Activation of Electrophilicity of Stable Y-Delocalized Carbamate Cations in Intramolecular Aromatic Substitution Reaction: Evidence for Formation of Diprotonated Carbamates Leading to Generation of Isocyanates
idea that further protonation of the O-protonated carbamates is involved in the cyclization, but the concentration of the dications is very low and suggests that the rate-determining step is dissociation of methanol from the diprotonated carbamate to generate protonated isocyanate, which reacts with the aromatic ring. Therefore, O-protonated carbamates are weak bases in sharp contrast to other Y-shaped