Benzoyl nitrate

These features serve to distinguish nitration in acetic anhydride from nitration in inert organic solvents. With other acyl nitrates less work has been done, and it is convenient to deal first with the case of benzoyl nitrate. 

Nitration using this reagent was first investigated, by Francis. He showed that benzene and some of its homologues bromobenzene, benzonitrile, benzoyl chloride, benzaldehyde and some related compounds, and phenol were mono-nitrated in solutions of benzoyl nitrate in carbon tetrachloride anilines would not react cleanly and a series of naphthols yielded dinitro compounds. Further work on the orientation of substitution associated this reagent with higher proportions of o-substitution than that brought about by nitric acid this point is discussed below ( 5.3.4). 

The kinetics of nitration of benzene in solutions at c. 20 °C in carbon tetrachloride have been investigated. In the presence of an excess of benzene (c. 2-4 mol 1 ) the rate was kinetically of the first order in the concentration of benzoyl nitrate. The rate of reaction was depressed by the addition of benzoic anhydride, provided that some benzoic acid was present. This result suggested that benzoyl nitrate itself was not responsible for the nitration, but generated dinitrogen pentoxide 

Because of the chemical similarity between benzoyl nitrate and the acetyl nitrate which is formed in solutions of nitric acid in acetic anhydride, it is tempting to draw analogies between the mechanisms of nitration in such solutions and in solutions of benzoyl nitrate in carbon tetrachloride. Similarities do exist, such as the production by these reagents of higher proportions of o-substituted products from some substrates than are produced by nitronium ions, as already mentioned and further discussed below. Further, in solutions in carbon tetrachloride of acetyl nitrate or benzoyl nitrate, the addition of acetic anhydride and benzoic anhydride respectively reduces the rate of reaction, implying that dinitrogen pentoxide may also be involved in nitration in acetic anhydride. However, for solutions in which acetic anhydride is also the solvent, the analogy should be drawn with caution, for in many ways the conditions are not comparable. Thus, carbon tetrachloride is a non-polar solvent, in which, as has been shown above, 

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D Benzoyl nitrate and systems formed from nitric acid and acetic anhydride... 

Nitrations in acetic anhydride, or in solutions containing benzoyl nitrate ( 5.2) or dinitrogen pentoxide ( 4.2.3) have long been associated with the formation from some aromatics of higher proportions of o-nitro-compounds than are formed under other conditions. 

Thiophen-z-T acid, 25 °C (kinetic) Benzoyl nitrate—acetonitrile, 0-88 15... 

One mode of substitution occurring when the nitrating system consists of dinitrogen pentoxide in organic solvents involves molecular dinitrogen pentoxide as the effective electrophile ( 4.2.3). Evidence that the same electrophile operates when the nitrating system consists of a solution of benzoyl nitrate in carbon tetrachloride has also been given ( 5-2)-... 

When nitration of pyridazine iV-oxides is carried out with acyl nitrates (prepared in situ from acyl chlorides and silver nitrate) the reaction takes place at the /3-position relative to the iV-oxide group. Under these circumstances only mononitro derivatives are formed. For example, nitration of pyridazine 1-oxide with acetyl nitrate yields 3-nitropyridazine 1-oxide (17%) and 5-nitropyridazine 1-oxide (0.8%), whereas with benzoyl nitrate a better yield of 5-nitropyridazine 1-oxide is obtained. 

Dimethylpyridazine 1,2-dioxide gives the 4-nitro derivative in good yield with nitric acid, while with benzoyl nitrate the yield is considerably lower. 

Nitration of cinnoline 2-oxide takes a different course. With nitric and sulfuric acids or with potassium nitrate and sulfuric acid a mixture of 8-nitrocinnoline 2-oxide, 6-nitrocinno-line 2-oxide and 5-nitrocinnoline 2-oxide is obtained, while with benzoyl nitrate in chloroform only a low yield (1.5%) of the 5-nitro derivative is obtained. 

Thiophene is much more easily nitrated than benzene and it is therefore possible to use mild nitrating agents such as acetyl or benzoyl nitrate. Like pyrrole and furan the principal nitration product is the 2-derivative. The a selectivity decreases with increasing vigour of the reagent and up to 15% of the 3-isomer has been obtained. 

