Nucleophilicities of the anions of arylacetonitriles and arylpropionitriles in dimethyl sulfoxide.

The rates of the reactions of the colored para-substituted phenylacetonitrile anions 1a-c and the phenylpropionitrile anions 2a-c with Michael acceptors (3a-u) were determined by UV-vis spectroscopy in DMSO at 20 degrees C. The reactions follow second-order kinetics, and the corresponding rate constants k(2) obey the linear-free-energy relationship log k(2)(20 degrees C) = s(N + E), from which the nucleophile-specific parameters N and s of the carbanions 1a-c and 2a-c have been derived. With nucleophilicity parameters from 19 < N < 29, they are among the most reactive nucleophiles which we have so far parametrized. In DMSO, the nucleophilicity of the tert-butoxide anion is comparable to that of the p-cyanophenylacetonitrile anion 1b.