_H/k_D$ = 1.34; max) as both substituents of nucleophile (X) and substrate (Y) change from electron-donating to electron-withdrawing. These results are opposite to the DKIEs on Y-O-aryl methyl phosphonochloridothioates, and can be rationalized by the gradual transition state (TS) variation from backside to frontside attack. The trigonal bipyramidal pentacoordinate TS is proposed for a backside attack, while the hydrogen-bonded, four-center-type TS is proposed for a frontside attack. The negative values of the cross-interaction constants (${\rho}_{XY(H)}$ = -0.38 for $XC_6H_4NH_2$ and ${\rho}_{XY(D)}$ = -0.29 for $XC_6H_4ND_2$) indicate that the reactions proceed by a concerted $S_N2$ mechanism.