DYNAMICS OF HYDRIDE TRANSFER BETWEEN NAD+ ANALOGS

Primary kinetic isotope effects (KIE) for hydride transfer between 10-methylacridan and 1 -benzyl-3-cyanoquinolmium perchlorate have been measured in 15 different solvents. There is a reduction of the KIE from 5.2 to about 2.9 in the more viscous, nonhydroxylic solvents. Hydroxylic solvents give the larger KIE regardless of their viscosity. These results suggest a three-step process. In the first step, the heavy atoms and solvent are reorganized to a configuration intermediate between reactants and products, while the hydride retains its original attachment. In the second stage, the hydride is transferred, probably by tunneling. In the final step the products are stabilized by further solvent and heavy-atom reorganization. For nonhydroxylic solvents, translational and rotational diffusion governs the heavy-atom reorganization steps and, therefore, determines which step is rate-limiting. Only when the heavy-atom reorganizations are fast is the second step rate-limiting and the KIE maximized. The rate constant for the tunneling process is assumed to be solvent-independent. It is of the right order of magnitude to compete with solvent relaxation. Changes in rate constant, k, and equilibrium constant, K, are modest, but there is a linear correlation between In k and In K, with a slope of 0.87. This slope suggests that it is the third step, rather than the first, which shares rate-limiting character with the second. There is no visible trend toward a maximum isotope effect at K = 1. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.