Indole can be nitrated with benzoyl nitrate at low temperatures to give 3-nitroindole. More vigorous conditions can be used for the nitration of 2-methylindole because of its resistance to acid-catalyzed polymerization. In nitric acid alone it is converted into the 3-nitro derivative, but in a mixture of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids 2-methyl-5-nitroindole (47) is formed. In sulfuric acid, 2-methylindole is completely protonated. Thus it is probable that it is the conjugate acid which is undergoing nitration. 3,3-Dialkyl-3H-indolium salts similarly nitrate at the 5-position. The para directing ability of the immonium group in a benzenoid context is illustrated by the para nitration of the conjugate acid of benzylideneaniline (48). 

Nitromesitylene has been prepared by the direct nitration of mesitylene with concentrated nitric acid/ and by the action of benzoyl nitrate on mesitylene in carbon tetrachloride at low temperature. ... 

The nitration of l,2,5-selenadiazolo[3,4-/] quinoline 77 with benzoyl nitrate affords the 8-nitro derivative 78, whereas methylation with methyl iodide or methyl sulfate afforded the corresponding 6-pyridinium methiodide 79 or methosulfate 80, respectively (Scheme 29). The pyridinium salt 80 was submitted to oxidation with potassium hexacyanoferrate and provided 7-oxo-6,7-dihydro derivative 81 or, by reaction of pyridinium salt 79 with phenylmagnesium bromide, the 7-phenyl-6,7-dihydro derivative 82. Nucleophilic substitution of the methiodide 79 with potassium cyanide resulted in the formation of 9-cyano-6,9-dihydroderivative 83, which can be oxidized by iodine to 9-cyano-l,2,5-selenadiazolo [3,4-/]quinoline methiodide 84. All the reactions proceeded in moderate yields (81IJC648). 

Ingold et al." showed that rates of nitration by benzoyl nitrate in carbon tetrachloride were depressed by the addition of benzoic anhydride. Thus addition of 0.035 M of the anhydride to a solution 2.36 M in benzene and 0.030 M in nitrate decreased the first-order rate coefficient from 44x 10-4 to 20xl0-4. This is consistent with nitration by dinitrogen pentoxide formed via equilibrium (37), viz. 

The nitrate explodes if heated rapidly, like benzoyl nitrate. 

Reactivity of benzoyl nitrate towards moisture is so great that attempted filtration through an undried filter paper causes explosive decomposition (possibly involving cellulose nitrate ). 

Acetyl nitrate, 0765 Benzoyl nitrate, 2689 Butyryl nitrate, 1573 3-Nitrobenzoyl nitrate, 2664... 

Nitration of pyridines in other than nitric or sulfuric acids is of little interest here because either no reaction or N-nitration takes place (see Section 2.05.2.10). However, pyridine 1-oxide is considerably more reactive and treatment with benzoyl nitrate ultimately leads to the 3-nitro derivative (Scheme 25) (60CPB28). Annelation of a benzene ring bestows greater reactivity on the 3-position in quinoline, compared with pyridine, and reaction with nitric acid in acetic anhydride furnishes the 3-nitro derivative (ca. 6%) (Scheme 26). This isomer has also been obtained, again at low yield (6-10%), by treatment of quinoline with tetranitratotitanium(IV) in carbon tetrachloride (74JCS(P1)1751>. Nitration of benzo analogues of pyridine occurs much more readily in the benzene ring, and Chapter 2.06 should be consulted for these reactions. 

Benzoyl nitrate is also a good nitrating agent... 

Reaction of pyridine 1-oxide with benzoyl nitrate leads to the 3-nitro derivative the postulated mechanism is shown in Scheme 10. 

Thiophene is nitrated by mild nitrating agents such as acetyl or benzoyl nitrate, mainly in the... 

Direct nitration of thiophene, using a mild nitrating system at low temperature, gives 2-nitrothiophene in excellent yield. Acetyl nitrate, benzoyl nitrate or copper(I) nitrate in acetic anhydride or acetic acid is commonly used, and only traces of 3-nitrothiophene and 2,5-dinitrothiophene are formed. Slow addition of thiophene dissolved in acetic anhydride to a solution of nitric acid in glacial acetic acid, maintaining the temperature at 10°C, is reported to be the optimum procedure (Section 3.14.2.4.8). 

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