Azoxybenzyl alcohol

It was found that certain substituents render nitrobenzene inert to reduction by potassium borohydride, whereas other substituents activate the reduction to azoxy compounds. The substituents which favored this reduction all had positive Hammett sigma constants (e.g., p-C 1, p-Br, p-I, p-COOH, m-C 1, m-Br, m-1, m-CHO reduced to m-azoxybenzyl alcohol and m-OC2H5). Among the by-products of the reaction of a p-halogen compound, when carried out in ethanol solution, was p-nitrophenetole. The reduction ofp-fluoronitrobenzene afforded only p-nitrophenetole [48]. 

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