Electrophilic ability

Random copolymerization occnrs between butadiene and styrene [15]. There are no appreciable differences in the nncleophilic and electrophilic abilities between the radical centers with the vinyl and phenyl groups at the end of the growing polymer chain or in the donor/acceptor properties between the monomers. 

Recently37, the importance of CT complexes in the chemistry of heteroaromatic N-oxides has been investigated in nucleophilic aromatic substitutions. Electron acceptors (tetracyanoethylene and p-benzoquinones) enhance the electrophilic ability of pyridine-N-oxide (and of quinoline-N-oxide) derivatives by forming donor-acceptor complexes which facilitate the reactions of nucleophiles on heteroaromatic substrates. 

One of the main problems of organic compound reactions proceeding on the heterogeneous oxide surfaces is possible dependence of their mechanism on the surface coverage. For instance, this deduction follows immediately from different variance of distribution functions of oxide surfaces on the donor and acceptor properties of the active sites [147-148], which determines their nucleophilic and electrophilic abilities to interact with organic compounds from the gas or liquid phase. 

Trivalent carbenium ions are the key intermediates in electrophilic reactions of Tt-donor unsaturated hydrocarbons. At the same time, pen-tacoordinated carbonium ions are the key to electrophilic reactions of cr-donor saturated hydrocarbons through the ability of C-H or C-C single bonds to participate in carbonium ion formation. 

The (thermal) decomposition of thiazol-2-yldiazonium salts in a variety of solvents at 0 C in presence of alkali generates thiazol-2-yl radicals (413). The same radicals result from the photolysis in the same solvents of 2-iodothiazole (414). Their electrophilic character is shown by their ability to attack preferentially positions of high rr-electron density of aromatic substrates in which they are generated (Fig. 1-21). The major... 

The regioselectivity of electrophilic addition is governed by the ability of an aro matic ring to stabilize an adjacent carbocation This is clearly seen m the addition of hydrogen chloride to mdene Only a single chloride is formed... 

In view of the overall increased reactivity of furan compared with thiophene it would be anticipated that furan would be less regioselective in its reactions with electrophiles than thiophene. Possible reasons for the high regioselectivity of furan in electrophilic substitution reactions include complex formation between substrates and reagents and the ability of heteroatoms to assist in the stabilization of cationic intermediates (80CHE1195). 

The ability to promote /S elimination and the electron-donor capacity of the /3-metalloid substituents can be exploited in a very useful way in synthetic chemistry. Vinylstannanes and vinylsilanes react readily with electrophiles. The resulting intermediates then undergo elimination of the stannyl or silyl substituent, so that the net effect is replacement of the stannyl or silyl group by the electrophile. An example is the replacement of a trimethylsilyl substituent by an acetyl group by reaction with acetyl chloride. 

Other matters that are important include the ability of the electrophile to select among the alternative positions on a substituted aromatic ring. The relative reactivity of different substituted benzenes toward various electrophiles has also been important in developing a firm understanding of electrophilic aromatic substitution. The next section considers some of the structure-reactivity relationships that have proven to be informative. 

The general mechanism for electrophilic substitution suggests that groups other than hydrogen could be displaced, provided the electrophile attacked at the substituted carbon. Substitution at a site already having a substituent is called ipso substitution and has been observed in a number of circumstances. The ease of removal of a substituent depends on its ability to accommodate a positive charge. This fector determines whether the newly attached electrophile or the substituent is eliminated from the [Pg.588]

The silyl group directs electrophiles to the substituted position. That is, it is an ipso-directing group. Because of the polarity of the carbon-silicon bond, the substituted position is relatively electron-rich. The ability of silicon substituents to stabilize carboca-tion character at )9-carbon atoms (see Section 6.10, p. 393) also promotes ipso substitution. The silicon substituent is easily removed from the c-complex by reaction with a nucleophile. The desilylation step probably occurs through a pentavalent silicon species ... 

Preparation of fluorine-containing sulfides has been achieved mainly by the reacuon of sulfenyl chlorides (RSCl), which may react with a vanety of nucleophiles The method is based on the electrophilicity of sulfur and on the leaving-group ability of chlorine... 

Ketones and imines with adjacent perfluoroalkyl moieties show sharply reduced abilities to interact with electrophiles. Hexafluoroacetone is not protonated even in superacidic media... 

Unsaturated fluorocarbons are much more reactive toward nucleophiles than then hydrocarbon counterparts owing to fluorme s ability to both stabihze carban ions and mductively increase the electrophihcity of multiple bonds and aromatic nngs Nucleophihc attack dominates the chemistry of unsaturated fluorocarbons, and the role of fluonde ion in fluorocarbon chemistry is analogous to that of the proton in hydrocarbon chemistry [129] Like the related electrophilic reactions for hydrocarbons, there are fluonde-promoted isomenzations and dimenzations (equation 9), oligomenzations (equation 10), additions (equation 11), and amomc Fnedel-Crafts alkylations (equation 12) that all proceed via carbamomc intermediates [729 7 7]... 

In all cases, a higher percentage of hydroxylamino trapping occurs in the presence of mineral acid, and the hydroxylamino trapping abilities of the carboxy derivatives increase as R = OH < OMe < NH2. Thi.s order is reversed in the absence of mineral acid. Presumably the carboxyl derivative is protonated in the presence of acid and thus becomes a better electrophile. 

The most common reaction of aromatic compounds is electrophilic aromatic substitution. That is, an electrophile reacts with an aromatic ring and substitutes for one of the hydrogens. The reaction is characteristic of all aromatic rings, not just benzene and substituted benzenes. In fact, the ability of a compound to undergo electrophilic substitution is a good test of aromaticity- . 

FIGURE 18.13 The catalyst FeBr, acts b> forming a complex with a bromine molecule. As a result, the bromine atom not directlv attached to the iron atom acquires a partial positive charge (the blue region). This partial charge enhances the ability of the bromine molecule to act as an electrophile. 

---