Electrophilic aromatic nucleophiles

A more detailed classification of chemical reactions will give specifications on the mechanism of a reaction electrophilic aromatic substitution, nucleophilic aliphatic substitution, etc. Details on this mechanism can be included to various degrees thus, nucleophilic aliphatic substitutions can further be classified into Sf l and reactions. However, as reaction conditions such as a change in solvent can shift a mechanism from one type to another, such details are of interest in the discussion of reaction mechanism but less so in reaction classification. 

If the Lewis base ( Y ) had acted as a nucleophile and bonded to carbon the prod uct would have been a nonaromatic cyclohexadiene derivative Addition and substitution products arise by alternative reaction paths of a cyclohexadienyl cation Substitution occurs preferentially because there is a substantial driving force favoring rearomatization Figure 12 1 is a potential energy diagram describing the general mechanism of electrophilic aromatic substitution For electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions to... 

Arylamines contain two functional groups the amine group and the aromatic ring they are difunctional compounds The reactivity of the amine group is affected by its aryl substituent and the reactivity of the ring is affected by its amine substituent The same electron delocalization that reduces the basicity and the nucleophilicity of an arylamme nitrogen increases the electron density in the aromatic ring and makes arylamines extremely reactive toward electrophilic aromatic substitution... 

A nitro group behaves the same way m both reactions it attracts electrons Reaction is retarded when electrons flow from the aromatic ring to the attacking species (electrophilic aromatic substitution) Reaction is facilitated when electrons flow from the attacking species to the aromatic ring (nucleophilic aromatic substitution) By being aware of the connection between reactivity and substituent effects you will sharpen your appreciation of how chemical reactions occur... 

Substitution Reactions. Aromatic heterocycHc A/-oxides undergo both electrophilic and nucleophilic substitution because the dipolar N-oxide group is both an electron donor and an electron acceptor, giving rise to the resonance stmctures ... 

In general, the reaction between a phenol and an aldehyde is classified as an electrophilic aromatic substitution, though some researchers have classed it as a nucleophilic substitution (Sn2) on aldehyde [84]. These mechanisms are probably indistinguishable on the basis of kinetics, though the charge-dispersed sp carbon structure of phenate does not fit our normal concept of a good nucleophile. In phenol-formaldehyde resins, the observed hydroxymethylation kinetics are second-order, first-order in phenol and first-order in formaldehyde. 

Because of Us high polarity and low nucleophilicity, a trifluoroacetic acid medium is usually used for the investigation of such carbocationic processes as solvolysis, protonation of alkenes, skeletal rearrangements, and hydride shifts [22-24] It also has been used for several synthetically useful reachons, such as electrophilic aromatic substitution [25], reductions [26, 27], and oxidations [28] Trifluoroacetic acid is a good medium for the nitration of aromatic compounds Nitration of benzene or toluene with sodium nitrate in trifluoroacetic acid is almost quantitative after 4 h at room temperature [25] Under these conditions, toluene gives the usual mixture of mononitrotoluenes in an o m p ratio of 61 6 2 6 35 8 A trifluoroacetic acid medium can be used for the reduction of acids, ketones, and alcohols with sodium borohydnde [26] or triethylsilane [27] Diary Iketones are smoothly reduced by sodium borohydnde in trifluoroacetic acid to diarylmethanes (equation 13)... 

In most of their- reactions phenols behave as nucleophiles, and the reagents that act on them are electrophiles. Either the hydroxyl oxygen or the aromatic ring may be the site of nucleophilic reactivity in a phenol. Reactions that take place on the ring lead to electrophilic aromatic substitution Table 24.4 summarizes the behavior of phenols in reactions of this type. 

There are conflicting generalizations in the heterocyclic literature as to the relative reactivity of a- and y-positions in azines toward nucleophiles. Variations in the relative reactivity are attributed in this and subsequent sections to specific factors operating in addition to activation by azine-nitrogen. Another possible source of variation may be a decrease in selectivity with increasing reactivity of one or both reagents, an effect established in electrophilic aromatic... 

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. 

The replacement of an electrofugic atom or group at a nucleophilic carbon atom by a diazonium ion is called an azo coupling reaction. By far the most important type of such reactions is that with aromatic coupling components, which was discovered by Griess in 1861 (see Sec. 1.1). It is a typical electrophilic aromatic substitution, called an arylazo-de-hydrogenation in the systematic IUPAC nomenclature (IUPAC 1989c, see Sec. 1.2). 

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