Ortho-substituted benzoic acids

In a handful of cases, two CCXIH groups have been activated for the synthesis of biaryls. Larrosa and coworkers reported for the first time the decarboxylative homocoupling of aromatic acids mediated by Pd and Ag [62a]. The reaction makes use of Pd(TFA)j as a catalyst and Ag CO as an additive to afford the desired biaryls in 76-95% yields. The only by-products observed were due to the proto-decarboxylation of the aryl carboxylic acid. Both metals are essential for the reaction, and the role of the Ag salt is not only as the terminal oxidant but also as a mediator of the decarboxylation process. The method is subject to some limitations on the substituents on the benzoic acids. Thus, m- and p-nitrobenzoic acids as well as benzoic acids ortho substituted with F, Br, or MeO failed to give decarboxylative homocoupling products. In all cases, protodecarboxylations to the corresponding arenes were the main products observed. The same problem was reported in the protocol developed by Deng and coworkers, where the best results were obtained with PdCl and PPhj in the presence of Ag COj [62b]. 

ANIMATED MECHANISM Electrophilic aromatic substitution of benzoic acid (ortho vs meta vs para)... 

Table 19 3 lists the ionization constants of some substituted benzoic acids The largest effects are observed when strongly electron withdrawing substituents are ortho to the carboxyl group An o nitro substituent for example increases the acidity of benzoic acid 100 fold Substituent effects are small at positions meta and para to the carboxyl group In those cases the values are clustered m the range 3 5-4 5... 

Synthetic phenol capacity in the United States was reported to be ca 1.6 x 10 t/yr in 1989 (206), almost completely based on the cumene process (see Cumene Phenol). Some synthetic phenol [108-95-2] is made from toluene by a process developed by The Dow Chemical Company (2,299—301). Toluene [108-88-3] is oxidized to benzoic acid in a conventional LPO process. Liquid-phase oxidative decarboxylation with a copper-containing catalyst gives phenol in high yield (2,299—304). The phenoHc hydroxyl group is located ortho to the position previously occupied by the carboxyl group of benzoic acid (2,299,301,305). This provides a means to produce meta-substituted phenols otherwise difficult to make (2,306). VPOs for the oxidative decarboxylation of benzoic acid have also been reported (2,307—309). Although the mechanism appears to be similar to the LPO scheme (309), the VPO reaction is reported not to work for toluic acids (310). 

In a series of organic acids of similar type, not much tendency exists for one acid to be more reactive than another. For example, in the replacement of stearic acid in methyl stearate by acetic acid, the equilibrium constant is 1.0. However, acidolysis in formic acid is usually much faster than in acetic acid, due to higher acidity and better ionizing properties of the former (115). Branched-chain acids, and some aromatic acids, especially stericaHy hindered acids such as ortho-substituted benzoic acids, would be expected to be less active in replacing other acids. Mixtures of esters are obtained when acidolysis is carried out without forcing the replacement to completion by removing one of the products. The acidolysis equilibrium and mechanism are discussed in detail in Reference 115. 

The ortho effect may consist of several components. The normal electronic effect may receive contributions from inductive and resonance factors, just as with tneta and para substituents. There may also be a proximity or field electronic effect that operates directly between the substituent and the reaction site. In addition there may exist a true steric effect, as a result of the space-filling nature of the substituent (itself ultimately an electronic effect). Finally it is possible that non-covalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonding or charge transfer, may take place. The role of the solvent in both the initial state and the transition state may be different in the presence of ortho substitution. Many attempts have been made to separate these several effects. For example. Farthing and Nam defined an ortho substituent constant in the usual way by = log (K/K ) for the ionization of benzoic acids, postulating that includes both electronic and steric components. They assumed that the electronic portion of the ortho effect is identical to the para effect, writing CTe = o-p, and that the steric component is equal to the difference between the total effect and the electronic effect, or cts = cr — cte- They then used a multiple LFER to correlate data for orrAo-substituted reactants. 

Hojo and colleagues155,156 have carried out numerous studies of ortho-effects, in particular on the ionizations of benzoic acids in DMSO-water mixed solvents. The ortho-effects are assessed by measuring the pKa values of ortho- and para- substituted benzoic acids in solvents containing from 0 to 95% v/v DMSO and expressing the results as equation 15 ... 

SYNTHESIS OF ORTHO SUBSTITUTED ARYLBORONIC ESTERS BY IN SITU TRAPPING OF UNSTABLE LITHIO INTERMEDIATES 2-(5,5-DIMETHYL-l,3,2-DIOXABORINAN-2-YL)BENZOIC ACID ETHYL ESTER... 

