Primary and secondary kinetic deuterium isotope effects and transition-state structures for benzylic chlorination and bromination of toluene

As a chemical model for benzylic hydroxylation effects by cytochrome P-450 enzymes, the chlorination of PhCH3, PhCH2D, PhCHD2, and PhCD3 in a two-phase system of hypochlorite/CH2Cl2 with a phase-transfer catalyst has been investigated. On the basis of the deuterium content of the product benzyl chlorides, relative rate constants were deduced for all possible H- and D-abstractions with these substrates. From this the primary (P) and secondary (S) KDIEs were found to be 5.90 +/- 0.41 and 1.03 +/- 0.02, respectively, and the rule of the geometric mean was found to be closely obeyed. For the analogous bromination of toluene by N-bromosuccinimide in CCl4, P and S were 6.37 +/- 0.43 and 1.05 +/- 0.01. The transition states of these processes must therefore involve extensive C-H bond breaking but relatively little rehybridization toward planarity at the reacting carbon