Electrophilic aromatic substitution compounds

As discussed in section IV, fullerenes are deprived of the archetypical reactions of aromatic compounds, electrophilic or nucleophilic substitution, due to the lack of substituents. Rather, the reactivity of Ceo and Cjo has been compared to that of electron-deficient olefins (see refs 4—11 and 20—26 for reviews on... 

The nitration, sulphonation and Friedel-Crafts acylation of aromatic compounds (e.g. benzene) are typical examples of electrophilic aromatic substitution. 

Nitration is important for two reasons firstly, because it is the most general process for the preparation of aromatic nitro compounds secondly, because of the part which it has played in the development of theoretical organic chemistry. It is of interest because of its own characteristics as an electrophilic substitution. 

If acetoxylation were a conventional electrophilic substitution it is hard to understand why it is not more generally observed in nitration in acetic anhydride. The acetoxylating species is supposed to be very much more selective than the nitrating species, and therefore compared with the situation in (say) toluene in which the ratio of acetoxylation to nitration is small, the introduction of activating substituents into the aromatic nucleus should lead to an increase in the importance of acetoxylation relative to nitration. This is, in fact, observed in the limited range of the alkylbenzenes, although the apparently severe steric requirement of the acetoxylation species is a complicating feature. The failure to observe acetoxylation in the reactions of compounds more reactive than 2-xylene has been attributed to the incursion of another mechan-104... 

For electrophilic substitutions in general, and leaving aside theories which have only historical interest, two general processes have to be considered. In the first, the 5 3 process, a transition state is involved which is formed from the aromatic compound, the electrophile (E+), and the base (B) needed to remove the proton ... 

The best-known equation of the type mentioned is, of course, Hammett s equation. It correlates, with considerable precision, rate and equilibrium constants for a large number of reactions occurring in the side chains of m- and p-substituted aromatic compounds, but fails badly for electrophilic substitution into the aromatic ring (except at wi-positions) and for certain reactions in side chains in which there is considerable mesomeric interaction between the side chain and the ring during the course of reaction. This failure arises because Hammett s original model reaction (the ionization of substituted benzoic acids) does not take account of the direct resonance interactions between a substituent and the site of reaction. This sort of interaction in the electrophilic substitutions of anisole is depicted in the following resonance structures, which show the transition state to be stabilized by direct resonance with the substituent ... 

Ten years ago we became interested in the possibility of using nitration as a process with which to study the reactivity of hetero-aromatic compounds towards electrophilic substitution. The choice of nitration was determined by the consideration that its mechanism was probably better imderstood than that of any other electrophilic substitution. Others also were pursuing the same objective, and a considerable amount of information has now been compiled. 

Indoles are usually constructed from aromatic nitrogen compounds by formation of the pyrrole ring as has been the case for all of the synthetic methods discussed in the preceding chapters. Recently, methods for construction of the carbocyclic ring from pyrrole derivatives have received more attention. Scheme 8.1 illustrates some of the potential disconnections. In paths a and b, the syntheses involve construction of a mono-substituted pyrrole with a substituent at C2 or C3 which is capable of cyclization, usually by electrophilic substitution. Paths c and d involve Diels-Alder reactions of 2- or 3-vinyl-pyrroles. While such reactions lead to tetrahydro or dihydroindoles (the latter from acetylenic dienophiles) the adducts can be readily aromatized. Path e represents a category Iley cyclization based on 2 -I- 4 cycloadditions of pyrrole-2,3-quinodimcthane intermediates. 

Sometimes the orientation of two substituents m an aromatic compound precludes Its straightforward synthesis m Chloroethylbenzene for example has two ortho para directing groups m a meta relationship and so can t be prepared either from chloroben zene or ethylbenzene In cases such as this we couple electrophilic aromatic substitution with functional group manipulation to produce the desired compound... 

Friedel-Crafts acylation of aromatic compounds (Section 12 7) Acyl chlorides and carboxylic acid anhydrides acylate aromatic rings in the presence of alumi num chloride The reaction is electrophil ic aromatic substitution in which acylium ions are generated and attack the ring... 

Electrophilic aromatic substitution (Section 12 1) Fundamen tal reaction type exhibited by aromatic compounds An electrophilic species (E" ) attacks an aromatic ring and re places one of the hydrogens... 

Friedel-Crafts acylation (Section 12 7) An electrophilic aro matic substitution in which an aromatic compound reacts with an acyl chloride or a carboxylic acid anhydride in the presence of aluminum chlonde An acyl group becomes bonded to the nng... 

Iron Porphyrins. Porphyrias (15—17) are aromatic cycHc compouads that coasist of four pyrrole units linked at the a-positions by methine carbons. The extended TT-systems of these compounds give rise to intense absorption bands in the uv/vis region of the spectmm. The most intense absorption, which is called the Soret band, falls neat 400 nm and has 10. The TT-system is also responsible for the notable ring current effect observed in H-nmr spectra, the preference for planar conformations, the prevalence of electrophilic substitution reactions, and the redox chemistry of these compounds. Porphyrins obtained from natural sources have a variety of peripheral substituents and substitution patterns. Two important types of synthetic porphyrins are the meso-tetraaryl porphyrins, such as 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphine [917-23-7] (H2(TPP)) (7) and P-octaalkylporphyrins, such as 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octaethylporphine [2683-82-1] (H2(OEP)) (8). Both types can be prepared by condensation of pyrroles and aldehydes (qv). 

Electrophilic substitution reactions of diarylamines are easily accompHshed since the amino group activates the aromatic ring. Thus, DPA reacts with bromine or chlorine to form the 2,2H,4 tetrahalo derivative nitration usually produces the trinitro compound. 

Toluene, an aLkylben2ene, has the chemistry typical of each example of this type of compound. However, the typical aromatic ring or alkene reactions are affected by the presence of the other group as a substituent. Except for hydrogenation and oxidation, the most important reactions involve either electrophilic substitution in the aromatic ring or free-radical substitution on the methyl group. Addition reactions to the double bonds of the ring and disproportionation of two toluene molecules to yield one molecule of benzene and one molecule of xylene also occur. 

Aromatic compounds may be chlorinated with chlorine in the presence of a catalyst such as iron, ferric chloride, or other Lewis acids. The halogenation reaction involves electrophilic displacement of the aromatic hydrogen by halogen. Introduction of a second chlorine atom into the monochloro aromatic stmcture leads to ortho and para substitution. The presence of a Lewis acid favors polarization of the chlorine molecule, thereby increasing its electrophilic character. Because the polarization does not lead to complete ionization, the reaction should be represented as shown in equation 26. 

Like other aromatic compounds, aromatic ethers can undergo substitution in the aromatic ring with electrophilic reagents, eg, nitration, halogenation, and sulfonation. They also undergo Eriedel-Crafts (qv) alkylation and acylation. 

The effect of substituents on electrophilic substitution can be placed on a quantitative basis by use ofpartial rate factors. The reactivity of each position in a substituted aromatic compound can be compared with that of benzene by measuring the overall rate, relative to benzene, and dissecting the total rate by dividing it among the ortho, meta, and para... 

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