Aromatic substitution intermediates

Tidwell and coworkers (Chwang etai, 1977 Koshy etai, 1979) focused their interest on the reactivity-structure relationship of the hydration rates. Additivity of substituent effects of the four substituents in the ethylene has been studied. As the interaction of substituents with the positive charge in the intermediate [36C "] is analogous to that in the electrophilic aromatic substitution intermediate, the substituent effects on the hydration of [36] may... 

Figure 12 3 adapts the general mechanism of electrophilic aromatic substitution to the nitration of benzene The first step is rate determining m it benzene reacts with nitro mum ion to give the cyclohexadienyl cation intermediate In the second step the aro maticity of the ring is restored by loss of a proton from the cyclohexadienyl cation... 

Complexation of bromine with iron(III) bromide makes bromine more elec trophilic and it attacks benzene to give a cyclohexadienyl intermediate as shown m step 1 of the mechanism (Figure 12 6) In step 2 as m nitration and sulfonation loss of a proton from the cyclohexadienyl cation is rapid and gives the product of electrophilic aromatic substitution... 

Why IS there such a marked difference between methyl and trifluoromethyl substituents m their influence on electrophilic aromatic substitution s Methyl is activating and ortho para directing trifluoromethyl is deactivating and meta directing The first point to remember is that the regioselectivity of substitution is set once the cyclohexadienyl cation intermediate is formed If we can explain why... 

Because the carbon atom attached to the ring is positively polarized a carbonyl group behaves m much the same way as a trifluoromethyl group and destabilizes all the cyclo hexadienyl cation intermediates m electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions Attack at any nng position m benzaldehyde is slower than attack m benzene The intermediates for ortho and para substitution are particularly unstable because each has a resonance structure m which there is a positive charge on the carbon that bears the electron withdrawing substituent The intermediate for meta substitution avoids this unfavorable juxtaposition of positive charges is not as unstable and gives rise to most of the product... 

The generally accepted mechanism for nucleophilic aromatic substitution m nitro substituted aryl halides illustrated for the reaction of p fluoromtrobenzene with sodium methoxide is outlined m Figure 23 3 It is a two step addition-elimination mechanism, m which addition of the nucleophile to the aryl halide is followed by elimination of the halide leaving group Figure 23 4 shows the structure of the key intermediate The mech anism is consistent with the following experimental observations... 

A nitro group is a strongly activating substituent in nucleophilic aromatic substitution where it stabilizes the key cyclohexadienyl anion intermediate... 

Although nucleophilic aromatic substitution by the elimination-addition mecha nism IS most commonly seen with very strong amide bases it also occurs with bases such as hydroxide ion at high temperatures A labeling study revealed that hydroly SIS of chlorobenzene proceeds by way of a benzyne intermediate... 

Nucleophilic aromatic substitution can also occur by an elimination-addition mechanism This pathway is followed when the nucleophile is an exceptionally strong base such as amide ion m the form of sodium amide (NaNH2) or potassium amide (KNH2) Benzyne and related arynes are intermediates m nucleophilic aromatic substitutions that pro ceed by the elimination-addition mechanism... 

Arenium ion (Section 12 2) The carbocation intermediate formed by attack of an electrophile on an aromatic substrate in electrophilic aromatic substitution See cyclohexadienyl cation... 

Cycloalkene (Section 5 1) A cyclic hydrocarbon characterized by a double bond between two of the nng carbons Cycloalkyne (Section 9 4) A cyclic hydrocarbon characterized by a tnple bond between two of the nng carbons Cyclohexadienyl anion (Section 23 6) The key intermediate in nucleophilic aromatic substitution by the addition-elimination mechanism It is represented by the general structure shown where Y is the nucleophile and X is the leaving group... 

Cyclohexadienyl cation (Section 12 2) The key intermediate in electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions It is repre sented by the general structure... 

Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution. The Tt-excessive character of the pyrrole ring makes the indole ring susceptible to electrophilic attack. The reactivity is greater at the 3-position than at the 2-position. This reactivity pattern is suggested both by electron density distributions calculated by molecular orbital methods and by the relative energies of the intermediates for electrophilic substitution, as represented by the protonated stmctures (7a) and (7b). Stmcture (7b) is more favorable than (7a) because it retains the ben2enoid character of the carbocycHc ring (12). 

Nucleophilic aromatic substitutions involving loss of hydrogen are known. The reaction usually occurs with oxidation of the intermediate either intramoleculady or by an added oxidizing agent such as air or iodine. A noteworthy example is the formation of 6-methoxy-2-nitrobenzonitrile from reaction of 1,3-dinitrobenzene with a methanol solution of potassium cyanide. In this reaction it appears that the nitro compound itself functions as the oxidizing agent (10). 

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. 

There are several mechanisms by which net nucleophilic aromatic substitution can occur. In this section we will discuss the addition-elimination mechanism and the elimination-addition mechanism. Substitutions via organometallic intermediates and via aryl diazo-nium ions will be considered in Chapter 11 of Part B. 

I > Br > Cl > F. In nucleophilic aromatic substitution, the formation of the addition intermediate is usually the rate-determining step so the ease of C—X bond breaking does not affeet the rate. When this is the ease, the order of reactivity is often F > Cl > Br > I. This order is the result of the polar effeet of the halogen. The stronger bond dipoles assoeiated with the more eleetronegative halogens favor the addition step and thus inerease the overall rate of reaetion. 

Cyclohexadienyl anion (Section 23.6) The key intermediate in nucleophilic aromatic substitution by the addition-elimination mechanism. It is represented by the general structure shown, where Y is the nucleophile and X is the leaving group. 

Elimination-addition mechanism (Section 23.8) Two-stage mechanism for nucleophilic aromatic substitution. In the first stage, an aryl halide undergoes elimination to form an aryne intermediate. In the second stage, nucleophilic addition to the aryne yields the product of the reaction. 

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