Rapid Fixation of Methylene Chloride by a Macrocyclic Amine

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Abstract
A simple macrocyclic amine is alkylated by methylene chloride to give a quaternary ammonium chloride salt. When methylene chloride is the solvent, the reaction exhibits pseudo-first-order kinetics, and the reaction half-life at 25.0 °C is 2.0 min. The reaction half-life for a structurally related, acyclic amine is approximately 50 000 times longer. Detailed calculations favor a mechanism where the methylene chloride associates with the macrocycle to form an activated prereaction complex. The macrocyclic nitrogen subsequently attacks the methylene chloride with a classic SN2 trajectory, and although the carbon−chlorine bond breaks, the chloride leaving group does not separate from the newly formed cationic macrocycle, such that the product is a tightly associated ion-pair. X-ray crystal structures of the starting amine and the product salt, as well as kinetic data, support this mechanism.