Investigation of the potential energy surface for the first step in the alkaline hydrolysis of methyl acetate

The potential energy surface for the first step of the alkaline hydrolysis of methyl acetate was explored by a variety of methods. The conformational search routine within SPARTAN was used to determine the lowest energy AM 1 and PM 3 structures for the anionic tetrahedral intermediate. Ab initio single point and geometry optimization calculations were performed to determine the lowest energy conformer, and the linear synchronous transition ( LST ) method was used to provide an initial structure for transition state optimization. Transition states were obtained at the AM 1, PM 3, 3‐21G, and 3‐21 + G levels of theory. These transition states were compared with the anionic tetrahedral intermediates to examine the assumption that the intermediate is a good model for the transition state. In addition, the Cramer/Truhlar SM 3 solvation model was used at the semiempirical level to compare gas phase and aqueous alkaline hydrolysis of methyl acetate. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.