Benzene, bromination mechanism

In bromination (Mechanism 18.2), the Lewis acid FeBr3 reacts with Br2 to form a Lewis acid-base complex that weakens and polarizes the Br- Br bond, making it more electrophilic. This reaction is Step [1] of the mechanism for the bromination of benzene. The remaining two steps follow directly from the general mechanism for electrophilic aromatic substitution addition of the electrophile (Br in this case) forms a resonance-stabilized carbocation, and loss of a proton regenerates the aromatic ring. 

This mixing of such levels of property occurs consciously or sub-consciously even amongst teachers and professors. For example, an organic chemist might do the following as he or she explains the mechanism of an electrophilic substitution reaction, the bromination of benzene the bromine approaches the benzene (...) bromine attacks the benzene core (...) the electrons relocate and the bromine splits (...) bromobenzene results (...) a bromine has substituted a hydrogen . 

Chlorination of benzene occurs by the same mechanism as bromination. mechanism for chlorination... 

The halogen carriers or aromatic halogenation catalysts are usually all electrophilic reagents (ferric and aluminium haUdes, etc.) and their function appears to be to increase the electrophilic activity of the halogen. Thus the mechanism for the bromination of benzene in the presence of iron can be repre-sfflited by the following scheme ... 

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... 

A second difference between alkene addition and aromatic substitution occurs after the carbocation intermediate has formed. Instead of adding Br- to give an addition product, the carbocation intermediate loses H+ from the bromine-bearing carbon to give a substitution product. Note that this loss of H+ is similar to what occurs in the second step of an El reaction (Section 11.10). The net effect of reaction of Br2 with benzene is the substitution of H+ by Br+ by the overall mechanism shown in Figure 16.2. 

The mechanism is usually electrophilic (see p. 972), but when free-radical initiators (or UV light) are present, addition can occur by a free-radical mechanism. Once Br-or Cl- radicals are formed, however, substitution may compete (14-1 and 14-2). This is espiecially important when the alkene has allylic hydrogens. Under free-radical conditions (UV light) bromine or chlorine adds to the benzene ring to give, respectively, hexabromo- and hexachlorocyclohexane. These are mixtures of stereoisomers (see p. 161). ... 

As a 3-step mechanism, the electron-transfer paradigm provides a pair of discrete intermediates [D, A] and D+, A for the prior organization and the activation, respectively, of the donor and the acceptor. The quantitative evaluation of these intermediates would allow the overall second-order reaction (k2) to be determined. Although the presence of [D, A] does not necessarily imply its transformation to D+, A-, a large number and variety of donor/ acceptor couples showing transient charge-transfer absorptions associated with [D, A] have now been identified. In each case, the product can be predicted from the expected behavior of the individual ion radicals D+ and A-. Consider for example, the labile 1 1 benzene complex with bromine that has been isolated at low temperatures and characterized crystallographically (Chart 9).256... 

The mechanism of the reaction depicted in Scheme 4.6 differs from the Sf.,1 or Sf.,2 mechanism in that it involves the stage of one-electron oxidation-reduction. The impetus of this stage may be the easy detachment of the bromine anion followed by the formation of fluorenyl radical. The latter is unsaturated at position 9 near three benzene rings that stabilize the radical center. The radical formed is intercepted by the phenylthiolate ion. This leads to the anion-radical of the substitution product. Further electron exchange produces the substrate anion-radical and final product in its neutral state. The reaction consists of radical (R)-nucleophilic (N) monomolecular (1) substitution (S), with the combined symbol Sj j l. Reactions of Sj j l type can have both branch-chain and nonchain characters. 

Bromination of benzene follows the same general mechanism of the electrophilic aromatic substitution. The bromine molecule reacts with FeBr3 by donating a pair of its electrons to it, which creates a more polar Br—Br bond. 

Two excellent reviews <71AHC(13)235, 72IJS(C)(7)6l) have dealt with quantitative aspects of electrophilic substitution on thiophenes. Electrophilic substitution in the thiophene ring appears to proceed in most cases by a mechanism similar to that for the homocyclic benzene substrates. The first step involves the formation of a cr-complex, which is rate determining in most reactions in a few cases the decomposition of this intermediate may be rate determining. Evidence for the similarity of mechanism in the thiophene and benzene series stems from detailed kinetic studies. Thus in protodetritiation of thiophene derivatives in aqueous sulfuric and perchloric acids, a linear correlation between log k and —Ho has been established the slopes are very close to those reported for hydrogen exchanges in benzene derivatives. Likewise, the kinetic profile of the reaction of thiophene derivatives with bromine in acetic acid in the dark is the same as for bromination of benzene derivatives. The activation enthalpies and entropies for bromination of thiophene and mesitylene are very similar. 

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