Electrophilic aromatic substitution, acylation ortho-para directing groups

The electrophile in the Friedel-Crafts acylation appears to be a large, bulky complex, such as R—C=0 A1C14. Para substitution usually prevails when the aromatic substrate has an ortho, para-directing group, possibly because the electrophile is too bulky for effective attack at the ortho position. For example, when ethylbenzene reacts with acetyl chloride, the major product is p-ethylacetophenone. 

The phenolic group is activating and ortho-para directing. The electrophilic substitution reactions in the nucleus in (a) nitrosation and nitration (b) halogenation and (c) acylation and alkylation, are therefore particularly facile, and various experimental procedures need to be adopted to control the extent of substitution (cf. substitution reactions of aromatic amines and their acylated derivatives, Sections 6.6.1 and 6.6.2, pp. 906 and 916 respectively). 

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