Mechanistic study on the reaction of boronic acids with H-resorcinol

Kinetics for the reaction of m-nitrophenyl- (m-NO₂Ph-), phenyl- (Ph-), methyl(Me-), and n-butyl- (n-Bu-) boronic acids with H-resorcinol has been studied at various temperatures and pressures. The pseudo first-order rate constant (k_obs) exhibited saturation in the plot of k_obs against the total boronic acid concentration (C_B) for the reactions of m-NO₂PhB(OH)₂ and PhB(OH)₂, while the plot was linear for the reactions of MeB(OH)₂ and n-BuB(OH)₂, which leads to the following equations, respectively: k_obs=k*KC_B/(1+KC_B) and k_obs=k*KC_B=k_fC_B. It was experimentally shown that the reaction of boronic acids with H-resorcinol proceeds with rate determining second chelate-ring closure.