Attempted Electrophilic Substitution

Its aromaticity cannot, of course, be tested by attempted electrophilic substitution, for attack by X would merely lead to direct combination with the anion. True aromatic character (e.g. a Friedel-Crafts reaction) is, however, demonstrable in the remarkable series of extremely stable, neutral compounds obtainable from (15), and called metallocenes, e.g. ferrocene (16), in which the metal is held by n bonds in a kind of molecular sandwich between the two cyclopentadienyl structures ... 

Problem 16.21 (a) Account for the fact that ArCOOH. with a strongly activating substituent ortho or para to COOH, loses CO, during attempted electrophilic substitution, (b) Write the equation for the reaction of p-aminobenzoic acid and Br,. ... 

COOH, loses CO2 during attempted electrophilic substitution, (h) Write the equation for the reaction of p-aminobenzoic acid and Br,. 

The isolated molecule treatment of reactivity, which, in both the electronic theory and in m.o. theory, attempts to predict the site of electrophilic substitution from a consideration of the electron densities... 

The model adopted by Ri and Eyring is not now acceptable, but some of the more recent treatments of electrostatic effects are quite close to their method in principle. In dealing with polar substituents some authors have concentrated on the interaction of the substituent with the electrophile whilst others have considered the interaction of the substituent with the charge on the ring in the transition state. An example of the latter method was mentioned above ( 7.2.1), and both will be encountered later ( 9.1.2). They are really attempts to explain the nature of the inductive effect, and an important question which they raise is that of the relative importance of localisation and electrostatic phenomena in determining orientation and state of activation in electrophilic substitutions. 

There were two schools of thought concerning attempts to extend Hammett s treatment of substituent effects to electrophilic substitutions. It was felt by some that the effects of substituents in electrophilic aromatic substitutions were particularly susceptible to the specific demands of the reagent, and that the variability of the polarizibility effects, or direct resonance interactions, would render impossible any attempted correlation using a two-parameter equation. - o This view was not universally accepted, for Pearson, Baxter and Martin suggested that, by choosing a different model reaction, in which the direct resonance effects of substituents participated, an equation, formally similar to Hammett s equation, might be devised to correlate the rates of electrophilic aromatic and electrophilic side chain reactions. We shall now consider attempts which have been made to do this. 

The occurrence of a hydrogen isotope effect in an electrophilic substitution will certainly render nugatory any attempt to relate the reactivity of the electrophile with the effects of substituents. Such a situation occurs in mercuration in which the large isotope effect = 6) has been attributed to the weakness of the carbon-mercury bond relative to the carbon-hydrogen bond. The following scheme has been formulated for the reaction, and the occurrence of the isotope effect indicates that the magnitudes of A j and are comparable ... 

The problem of electrophilic substitution into the anilinium ion has been examined by the methods of m.o. theory. Attempts to simulate the --inductive effect in Hiickel M.o. theory by varying the Coulomb integral of C(j) (the carbon atom to which the NH3+ group is attached) remove 7r-electrons from the o- and -positions and add them to the... 

M.o. theory has had limited success in dealing with electrophilic substitution in the azoles. The performances of 7r-electron densities as indices of reactivity depends very markedly on the assumptions made in calculating them. - Localisation energies have been calculated for pyrazole and pyrazolium, and also an attempt has been made to take into account the electrostatic energy involved in bringing the electrophile up to the point of attack the model predicts correctly the orientation of nitration in pyrazolium. ... 

True electrophilic substitution is very difficult in pyridopyridazines. For example, the [3,4-d] parent (286) is inert to hot 65% oleum (68AJC1291), and although formation of a 3-bromo derivative (308) was reported in the [2,3-d] series, it seems to have arisen by an addition-elimination reaction via the dibromide (309) (69AJC1745). Attempted chlorination led to ring opening. A similar effect was observed in the [3,4-d] system, where an 8-bromo derivative was obtained (77BSF665), and in iV-oxides of the pyrido[2,3-c]pyridazine and fused pyridazino[3,4-c]isoquinoline series (72JHC351). The formation of (311) from (310)... 

The range of preparatively useful electrophilic substitution reactions is often limited by the acid sensitivity of the substrates. Whereas thiophene can be successfully sulfonated in 95% sulfuric acid at room temperature, such strongly acidic conditions cannot be used for the sulfonation of furan or pyrrole. Attempts to nitrate thiophene, furan or pyrrole under conditions used to nitrate benzene and its derivatives invariably result in failure. In the... 

In an attempt to protect thiophenols during electrophilic substitution reactions on the aromatic ring, the three substituted thioethers were prepared. After acetylation... 

