Effect of electron-withdrawing substituents on the electrophilicity of carbonyl carbons

The substituent effects on the carbonyl carbon atom for a series of twelve substituted phenyl acetates have been rationalized using a global electrophilicity index. This index is linearly correlated with the experimental reaction rate coefficients. We found that, in contrast to the proposed interpretation based on experimental 13C NMR chemical shifts and ground state destabilization calculations, the electrophilicity of carbonyl compounds increases due to the effect promoted by electron-withdrawing groups in these systems.