Friedel-Crafis alkylation

SCHEME 8. Examples of Organic Name Reactions. Friedel-Crafis Alkylation... 

R. M. Roberts, A. A. Khalaf, In Friedel-Crafis Alkylation Chemistry. A Century of Discovery, Marcel Dekker New York, 1984. 

S. Li, H. Zhou, B. Han, F. Deng, X. Liu, L. Xiao, J. Fan, Hydrogenated mesoporous Ti02-Si02 with increased moderate strong Bronsted acidic sites for Friedel-Crafis alkylation reaction, Catal. Sci. Technol. 2 (2012) 719—721. 

R. Amandi, P. Licence, S. K. Ross, O. Aaltonen, M. Poliakoff, Friedel-Crafis alkylation of anisole in supercritical carbon dioxide a comparative study of catalysts, Org. Process Res. Dev. 2005, 9, 451-456. 

An alkyl group can replace a hydrogen atom of benzene in the Friedel-Crafis alkylation reaction. This reaction requires an alkyl halide, with an aluminum trihalide as the catalyst. The catalyst produces an electrophilic species, which may be a carbocation or a carbocation complexed with a counter ion. For simplicity in writing equations, we will show only the free carbocation. The reaction is commonly carried out only with alkyl bromides or alkyl chlorides. Aryl hahdes and vinyl halides do not react because the carbocations derived from these compounds do not form under usual reaction conditions. In contrast, tertiary carbocations, such as the ferr-butyl carbocation, readily form. 

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