Aromatics carbonium ions

As portrayed above, no aromatic carbonium ion is formed as such. Rather, one positive group is expelled as the other one enters. However, other schemes have been suggested, such as that shown below (12,17), as well as more complicated ones which involve several resonance structures. 

Bond localization and the hyperconjugative effect in the aromatic carbonium ions. II. Bull. Chem. Soc. Japan 33, 1486 (1960b). 

The selectivity relationship merely expresses the proportionality between intermolecular and intramolecular selectivities in electrophilic substitution, and it is not surprising that these quantities should be related. There are examples of related reactions in which connections between selectivity and reactivity have been demonstrated. For example, the ratio of the rates of reaction with the azide anion and water of the triphenylmethyl, diphenylmethyl and tert-butyl carbonium ions were 2-8x10 , 2-4x10 and 3-9 respectively the selectivities of the ions decrease as the reactivities increase. The existence, under very restricted and closely related conditions, of a relationship between reactivity and selectivity in the reactions mentioned above, does not permit the assumption that a similar relationship holds over the wide range of different electrophilic aromatic substitutions. In these substitution reactions a difficulty arises in defining the concept of reactivity it is not sufficient to assume that the reactivity of an electrophile is related... 

The first step in the catalytic alkylation of aromatics is the conversion of an olefin or olefin-producing reagent into a carbonium ion or polari2ed complex. Then, this carbonium ion or complex, which is a powerful electrophile, attacks the aromatic ring (32). 

A tertiary carbonium ion is more stable than a secondary carbonium ion, which is in turn more stable than a primary carbonium ion. Therefore, the alkylation of ben2ene with isobutylene is much easier than is alkylation with ethylene. The reactivity of substituted aromatics for electrophilic substitution is affected by the inductive and resonance effects of a substituent. An electron-donating group, such as the hydroxyl and methyl groups, activates the alkylation and an electron-withdrawing group, such as chloride, deactivates it. 

The rearrangement of carbonium ions that readily occurs according to the thermodynamic stabiUty of cations sometimes limits synthetic utility of aromatic alkylation. For instance, the alkylation of ben2ene with / -propyl bromide gives mostly isopropylben2ene (cumene) much less... 

Studies of solvolysis of similar polyfluonnated polycyclic aromatic systems, such as 2,3-(tetrafluorobenzo)bicyclo[2 2 2]octadienes and related compounds, proved the ionic mechanism of this rearrangement [55, 36, 37] (equation 9) Possible nonclassical carbonium ion involvement has been discussed [5S, 39, 40, 41]... 

Through a study of the influence of thiophene and other aromatic compounds on the retardation and chain transfer on the polymerization of styrene by stannic chloride, the relative rates of attack of a carbonium-ion pair could be obtained. It was found that thiophene in this reaction was about 100 times more reactive than p-xylene and somewhat less reactive than anisole. ... 

Thane et al. [46] reported that in pentane suspension, alkylaluminum compounds efficiently alkylate labile chlorines in PVC, and alternatively, PVC carbonium ions could alkylate aromatic compounds to give rise to polymers of increased stability. The values of 2-3% for labile chlorines estimated by them were considerably higher than now generally believed. 

The catalysts generally used in catalytic reforming are dual functional to provide two types of catalytic sites, hydrogenation-dehydrogenation sites and acid sites. The former sites are provided by platinum, which is the best known hydrogenation-dehydrogenation catalyst and the latter (acid sites) promote carbonium ion formation and are provided by an alumina carrier. The two types of sites are necessary for aromatization and isomerization reactions. 

Acid-treated clays were the first catalysts used in catalytic cracking processes, but have been replaced by synthetic amorphous silica-alumina, which is more active and stable. Incorporating zeolites (crystalline alumina-silica) with the silica/alumina catalyst improves selectivity towards aromatics. These catalysts have both Fewis and Bronsted acid sites that promote carbonium ion formation. An important structural feature of zeolites is the presence of holes in the crystal lattice, which are formed by the silica-alumina tetrahedra. Each tetrahedron is made of four oxygen anions with either an aluminum or a silicon cation in the center. Each oxygen anion with a -2 oxidation state is shared between either two silicon, two aluminum, or an aluminum and a silicon cation. 

Olivier and Berger335, who measured the first-order rate coefficients for the aluminium chloride-catalysed reaction of 4-nitroben2yl chloride with excess aromatic (solvent) at 30 °C and obtained the rate coefficients (lO5/ ) PhCI, 1.40 PhH, 7.50 PhMe, 17.5. These results demonstrated the electrophilic nature of the reaction and also the unselective nature of the electrophile which has been confirmed many times since. That the electrophile in these reactions is not the simple and intuitively expected free carbonium ion was indicated by the observation by Calloway that the reactivity of alkyl halides was in the order RF > RC1 > RBr > RI, which is the reverse of that for acylation by acyl halides336. The low selectivity (and high steric hindrance) of the reaction was further demonstrated by Condon337 who measured the relative rates at 40 °C, by the competition method, of isopropylation of toluene and isopropylbenzene with propene catalyzed by boron trifluoride etherate (or aluminium chloride) these were as follows PhMe, 2.09 (1.10) PhEt, 1.73 (1.81) Ph-iPr, (1.69) Ph-tBu, 1.23 (1.40). The isomer distribution in the reactions337,338 yielded partial rate factors of 2.37 /mMe, 1.80 /pMe, 4.72 /, 0.35 / , 2.2 / Pr, 2.55337 339. 

The mechanism of the aromatic substitution may involve the attack of the electrophilic NOj ion upon the nucleophilic aromatic nucleus to produce the carbonium ion (I) the latter transfers a proton to the bisulphate ion, the most basic substance in the reaction mixture... 

As noted previously, a wide variety of aromatic systems serve as nuclei for arylacetic acid antiinflammatory agents. It is thus to be expected that fused heterocycles can also serve the same function. Synthesis of one such agent (64) begins with condensation of indole-3-ethanol (60) with ethyl 3-oxo-caproate (61) in the presence of tosic acid, leading directly to the pyranoindole 63. The reaction may be rationalized by assuming formation of hemiketal 62, as the first step. Cyclization of the carbonium ion... 

A specific case of the carbonium ion mechanism [Eq. (5)] with reasonable plausibility is decarboxylation of metal arenoates by classic electrophilic aromatic substitution [Eq. (12)]. This mechanism would be favored by electron-donating substituents and has been invoked to explain the relative ease of decarboxylation of p-methoxybenzoic acid in molten mercuric trifluoroacetate (77) as well as the very facile decarboxylation on reaction of polymethoxybenzoic acids with mercuric acetate (18) (see below). 

Two structures are possible for the interaction of aromatic hydrocarbons with acids.270 In the a-structures a covalent bond is established between the acidic reagent and a particular carbon atom of the benzene ring. The a-structures are essentially classical carbonium ions. In the -structures a non-classical bond is established, not to any particular atom, but to the -electron cloud in general. It is quite likely that both types of structure are represented by actual examples. Thus m-xylene interacts more strongly with hydrogen chloride than does o-xylene, but the difference between the two hydrocarbons is much more pronounced when their interactions with a boron trifluoride-hydrogen fluoride mixture are compared. This is readily understandable... 

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