Arenediazonium salt substitution reactions

Sec. 16.1, 16.2) from anenes by electrophilic aromatic substitution with halogen (Sec. 24.8) from arenediazonium salts by reaction with cuprous halides (Sandmeyer... 

Arenediazonium salts are extremely useful because the diazonio group (N2) can be replaced by a nucleophile in a substitution reaction. 

Arylamines are converted by diazotization with nitrous acid into arenediazonium salts, ArN2+ X-. The diazonio group can then be replaced by many other substituents in the Sandmeyer reaction to give a wide variety of substituted aromatic compounds. Aryl chlorides, bromides, iodides, and nitriles can be prepared from arenediazonium salts, as can arenes and phenols. In addition to their reactivity toward substitution reactions, diazonium salts undergo coupling with phenols and arylamines to give brightly colored azo dyes. 

Sandmeyer reaction (Section 24.8) The nucleophilic substitution reaction of an arenediazonium salt with a cuprous halide to yield an aryl halide. 

The fundamental understanding of the diazonio group in arenediazonium salts, and of its reactivity, electronic structure, and influence on the reactivity of other substituents attached to the arenediazonium system depends mainly on the application of quantitative structure-reactivity relationships to kinetic and equilibrium measurements. These were made with a series of 3- and 4-substituted benzenediazonium salts on the basis of the Hammett equation (Scheme 7-1). We need to discuss the mechanism of addition of a nucleophile to the P-nitrogen atom of an arenediazonium ion, and to answer the question, raised several times in Chapters 5 and 6, why the ratio of (Z)- to ( -additions is so different — from almost 100 1 to 1 100 — depending on the type of nucleophile involved and on the reaction conditions. However, before we do that in Section 7.4, it is necessary to give a short general review of the Hammett equation and to discuss the substituent constants of the diazonio group. 

Hydro-de-diazoniation seems to be an unnecessary reaction from the synthetic standpoint, as arenediazonium salts are obtained from the respective amines, reagents that are normally synthesized from the hydrocarbon. Some aromatic compounds, however, cannot be synthesized by straightforward electrophilic aromatic substitution examples of these are the 1,3,5-trichloro- and -tribromobenzenes (see below). These simple benzene derivatives are synthesized from aniline via halogenation, diazotization and hydro-de-diazoniation. Furthermore hydro-de-diazoniation is useful for the introduction of a hydrogen isotope in specific positions. 

Meerwein reactions can conveniently be used for syntheses of intermediates which can be cyclized to heterocyclic compounds, if an appropriate heteroatom substituent is present in the 2-position of the aniline derivative used for diazotization. For instance, Raucher and Koolpe (1983) described an elegant method for the synthesis of a variety of substituted indoles via the Meerwein arylation of vinyl acetate, vinyl bromide, or 2-acetoxy-l-alkenes with arenediazonium salts derived from 2-nitroani-line (Scheme 10-46). In the Meerwein reaction one obtains a mixture of the usual arylation/HCl-addition product (10.9) and the carbonyl compound 10.10, i. e., the product of hydrolysis of 10.9. For the subsequent reductive cyclization to the indole (10.11) the mixture of 10.9 and 10.10 can be treated with any of a variety of reducing agents, preferably Fe/HOAc. 

A different synthesis of arylmercuric chlorides (10.67) was described recently by Hu and Yu (1989). They showed that chloromercuryacetaldehyde (10.66) reacts with arenediazonium salts in aqueous acetone as shown in Scheme 10-89. The reaction is catalyzed by cupric chloride (yield 66-88% twelve substituted benzenediazonium chlorides were investigated). 

The thermal decomposition of arenediazonium tetrafluoroborates is slowed down when the salt is complexed by 18-crown-6 (Bartsch et al., 1976). The kinetic data obtained for the 4-t-butylbenzenediazonium salt at 50°C in 1,2-dichloroethane revealed that the rate of complexed to uncomplexed salt is more than 100. Other crown ethers such as dibenzo-18-crown-6 and dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6 exhibited the same effect but smaller molecules such as 15-crown-5 did not influence the rate at all. It is not only the rate of the Schiemann reaction that is affected by the crown ether nucleophilic aromatic substitutions by halide ions (Cl-, Br-) at the 4-positions in arenediazonium salts are retarded or even entirely inhibited when 18-crown-6 is added. This is attributed to the attenuation of the positive charge at the diazonio group in the complex (Gokel et al., 1977). 

Another new catalyst was described by Leardini and coworkers158, namely FeSC>4 in DMSO. It was applied to a Meerwein reaction of phenylethyne and substituted phenylethynes with arenediazonium salts containing a thioether group in the 2-position. 

This diazotization reaction is compatible with the presence of a wide variety of substituents on the benzene ring. Arenediazonium salts are extremely important in synthetic chemistry, because the diazonio group (N=N) can be replaced by a nucleophile in a radical substitution reaction, e.g. preparation of phenol, chlorobenzene and bromobenzene. Under proper conditions, arenediazonium salts react with certain aromatic compounds to yield products of the general formula Ar-N=N-Ar, called azo compounds. In this coupling reaction, the nitrogen of the diazonium group is retained in the product. 

The generation of intermediate azidothiocarbonyl compounds 10 followed by 1,5-electrocyclic reaction leads to 5-substituted 1,2,3,4-thiatriazoles 9. This mechanism has been proposed in reactions of various derivatives of thiohy-drazides 136 with either nitrous acid or arenediazonium salts, and in reactions of thiophosgene (or dithiocarboxylates) 135 (X = C1, SR) with either sodium or trimethylsilyl azide (Scheme 32) <1984CHEC(6)579, 1996CHEC-II(4)691,... 

Cuprous cyanide, CuCN Reacts with arenediazonium salts to yield substituted benzonitriles (Sandmeyer reaction Section 24.8). 

Gomberg-Bachmann biphenyl synthesis. Reaction of stable arenediazonium tet-rafluoroborates or hexafluorophosphates in an aromatic solvent with potassium acetate (2 equiv.) and a phase-transfer catalyst results in biar Is in high yield. Crown ethers, Aliquat 336, and tetrabutylammonium hydrogen sulfate arc all effective catalysts. The reaction is useful for synthesis of unsymmetrical biaryls. The ortho-isomer predominates in reactions with a monosubstituted benzene. The most selective method is to couple a substituted arenediazonium salt with a symmetrical arene. 

Reactions of arenediazonium salts (Section 24.8) (a) Nucleophilic substitutions... 

Such a mechanism was unlikely as addition of an external trap, 1,1-diphenylethylene, had no effect on the course of the arylation of p-ketoesters.i l A second approach involved the use of an internal trapping system which had been successfully used in the study of the radical reactions of arenediazonium salts.The internal trap containing reagent, ( rf/io-allyloxyphenyl)lead triacetate (94), can be easily prepared from the corresponding boronic acid. 2 Reaction with various types of nucleophiles, such as ethyl 2-oxocyclopentanecarboxylate (86), mesitol (36), the sodium salt of nitropropane, iodide and azide always afforded the C-arylation products in high yield. No trace of the 3-substituted dihydrobenzofurans, expected in a mechanism involving the intermediacy of free radicals, could be detected. 

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