Carbocation electrophilic aromatic substitution

Oxygen stabilized carbocations of this type are far more stable than tertiary carbocations They are best represented by structures m which the positive charge is on oxygen because all the atoms have octets of electrons m such a structure Their stability permits them to be formed rapidly resulting m rates of electrophilic aromatic substitution that are much faster than that of benzene... 

Arenium ion (Section 12 2) The carbocation intermediate formed by attack of an electrophile on an aromatic substrate in electrophilic aromatic substitution See cyclohexadienyl cation... 

Trialkyltin substituents are also powerful ipso-directing groups. The overall electronic effects are similar to those in silanes, but the tin substituent is a better electron donor. The electron density at carbon is increased, as is the stabilization of /S-carbocation character. Acidic cleavage of arylstannanes is formulated as an electrophilic aromatic substitution proceeding through an ipso-oriented c-complex. ... 

Before seeing how electrophilic aromatic substitutions occur, let s briefly recall what we said in Chapler 6 about electrophilic alkene additions. When a reagent such as HCl adds to an alkene, the electrophilic hydrogen approaches the p orbitals of the double bond and forms a bond to one carbon, leaving a positive charge at the other carbon. This carbocation intermediate then reacts with the nucleophilic Cl- ion to yield the addition product. 

An electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction takes place in two steps—initial reaction of an electrophile, E+, with the aromatic ring, followed by loss of H+ from the resonance-stabilized carbocation intermediate to regenerate the aromatic ring. 

We may ask How does Y know which side will give the more stable carbocation As in the similar case of electrophilic aromatic substitution (p. 681), we invoke the Hanunond postulate and say that the lower energy carbocation is preceded by the lower energy transition state. Markovnikov s rule also applies for halogen substituents because the halogen stabilizes the carbocation by resonance ... 

Knolker and coworkers also used a domino [3+2] cycloaddition for the clever formation of a bridged tetracyclic compound 4-172, starting from a cyclopentanone 4-168 and containing two exocydic double bonds in the a-positions (Scheme 4.36) [57]. The reaction of 4-168 with an excess of allylsilane 4-169 in the presence of the Lewis acid TiCLj led to the spiro compound 4-170 in a syn fashion. It follows a Wag-ner-Meerwein rearrangement to give a tertiary carbocation 4-171, which acts as an electrophile in an electrophilic aromatic substitution process. The final step is the... 

As a simple example, note that the major products obtained as a result of addition of HBr to the alkenes shown below are not always those initially expected. For the first alkene, protonation produces a particularly favourable carbocation that is both tertiary and benzylic (see Section 6.2.1) this then accepts the bromide nucleophile. In the second alkene, protonation produces a secondary alkene, but hydride migration then leads to a more favourable benzylic carbocation. As a result, the nucleophile becomes attached to a carbon that was not part of the original double bond. Further examples of carbocation rearrangements will be met under electrophilic aromatic substitution (see Section 8.4.1). 

Because the initial electrophilic attack and carbocation formation results in loss of aromatic stabilization, the electrophiles necessary for electrophilic aromatic substitution must be more reactive than those that typically react with alkenes. Thus, chlorination or... 

The synthesis of DDT is a good example of an electrophilic aromatic substitution. The chloral is protonated and attacks the aromatic ring to generate a carbocation. Loss of a proton regenerates the aromatic ring. 

Phenol-formaldehyde prepolymers, referred to as novolacs, are obtained by using a ratio of formaldehyde to phenol of 0.75-0.85 1, sometimes lower. Since the reaction system is starved for formaldehyde, only low molecular weight polymers can be formed and there is a much narrower range of products compared to the resoles. The reaction is accomplished by heating for 2 1 h at or near reflux temperature in the presence of an acid catalyst. Oxalic and sulfuric acids are used in amounts of 1-2 and <1 part, respectively, per 100 parts phenol. The polymerization involves electrophilic aromatic substitution, first by hydroxymethyl carboca-tion and subsequently by benzyl carbocation—each formed by protonation of OH followed by loss of water. There is much less benzyl ether bridging between benzene rings compared to the resole prepolymers. 

First introduced by Charles Friedel and James Crafts in 1877, the FC alkylation is an electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction where the electrophile is a carbocation, R. This carhocation is generated hy AICI3-catalysed ionization of alkyl halide. For example, benzene reacts with isopropylchloride in the presence of Lewis acid to produce isopropylbenzene. 

How substituents control rate and regioselectivity in electrophilic aromatic substitution results from their effect on carbocation stability. An electron-releasing substituent stabilizes the cyclohexadienyl cation intermediates corresponding to ortho and para attack more than meta. 

The effect of monofluorination on alkene or aromatic reactivity toward electrophiles is more difficult to predict Although a-fluonne stabilizes a carbocation relative to hydrogen, its opposing inductive effect makes olefins and aromatics more electron deficient. Fluorine therefore is activating only for electrophilic reactions with very late transition states where its resonance stabilization is maximized The faster rate of addition of trifluoroacetic acid and sulfuric acid to 2-fluoropropene vs propene is an example [775,116], but cases of such enhanced fluoroalkene reactivity in solution are quite rare [127] By contrast, there are many examples where the ortho-para-dueeting fluorine substituent is also activating in electrophilic aromatic substitutions [128]... 

Protonation of acetone makes a carbocation that can react as an electrophile in sequential electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions with phenol. 

Attack at C-3 gives a carbocation that is resonance-stabilized by a nonbonded pair of electrons on the adjacent nitrogen. Attack at C-2 gives a cation in which the positive charge is not adjacent to an atom bearing nonbonded electrons. Any additional resonance contributors disrupt the benzenoid structure in the left ring. Therefore, electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions of indole occur primarily at C-3. 

Two of the reactions that are used in the industrial preparation of detergents are electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions. First, a large hydrocarbon group is attached to a benzene ring by a Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction employing tetrapropene as the source of the carbocation electrophile. The resulting alkylbenzene is then sulfonated by reaction with sulfuric acid. Deprotonation of the sulfonic acid with sodium hydroxide produces the detergent. 

Nucleophilic aromatic substitutions have been studied in detail. Either of two mechanisms may be involved, depending on the reactants. One mechanism is similar to the electrophilic aromatic substitution mechanism, except that nucleophiles and carban-ions are involved rather than electrophiles and carbocations. The other mechanism involves benzyne, an interesting and unusual reactive intermediate. 

The carbocation intermediate of electrophilic aromatic substitution loses a proton to yield the aromatic product. In all cases, a base is involved with proton removal, but the nature of the base varies with the type of substitution reaction. Although this book shows the loss of the proton, it often doesn t show the base responsible for proton removal. This doesn t imply that the proton flies off, unassisted it just means that the base involved has not been identified in the problem. 

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