Aliphatic halogen compounds nucleophilic substitution

The destabilization of sp -bound fluorine by p-jt repulsion activates fluorinated aromatic compounds totvard nucleophilic attack and subsequent substitution. The susceptibility of the carbon center toward nucleophiles is also enhanced by the negative inductive (—T) effect of fluorine. In particular, if the aromatic compound is also activated by —M electron-withdrawing substituents, for example a nitro or cyano group, in the ortho or para positions the fluorine is easily replaced by a variety of nucleophiles even under very mild conditions via a resonance stabilized Meisenheimer complex (Scheme 2.39). The ease of nucleophilic halogen replacement - F > Cl > Br > I - is in the opposite order to that for aliphatic nucleophilic substitution. 

As noted in Chapter 9, conventional nucleophilic substitution reactions of the type described for aliphatic compounds don t occur at sp hybrid carbon atoms. The formation of aryl cations is disfavored because they are unstable, and attack from the backside of the C-halogen bond is rendered impossible by the ring structure. So the substitution of aryl halides is much more difficult, and the mechanism of the S).j2Ar reaction is quite different, involving addition followed by elimination—a two-step process. For example, although substitution of chlorobenzene by hydroxyl ion is possible, conditions are harsh (350 °C, high pressure), and even then, yields are low. The reaction (Figure 13.13) probably involves a benzyne intermediate (see Sections 10.9 and 13.6). 

---