For sets nos. 1, 2, and 3 of Table XXVII, eq. (1) appears to hold for ionization of ortho substituted benzoic acids (f =. 048 —. 058), with Kj = Pi I= 1.6 . 1. This result is reasonable for field effects transmitted only throu the molecular cavity i.e., the lines of force do not pass through appreciable solvent of high dielectric constant (the solvent is presumably excluded by the close proximity of the CO2H center and the substituent) (36). It is further of interest that eq. (1) fails for the ionization of ortho substituted benzoic acids in solvents of high OH content (sets nos. 4, 5, and 6 of Table XXVII). 

The trans cinnamic acid and phenyl propiolic acid data involve fits of essentially the same precision at o-, m-, and p- positions (SD =. 05 . 02). However, the RMS of these sets is quite low, and consequently, / values of. 200 prevail. The interpretation of these results is therefore uncertain. To the extent that the results of Table VII are meaningful, it is of particular interest that Kj =p°Ip =. 68 for the phenyl propiolic acid, whereas for the tram cinnamic acids, K° = 1.02. These results suggest that in contrast to the ortho substituted benzoic acids, the lines of field forces in the ortho substituted phenyl propiolic acids do (partly at least) penetrate regions of hi dielectric solvent. The results for the tram cinnamic acids would then indicate some (but not complete) exclusion of solvent resulting from the presence of the vinyl hydrogens. These interesting results from the application of eq. (1) clearly need to be confirmed by additional studies. 

The use of oxazolines in aromatic substitution is a valuable synthetic tool.2 The o-methoxy- or o-fluorophenyloxazoline reacts readily with a variety of organofithium or Grignard reagents to displace only the ortho substituent. In this fashion a number of ortho-substituted benzoic acids, benzaldehydes, and unsymmetrical biphenyls are accessible. The reaction takes place under very mild conditions, usually at or below room temperature, and thus allows a number of other sensitive groups to be present. 

In Section IV.B we will discuss the ortho-effect of NO2 as manifested in the ionization of carboxylic and other acids and (in Section IV.C) in the reactions of substituted benzoic acids with diazodiphenylmethane (DDM). Only in the case of the latter system can really satisfactory correlation analysis be taken as the basis for discussion. For most of the other systems discussion will have to be qualitative or, at best, semi-quantitative. 

Phenoxide ion generated by treating phenol with sodium hydroxide is even more reactive than phenol towards electrophilic aromatic substitution. Hence, it undergoes electrophilic substitution with carbon dioxide, a weak electrophile. Ortho hydroj benzoic acid is formed as the main reaction product. 

The fluorination of other activated aromatic compounds, such as anisole and phenol, undergo monofluorination mainly in the ortho and para positions, whereas the fluorination of deactivated aromatics, such as nitrobenzene, trifluoromethylbenzene and benzoic acid, give predominantly the corresponding meta fluoro-derivatives which is consistent with a typical electrophilic substitution process. Also, fluoro-, chloro- and bromo-benzenes are deactivated with respect to benzene itself but are fluorinated preferentially in the ortho and para positions [139]. At higher temperatures, polychlorobenzenes undergo substitution and addition of fluorine to give chlorofluorocyclohexanes [136]. 

Substituent effects on the A,u I reaction have been studied by Bender and Chen55. These authors measured the rates of hydrolysis of a series of 4-substituted 2,6-dimethylbenzoates in 9.70 M sulphuric acid at 25°C, and found that the values for the first-order coefficients with 4-methoxy, 4-methyl, 4-unsubstituted and 4-bromo-compounds (5.0, 0.37, 0.033 and 0.01 x I0 4 sec-1, respectively) are satisfactorily correlated by the Hammett equation, following cr+ with a slope p = —3.22. Since the esters are not fully protonated in 9.70 M H2SOj, part of this factor is due to the effects of the 4-substituent on the protonation equilibrium, p for the protonation of substituted benzoic acids is about — l35, but is likely to be considerably smaller for di-ortho-substituted compounds, since the conjugative interaction of the p-substituents with the protonated carboxyl group requires coplanarity with the ring. 

VARIATION OF THE STERIC SUBSTITUENT CONSTANT WITH CONDITIONS IN REACTIONS OF Ortho - SUBSTITUTED BENZOIC ACID DERIVATIVES... 

If we compare the acid strengths Ka) of a series of substituted benzoic acids with the strength of benzoic acid itself (Table 26-4), we see that there are considerable variations with the nature of the substituent and its ring position, ortho, meta, or para. Thus all three nitrobenzoic acids are appreciably stronger than benzoic acid in the order ortho para > meta. A methoxy substituent in the ortho or meta position has a smaller acid-strengthening effect, and in the para position decreases the acid strength relative to benzoic acid. Rate effects also are produced by different substituents, as is evident from the data in Table 26-5 for basic hydrolysis of some substituted ethyl benzoates. A nitro substituent increases the rate, whereas methyl and methoxy substituents decrease the rate relative to that of the unsubstituted ester. 

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