Directing effects of aromatic substituents

Electrophilic aromatic substitution is a situation in which it is useful to discuss TS structure in terms of a reaction intermediate. The ortho, para, and meta directing effects of aromatic substituents were among the first structure-reactivity relationships to be developed in organic chemistry. Certain functional groups activate aromatic rings toward substitution and direct the entering electrophile to the ortho and para positions, whereas others are deactivating and lead to substitution in the meta position. The bromination of methoxybenzene (anisole), benzene, and nitrobenzene can serve as examples for discussion. 

The case of electrophilic aromatic substitution can illustrate a situation in which it is useful to discuss transition state structure in terms of the structure of an intermediate. The ortho-para- and me/a-directing effects of aromatic substituents... 

The ability to plan a sequence of reactions in the right order is particularly valuable in the synthesis of substituted aromatic rings, where the introduction of a new substituent is strongly affected by the directing effects of other substituents. Planning syntheses of substituted aromatic compounds is therefore an excellent way to gain confidence using the many reactions learned in the past few chapters. 

These polarizations are seen to be in the opposite direction to those in aniline (3.133), so that higher pi density remains at the Ci (junction) and C3 and C5 (meta) positions. These polarity shifts are again consistent with the well-known m-directing effect of nitro substituents in electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions, and the results are again quite independent of which starting Kekule structure is selected for the localized analysis.63... 

Exactly the same sort of mechanism accounts for the reactions of aryl silanes with electrophiles under Friedel-Crafts conditions. Instead of the usual rules governing ortho, meta, and para substitution using the directing effects of the substituents, there is just one rule the silyl group is replaced by the electrophile at the same atom on the ring—this is known as ipso substitution. Actually, this selectivity comes from the same principles as those used for ordinary aromatic substitution (Chapter 22) the electrophile reacts to produce the most stable cation—in this case (3 to silicon. Cleavage of the weakened C-Si bond by any nucleophile leads directly to the ipso product. 

What happens in electrophilic aromatic substitution when a disubstituted benzene ring is used as starting material To predict the products, look at the directing effects of both substituents and then determine the net result, using the following three guidelines. 

When a disubstituted benzene undergoes an electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction, the directing effect of both substituents has to be considered. If both substituents direct the incoming substituent to the same position, the product of the reaction is easily predicted. 

In almost all cases, including most of those in which the directing effects of individual substituents oppose each other, it is the more activating substituent that controls the regi-oselectivity of electrophilic aromatic substitution. Thus, bromination occurs ortho to die... 

When a disubstituted benzene undergoes an electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction, the directing effect of both substituents has to be considered. 

Section 12 15 When two or more substituents are present on a nng the regioselectiv ity of electrophilic aromatic substitution is generally controlled by the directing effect of the more powerful activating substituent... 

Because nitration has been studied for a wide variety of aromatic compounds, it is a useful reaction with which to illustrate the directing effect of substituent groups. Table 10.3 presents some of the data. A variety of reaction conditions are represented, so direct comparison is not always valid, but the trends are nevertheless clear. It is important to remember that other electrophiles, while following the same qualitative trends, show large quantitative differences in position selectivity. 

A Summary of Substituent Effects in Aromatic Substitution A summary of the activating and directing effects of substituents in electrophilic aromatic substitution is shown in Table 16.2. 

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