In an attempt to protect thiophenols during electrophilic substitution reactions on the aromatic ring, the three substituted thioethers were prepared. After acetylation of the aromatic ring (with moderate yields), the protective group was converted to the disulfide in moderate yields, 50-60%, by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide/boiling mineral acid, nitric acid, or acidic potassium permanganate. ... 

Other electrophilic substitutions proceed with difficulty, or not at all. Nitrosation and diazo coupling require the presence of the strongly activating dimethylamino group (see Section VIII). Bromine adds, in the presence of sunlight, to give tetrabromotetrahydrobenzofuroxan (48) the initial attack is probably free-radical in nature. The product can be dehydrobrominated to form 4,7-, or a mixture of 4,5- and 4,6-dibromobenzofuroxan, depending upon the conditions. More conventional electrophilic bromination conditions have been tried in an attempt to obtain a monosubstituted product, but without success. 

It has also been stated that the 5-position of selenazoles is more reactive toward electrophilic substitution than that of thiazoles. Such reactivity is still further increased by substituents in the 2-position of the selenazole ring, which can have an —E-effect. Simultaneously, however, an increasing tendency toward ring fission was observed by Haginiwa. Reactions of the selenazole ring are thus limited mainly to the 5-position which, specially in the 2-amino-and the 2-hydrazino-selenazoles, is easily substituted by electrophilic reagents. However, all attempts to synthesize selenazole derivatives by the Gattermann and by the Friedel-Crafts methods... 

Isoxazoles are known at present to undergo the following electrophilic substitution reactions nitration, sulfonation, halogenation, chloroalkylation, hydroxymethylation, and mercuration. Repeated attempts to effect the Friedel-Crafts reaction in the isoxazole series in the authors laboratory failed. The isoxazole nucleus seems not active enough to react with weak electrophilic reagents. 

Attempts to form a cycloadduct of cyclopent[6]azepine (10) with diethyl diazenedicarboxylate furnished the two isomeric hydrazines 14 and 15, which appear to be the products of direct electrophilic substitution of the cyclopentazepine rather than scission products of the expected [4 + 2] cycloadduct.2... 

Protonation and deprotonation reactions of corroles have already been mentioned (see Introduction). Attempts to achieve electrophilic substitution reactions, at the corrole, e.g. Friedel-Crafts acylation, have been unsuccessful.1 Heating corroles with acetic anhydride yields the corresponding 21-acetyl derivatives l.8a,b... 

Kinetic studies are of little value in attempting to determine the extent of complex formation in the reaction path of electrophilic substitution. The reasons for this have been adequately presented elsewhere29 and the conclusions are that, unless the formation of the complex is rate-determining, the kinetic form is independent of complex formation. Further, the influence of complex formation on reaction rates only comes from the factors which lead in the first place to complex formation, and substituent effects are inadequate for showing the extent of complex formation though when they indicate similar effects on substitution and complex formation they provide evidence that the latter is a pathway of the former. 

An attempt to directly convert hyellazole (245) to 6-chlorohyellazole (246) by reaction with N-chlorosuccinimide in the presence of a catalytic amount of hydrochloric acid led exclusively to 4-chlorohyellazole. On the other hand, bromination of 245 using NBS and a catalytic amount of hydrobromic acid gave only the expected 6-bromohyellazole (733). Alternatively, a direct one-pot transformation of the iron complex 725 to 6-bromohyellazole (733) was achieved by reaction with an excess of NBS and switching from oxidative cyclization conditions (basic reaction medium) to electrophilic substitution conditions (acidic reaction medium). Finally, a halogen exchange reaction with 4 equivalents of cuprous chloride in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) at reflux, transformed 6-bromohyellazole (733) into 6-chlorohyellazole (246) (602) (Scheme 5.73). 

Therefore in an attempt to distinguish among mechanisms A, B, and C the acetylacetonates of chromium(III), cobalt(III), and rhodium(III) were partially resolved and the optically active chelates were then subjected to several electrophilic substitution reactions. 

It is well known that not all attempts to explain the reactivity of individual positions in electrophilic substitution reactions have been successful. There are three main lines along which attempts have been made to remove discrepancies between theory and experiment (for a summary, see ref. 147) (1) introduction into the HMO treatment of additional empirical parameters (inductive effect), (2) invoking the addition-elimination mechanism, and (3) invoking different reactivity of the protonated and unprotonated forms. 

Triazine is resistant to electrophilic substitution. Chlorination requires vigorous conditions, and yields are low bromination is a more efficient process (Scheme 6). The reagents employed in the attempted sulfonation or nitration preferentially hydrolyze the ring (63AG(E)309). Recently, Korolev and Mal tseva have reported that 1,3,5-triazine is protonated and hydrated to form the cation shown in equation (2) (75ZOR2613). 

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