Correlation of Electronic Effects in N-Alkylnicotinamides with NMR Chemical Shifts and Hydride Transfer Reactivity

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Abstract
The (13)C and (15)N NMR chemical shifts for ring atoms of a series of N-alkylnicotinamides are shown to be correlated with their reduction potentials and reactivities toward NaBH(3)CN. The nicotinamide compounds include N-ethyl-N-benzyl-N-[p-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl]-, N-(p-cyanobenzyl)-, N-(carbomethoxymethyl)-, and N-(cyanomethyl)nicotinamides. The values of delta()13(C) for all the ring carbons increase with increasing electron-withdrawing power of the N-alkyl substituent. The value for C-4 increases the most, a range of 2.4 ppm in this series, whereas those for other atoms increase on the order of 1 ppm. The value of delta()15(N) for N-1 decreases with increasing electron-withdrawing power over a range of 20 ppm. The NMR data indicate that inductive electron withdrawal by N-alkyl substituents polarizes the pi-electron system to decrease electron density on ring carbons and increase electron density on the ring nitrogen. The values of log k (second order) for reduction of these compounds by NaBH(3)CN are proportional to the values of delta()13(C) for C-4 and inversely proportional to delta()15(N) for N-1. The reduction potentials are proportional to delta()13(C). The substituent effects are qualitatively similar to the substrate-induced electrostatic effects on the nicotinamide ring of NAD(+) at the active site of UDP-galactose 4-epimerase (Burke, J. R.; Frey, P. A. Biochemistry 1993, 32, 13220-13230). However, they differ quantitatively in that the upfield perturbation at N-1 is smaller in the enzyme and the signal for C-6 is also shifted upfield. The substrate-induced enzymatic perturbation of electron density at C-4 of NAD(+) quantitatively accounts for its increase in reactivity at the active site, but the perturbation at N-1 is less closely correlated with reactivity.