Aromatic hydrocarbons isomerism

Since aliphatic hydrocarbons (unlike aromatic hydrocarbons, p. 155) can be directly nitrated only under very special conditions, indirect methods are usually employed for the preparation of compounds such as nitroethane, CjHsNO. When ethyl iodide is heated with silver nitrite, two isomeric compounds are formed, and can be easily separated by fractional distillation. The first is the true ester, ethyl nitrite, C,HiONO, of b.p. 17° its identity is shown by the action of hot sodium hydroxide solution, which hydrolyses it, giving ethanol and... 

An excess of crotonaldehyde or aUphatic, ahcyhc, and aromatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives is used as a solvent to produce compounds of molecular weights of 1000—5000 (25—28). After removal of unreacted components and solvent, the adduct referred to as polyester is decomposed in acidic media or by pyrolysis (29—36). Proper operation of acidic decomposition can give high yields of pure /n j ,/n7 j -2,4-hexadienoic acid, whereas the pyrolysis gives a mixture of isomers that must be converted to the pure trans,trans form. The thermal decomposition is carried out in the presence of alkaU or amine catalysts. A simultaneous codistillation of the sorbic acid as it forms and the component used as the solvent can simplify the process scheme. The catalyst remains in the reaction batch. Suitable solvents and entraining agents include most inert Hquids that bod at 200—300°C, eg, aUphatic hydrocarbons. When the polyester is spHt thermally at 170—180°C and the sorbic acid is distilled direcdy with the solvent, production and purification can be combined in a single step. The solvent can be reused after removal of the sorbic acid (34). The isomeric mixture can be converted to the thermodynamically more stable trans,trans form in the presence of iodine, alkaU, or sulfuric or hydrochloric acid (37,38). 

Aromatic hydrocarbons substituted by alkyl groups other than methyl are notorious for their tendency to disproportionate in Friedel-Crafts reactions. This tendency has previously limited the application of the isomerization of para- or ortho-) m ky -benzenes to the corresponding meta compounds. At the lower temperature of the present modification, disproportionation can be minimized. 

Dihydro-9,10-epoxyphenanthrene and related arene oxides are of considerable interest as carcinogens formed by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in vivo.45 Phenanthrene oxide does not isomerize to the corresponding dibenzoxepin under thermal conditions. Photolysis of... 

Quenching rate constants for dienes and quadricyclenes have similar sensitivities to the electronic and structural features of the excited aromatic hydrocarbon. However, during this process quadricyclene isomerizes to nor-boraadiene with a quantum yield of 0.52, whereas dienes usually remain unchanged/10 Hammond has suggested that vibrational energy which is partitioned to the acceptor upon internal conversion of the exciplex can lead to isomerization(10a,103) ... 

In connection with the chemistry of the reactive transient species, nitrene, the chemistry of azepines is well documented u. Also, the chemistry of oxepins has been widely developed due to the recent interest in the valence isomerization between benzene oxide and oxepin and in the metabolism of aromatic hydrocarbons 2). In sharp contrast to these two heteropins, the chemistry of thiepins still remains an unexplored field because of the pronounced thermal instability of the thiepin ring due to ready sulfur extrusion. Although several thiepin derivatives annelated with aromatic ring(s) have been synthesized, the parent thiepin has never been characterized even as a transient species3). 

This chemistry becomes synthetically useful when one of the isomeric palladium intermediates can react with a neighboring substituent and the other isomer cannot. Thus, we have taken advantage of this effect to synthesize a range of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by Pd migration and subsequent arylation (Scheme 24).21 This provides a unique way to form new carbon-carbon bonds in a location remote from the original functionality. 

Industrial applications of zeolites cover a broad range of technological processes from oil upgrading, via petrochemical transformations up to synthesis of fine chemicals [1,2]. These processes clearly benefit from zeolite well-defined microporous structures providing a possibility of reaction control via shape selectivity [3,4] and acidity [5]. Catalytic reactions, namely transformations of aromatic hydrocarbons via alkylation, isomerization, disproportionation and transalkylation [2], are not only of industrial importance but can also be used to assess the structural features of zeolites [6] especially when combined with the investigation of their acidic properties [7]. A high diversity of zeolitic structures provides us with the opportunity to correlate the acidity, activity and selectivity of different structural types of zeolites. 

From the solubilities of aromatic hydrocarbons in aqueous silver nitrate it is clear that there, is an interaction with the silver ion to give monoargentated and, to a lesser extent, diargentated hydrocarbons. The bond to silver ion is probably of the rc-type, since the differences in the association constants for the complex with the three isomeric xylenes are small and since a single methyl group stabilizes the complex almost as much as two.279... 

XIS [Xylene isomerization] A process for isomerizing /j-xylcne to the equilibrium mixture of C8 aromatic hydrocarbons. Developed by Maruzen Oil in the United States. 

The Curie Point flash evaporation-pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometric method [32] described in section 2.2.1.2 for the analysis of aromatic hydrocarbons in soils has also been applied to the determination of heteroaromatic compounds (Table 2.2) such as methyledene, isomeric methylidenes, biphenyl and methylbenzofurans. 

The conversion of a chemical with a given molecular formula to another compound with the same molecular formula but a different molecular structure, such as from a straight-chain to a branched-chain hydrocarbon or an alicyclic to an aromatic hydrocarbon. Examples include the isomerization of ethylene oxide to acetaldehyde (both C2H40) and butane to isobutane (both C4H10). 

