Aromatic hydrocarbons electrophilic substitution

The relative basicities of aromatic hydrocarbons, as represented by the equilibrium constants for their protonation in mixtures of hydrogen fluoride and boron trifluoride, have been measured. The effects of substituents upon these basicities resemble their effects upon the rates of electrophilic substitutions a linear relationship exists between the logarithms of the relative basicities and the logarithms of the relative rate constants for various substitutions, such as chlorination and... 

Given that many electrophiles form r-complexes with aromatic hydrocarbons, and that such complexes must be present in solutions in which electrophilic substitutions are occurring, the question arises... 

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons undergo electrophilic aromatic substitution when treated with the same reagents that react with benzene In general polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are more reactive than benzene Most lack the symmetry of benzene how ever and mixtures of products may be formed even on monosubstitution Among poly cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons we will discuss only naphthalene and that only briefly Two sites are available for substitution m naphthalene C 1 and C 2 C 1 being normally the preferred site of electrophilic attack... 

Section 12 17 Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons undergo the same kind of electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions as benzene... 

The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as naphthalene, anthracene, and phenan-threne undergo electrophilic aromatic substitution and are generally more reactive than benzene. One reason is that the activation energy for formation of the c-complex is lower than for benzene because more of the initial resonance stabilization is retained in intermediates that have a fused benzene ring. 

Accordingly, they do not easily add to reagents such as halogens and acids as do alkenes. Aromatic hydrocarbons are susceptible, however, to electrophilic substitution reactions in presence of a catalyst. 

Aromatic hydrocarbons, like paraffin hydrocarbons, react by substitution, but by a different reaction mechanism and under milder conditions. Aromatic compounds react by addition only under severe conditions. For example, electrophilic substitution of benzene using nitric acid produces nitrobenzene under normal conditions, while the addition of hydrogen to benzene occurs in presence of catalyst only under high pressure to... 

Naphthalene and other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons show many of the chemical properties associated with aromaticity. Thus, measurement of its heat of hydrogenation shows an aromatic stabilization energy of approximately 250 kj/mol (60 kcal/mol). Furthermore, naphthalene reacts slowly with electrophiles such as Br2 to give substitution products rather than double-bond addition products. 

The introduction of the halogens onto aromatic rings by electrophilic substitution is an important synthetic procedure. Chlorine and bromine are reactive toward aromatic hydrocarbons, but Lewis acid catalysts are normally needed to achieve desirable rates. Elemental fluorine reacts very exothermically and careful control of conditions is required. Molecular iodine can effect substitution only on very reactive aromatics, but a number of more reactive iodination reagents have been developed. 

The first paper of the frontier-electron theory pointed out that the electrophilic aromatic substitution in aromatic hydrocarbons should take place at the position of the greatest density of electrons in the highest occupied (HO) molecular orbital (MO). The second paper disclosed that the nucleophilic replacement should occur at the carbon atom where the lowest unoccupied (LU) MO exhibited the maximum density of extension. These particular MO s were called "frontier MO s . In homolytic replacements, both HO and LU.were shown to serve as the frontier MO s. In these papers the "partial" density of 2 pn electron, in the HO (or LU) MO, at a certain carbon atom was simply interpreted by the square of the atomic orbital (AO) coefficient in these particular MO s which were represented by a linear combination (LC) of 2 pn AO s in the frame of the Huckel approximation. These partial densities were named frontier-electron densities . 

Since the nitrogen in pyridine is electron attracting it seemed reasonable to predict that the trihalopyridynes would also show the increased electrophilic character necessary to form adducts with aromatic hydrocarbons under similar conditions to those employed with the tetra-halogeno-benzynes. The availability of pentachloropyridine suggested to us and others that the reaction with w-butyl-lithium should lead to the formation of tetrachloro-4-pyridyl-lithium 82 84>. This has been achieved and adducts obtained, although this system is complicated by the ease with which pentachloropyridine undergoes nucleophilic substitution by tetrachloro-4-pyridyl lithium. Adducts of the type (45) have been isolated in modest yield both in the trichloro- and tribromo- 58) series. 

