Determination of Reactivities by MO Theory (XV). Theoretical Studies on Conformations and Acid Catalysis of Acetamides

EHT and CNDO/2 calculations have been performed to determine conformations of acetamides and diacetamides, and of their protonated forms. Results show that: protonation is always favored on the cis position with respect to N due to greater attractive potential between and N; the trans-trans conformer of diacetamides gives the most preferred protonated form although the cis-trans conformer is the most stable one for the unprotonated diacetamides. Protonation on a carbonyl oxygen is predicted to increase both charge and orbital controlled SN reactivities of the protonated carbonyl carbon due to increases in positive charge and AO coefficient of -LUMO of the carbon atom. In the acid catalyzed hydrolysis of diacetamides therefore it appears highly probable that the rate determining attack by a water molecule occurs at the carbon of the protonated carbonyl group and the carbonyl carbon-nitrogen bond scission follows subsequently. This mechanism is consistent with that generally accepted for the hydrolysis of amides in dilute acid solution but disagrees with that proposed by Laureut et al., for acid hydrolysis of N-acetyl-lactams.