Another isomerization reaction of arene oxides is equilibrium with oxe-pins [5], Here, the fused six-membered carbocycle and three-membered oxirane merge to form a seven-membered heterocycle, as shown in Fig. 10.2. An extensive computational and experimental study involving 75 epoxides of monocyclic, bicyclic, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has revealed much information on the structural factors that influence the reaction rate and position of equilibrium [11], Thus, some compounds were stable as oxepins (e.g., naphthalene 2,3-oxide), while others exhibited a balanced equilibrium... 

Fig. 10.12. Upper part The K, M, bay, and fjord regions of three isomeric tetracyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (benz[a]anthracene (BaA, 10.31), chrysene (CR, 10.32), and benzo[c]phenanthrene (BcPh, 10.33)). Lower part. The three pairs of enantiomeric (S,R)- and (R,S)-K-region epoxides and...

The authors carried out the calculation for a considerable number of aromatic hydrocarbons by this method, in part also including configuration interaction (01). As in the case of anthracene, the possibility of isomeric carbonium ions was taken into account for biphenyl, naphthalene, phenanthrene, pyrene, and perylene. Comparison with the measured spectra permitted a distinction between the isomeric carbonium ions in some cases. The possibility of this differentiation only... 

Several metal oxides could be used as acid catalysts, although zeolites and zeo-types are mainly preferred as an alternative to liquid acids (Figure 13.1). This is a consequence of the possibility of tuning the acidity of microporous materials as well as the shape selectivity observed with zeolites that have favored their use in new catalytic processes. However, a solid with similar or higher acid strength than 100% sulfuric acid (the so-called superacid materials) could be preferred in some processes. From these solid catalysts, nation, heteropolyoxometalates, or sulfated metal oxides have been extensively studied in the last ten years (Figure 13.2). Their so-called superacid character has favored their use in a large number of acid reactions alkane isomerization, alkylation of isobutene, or aromatic hydrocarbons with olefins, acylation, nitrations, and so forth. 

For nitration of aromatic hydrocarbons with acetylnitrate, there is a clear linear correlation between the IPs of these hydrocarbons and rate constants relative to benzene (Pedersen et al. 1973). Table 4.4 jnxtaposes spin densities of cation-radicals and partial rate factors of ring attacks in the case of nitration of isomeric xylenes with nitric acid in acetic anhydride. 

The presence of benzo[6]thiophene in commercial naphthalene, its possible contamination with isomeric thienothiophenes 1 and 2, and their ability to poison aromatic hydrogenation catalysts led Maxted and Walker to develop detoxification by a preliminary short hydrogenation, in which thienothiophenes 1 and 2, and benzo[6]-thiophene are adsorbed on the catalyst. This is followed by their hydrogenation products that can easUy be oxidized with hydrogen peroxide or permolybdic acid to nontoxic sulfones subsequent hydrogenation of the aromatic hydrocarbons is then performed as usual. 

In 1948 Maxted and Walker studied the detoxification of catalyst poisons in the hydrogenation of aromatic hydrocarbons and found that the isomeric thienothiophenes 1 and 2 could be converted into the sul-fones of fully hydrogenated thienothiophenes 1 and 2, which do not poison the catalysts. This conversion is performed by brief preliminary hydrogenation and subsequent oxidation by hydrogen peroxide or per-molybdic acid. However, no data on the isolation or foe properties of these disulfones are available. It has been reported that direct oxidation of thienothiophenes 1 and 2 does not produce sulfones. 

To reveal factors which influence activities of acid-base catalysts in alkylation and isomerization is the challenge to activity in this field. Q he greatest amount of work has been done in connection with the effect of para-selectivity, which is observed in alkylation of aromatic hydrocarbons on ZSM-5 type zeolites [1]. This effect has been explained by a number of authors either by the influence of diffusion factors [2,3] or by the isomerizing activity of the external surface of zeolite crystals [4]. In refs. [5,6] and especially in ref.[7] the para-selective effect of ZSM-5 type zeolites is shown to be due to decreasing their isomerizing activity becaiase of the decrease in the concentration of strong protic centres as a result of modifiers introduced. Para-selective effect is related to the action of chemical factors. However, in... 

In this connection three oases may be considered 1) the strength of aprotic centres is sufficient for the activation of olefin and the following alkylation by interaction with aromatic hydrocarbon frem gaseous phase, but insufficient for aromatic ring activation. Para-dialkylbenzene formed in this case does not undergo further isomerization on these centres. The group of centres... 

The success of the energy transfer theory in correlating data for a number of systems with sensitizers of widely varying structure, particularly aromatic hydrocarbons for which bond formation between donor and acceptor does not appear to be a reasonable process, led to its acceptance as the general mechanism for photosensitized olefin isomerization. However, there are special cases in which another mechanism of sensitization is operative. 

At higher temperatures, C—H and C—C bonds may be similarly broken. Thus, zeolite catalysts may be used for (i) alkylation of aromatic hydrocarbons (cf. the Friedel-Crafts reactions with AICI3 as the Lewis acid catalyst), (ii) cracking of hydrocarbons (i.e., loss of H2), and (Hi) isomerization of alkenes, alkanes, and alkyl aromatics. 

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