Heterocycles with conjugated jr-systems have a propensity to react by substitution, similarly to saturated hydrocarbons, rather than by addition, which is characteristic of most unsaturated hydrocarbons. This reflects the strong tendency to return to the initial electronic structure after a reaction. Electrophilic substitutions of heteroaromatic systems are the most common qualitative expression of their aromaticity. However, the presence of one or more electronegative heteroatoms disturbs the symmetry of aromatic rings pyridine-like heteroatoms (=N—, =N+R—, =0+—, and =S+—) decrease the availability of jr-electrons and the tendency toward electrophilic substitution, allowing for addition and/or nucleophilic substitution in yr-deficient heteroatoms , as classified by Albert.63 By contrast, pyrrole-like heteroatoms (—NR—, —O—, and — S—) in the jr-excessive heteroatoms induce the tendency toward electrophilic substitution (see Scheme 19). The quantitative expression of aromaticity in terms of chemical reactivity is difficult and is especially complicated by the interplay of thermodynamic and kinetic factors. Nevertheless, a number of chemical techniques have been applied which are discussed elsewhere.66... 

Except for these studies of their protonation behavior, almost the only other aspect of the chemistry of sulfonic acids that has been investigated to any extent from a mechanistic point of view is the desulfonation of aromatic sulfonic acids or sulfonates. Since this subject has been well reviewed by Cerfontain (1968), and since the reaction is really more of interest as a type of electrophilic aromatic substitution than as sulfur chemistry, we shall not deal with it here. One should note that the mechanism of formation of aromatic sulfonic acids by sulfonation of aromatic hydrocarbons has also been intensively investigated, particularly by Cerfontain and his associates, and several... 

Like benzene, other aromatic hydrocarbons will undergo electrophilic substitution reactions. 

The intermediate tricyclic ketones 495 and 496 have been transformed to the methoxy-substituted derivative 97284,285) latter ketone is subject to hydrogen-deuterium exchange only under basic conditions and appears to exist entirely in the keto form despite the ready formation of its anion and successful methylation on oxygen . In agreement with the aromatic nature of 490, the hydrocarbon undergoes electrophilic substitution reactions... 

Iodine is reactive toward unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons and the iodine number is a well-known measure for the degree of unsaturation of fatty acids [164]. The electroiodination of unsaturated and aromatic hydrocarbons also is well known and can be achieved, for example, by electrogeneration of I" in acetonitrile [165] (Eq. 13). The reaction has been proposed to be consistent with a conventional homogeneous electrophilic aromatic substitution. 

Dewar, M. J. S., T. Mole, and E. W. T. Warford, Electrophilic Substitution. Part VI. The Nitration of Aromatic Hydrocarbons Partial Rate Factors and Their Interpretation, J. Chem. Soc., Part 111, 3581-3586 (1956). 

The usual way to achieve heterosubstitution of saturated hydrocarbons is by free-radical reactions. Halogenation, sulfochlorination, and nitration are among the most important transformations. Superacid-catalyzed electrophilic substitutions have also been developed. This clearly indicates that alkanes, once considered to be highly unreactive compounds (paraffins), can be readily functionalized not only in free-radical from but also via electrophilic activation. Electrophilic substitution, in turn, is the major transformation of aromatic hydrocarbons. 

Since numerous monographs and review papers cover in detail nearly all aspects of electrophilic aromatic substitutions, only a brief overview of some important reactions resulting in heterosubstitution is given here. Electrophilic alkylation of aromatics, the most important electrophilic substitution with regard to hydrocarbon chemistry, including new C—C bond formation, in turn, is discussed in Section 5.1.4. 

Summary of Electrophilic Substitution Reactions of Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons... 

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