Diazonium ions, aromatic phenols

A reaction of aryl diazonium salts that does not involve loss of nitrogen takes place when they react with phenols and arylamines Aryl diazonium ions are relatively weak elec trophiles but have sufficient reactivity to attack strongly activated aromatic rings The reaction is known as azo coupling two aryl groups are joined together by an azo (—N=N—) function... 

Reaction with arenediazonium salts Adding a phe nol to a solution of a diazonium salt formed from a primary aromatic amine leads to formation of an azo compound The reaction is carried out at a pH such that a significant portion of the phenol is pres ent as its phenoxide ion The diazonium ion acts as an electrophile toward the strongly activated ring of the phenoxide ion... 

R—N=N=. Aryl diazonium ions are formed by treatment of primary aromatic amines with nitrous acid. They are extremely useful in the preparation of aryl halides, phenols, and aryl cyanides. 

Diazonium coupling reactions are typical electrophilic aromatic substitutions in which the positively charged diazonium ion is the electrophile that reacts with the electron-rich, ring of a phenol or arylamine. Reaction usually occurs at the para position, although ortho reaction can take place if the para position is blocked. 

C-coupling is of outstanding importance in the azo coupling reaction for the synthesis of azo dyes and pigments. An aromatic or heteroaromatic diazonium ion reacts with the so-called coupling component, which can be an aromatic primary, secondary, or tertiary amine, a phenol, an enol of an open-chain, aromatic, or heteroaromatic carbonyl compound, or an activated methylene compound. These reactions at an sp2-hybridized carbon atom will be discussed in Chapter 12. In the... 

Ring nitrosation with nitrous acid is normally carried out only with active substrates such as amines and phenols. However, primary aromatic amines give diazonium ions (12-47) when treated with nitrous acid, " and secondary amines tend to give N-nitroso rather than C-nitroso compounds (12-49) hence this reaction is normally limited to phenols and tertiary aromatic amines. Nevertheless secondary aromatic amines can be C-nitrosated in two ways. The N-nitroso compound first obtained can be isomerized to a C-nitroso compound (11-32), or it can be treated with another mole of nitrous acid to give an N,C-dinitroso compound. Also, a successful nitrosation of anisole has been reported, where the solvent was CF3COOH—CH2CI2. " ... 

A second group of aromatic substitution reactions involves aryl diazonium ions. As for electrophilic aromatic substitution, many of the reactions of aromatic diazonium ions date to the nineteenth century. There have continued to be methodological developments for substitution reactions of diazonium intermediates. These reactions provide routes to aryl halides, cyanides, and azides, phenols, and in some cases to alkenyl derivatives. 

Azo coupling is the most widely used industrial reaction in the production of dyes, lakes and pigments. Aromatic diazonium ions acts as electrophiles in coupling reactions with activated aromatics such as anilines or phenols. The substitution normally occurs at the para position, except when this position is already occupied, in which case ortho position is favoured. The pH of solution is quite important it must be mildly acidic or neutral, since no reaction takes place if the pH is too low. 

Primary aromatic amines react with nitrous acid to give aryldiazonium ions, ArN2+, which are useful intermediates in synthesis of aromatic compounds. The process by which they are formed is called diazotization. The nitrogen in these ions can readily be replaced by various nucleophiles (OH, Cl, Br, I, CN). Diazonium ions couple with reactive aromatics, such as amines or phenols, to form azo compounds, which are useful as dyes. 

A more interesting problem than the influence of substituents in the electrophilic reagent of azo coupling is the extremely high selectivity of the C-coupling reactions, relative to other electrophilic aromatic substitutions. Unsubstituted benzene does not react with any arenediazonium ion, 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene reacts very slowly with strongly electrophilic diazonium ions only aromatic amines (e.g. N,N-dimethyl-aniline) or phenolate ions react very fast, in some cases close to diffusion control. 

Aromatic diazonium ions normally couple only with active substrates, such as amines and phenols.Many of the products of this reaction are used as dyes (azo dyes) Presumably because of the size of the attacking species, substitution is mostly para to the activating group, unless that position is aheady occupied, in which case ortho substitution takes place. The pH of the solution is important both for phenols and amines. For amines, the solutions may be mildly acidic or neutral. The fact that amines give ortho and para products shows that even in mildly acidic solution they react in their un-ionized form. If the acidity is too high, the reaction does not occur, because the concentration of free amine becomes too small. Phenols must be coupled in slightly alkaline solution where they are converted to the more reactive phenoxide ions, because phenols themselves are not active enough for the... 

Diazonium salts can be prepared directly by replacement of an aromatic hydrogen without the necessity of going through the amino group.The reaction is essentially limited to active substrates (amines and phenols), since otherwise poor yields are obtained. Since the reagents and the substrate are the same as in reaction 11-3, the first species formed is the nitroso compound. In the presence of excess nitrous acid, this is converted to the diazonium ion. " The reagent... 

The diazonium ion is reasonably stable in aqueous solution at 0 C on warming up it will form phenol, as seen on the previous page. A versatile functional group, it will undergo all of the reactions depicted above as well as couple to aromatic rings activated with substituents such as amino and hydroxyl groups to form the huge class of azo dyes (see Chapter 66). 

Diazonium Coupling Reactions. The union of a diazonium ion with a phenol or an amine is known as a diazonium coupling reaction. The process appears to be an example of aromatic substitution in which the reactive species are the diazonium cation and phenoxide ion or the substituted aniline molecule 9... 

Primary aromatic amines, such as aniline (phenylamine) forms a more stable diazonium ion at 0-5°C. Above 5°C, it will decompose to give phenol and N2. Diazonium salts can be isolated in the crystalline form but are usually used in solution and immediately after preparation, due to rapid decomposition on standing even with little ambient heat. Solid diazonium salts can be explosive on shock or on mild warming. 

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