Reinvestigation of the cesium enolate (CsPhIBP) of 1-biphenylyl-2-methylpropanone (p-phenylisobutyrophenone, PhIBP) in tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution at 25.0 °C shows that its UV−visible spectrum
changes with concentration with λmax moving to longer wavelengths in more dilute solution. Analysis of the
spectral data over a wide concentration range by singular value determination (SVD) combined with the pK
measurements indicates a mixture of monomer (M), dimer (D), and tetramer (T) with equilibrium constants of
K
1,2 = D/M2 = 2.89 × 104 M-1 and K
1,4 = T/M4 = 7.78 × 1012 M-3. The pK of the monomer is 25.08. The
data are also compared with the corresponding data obtained for the lithium ion pair system reported in the
following paper. We find that the cesium ion pair is more highly aggregated and much more basic than the
lithium ion pair. The average aggregation number of CsPhIBP at 10-3 M is 3.2, substantially greater than the
value of 2.2 reported previously; the revision arises from our taking into account the concentration-dependent
extinction coefficient and absorption band shape of CsPhIBP. The revised value also requires that a correction
be applied to our previously reported kinetics of the reaction of CsPhIBP with methyl tosylate (MeOTs); the
data indicate that the CsPhIBP ion pair monomer reacts, instead of the free enolate ion that we reported
previously. Similarly, alkylation by p-tert-butylbenzyl chloride (BnCl) occurs dominantly via the monomer.
More limited studies at −20 °C indicate greater aggregation at the lower temperature. Alkylation reactions
with MeOTs and BnCl again occur predominantly with the monomer. The reaction products at room temperature
are those of C-alkylation with BnCl and equal amounts of C- and O-alkylation with MeOTs.
The lithium pK scale has been extended to 25 indicators with a pK range of 9.7-24.4. The resulting scale is compared with the cesium ion pair acidities and to ionic pK's in DMSO and aqueous DMSO.Key words: ion pair acidity, organolithium compounds, indicator, acidity scale.
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