Friedel-Crafts reaction, acylation limitations

The Friedel-Crafts reaction has limited application in pyrazole chemistry, as the acyl group can be introduced only in the 4-position. The reaction is easier with 1-arylpyrazoles which are less inclined to form pyrazole cations.822,828 Heating N-substituted pyrazoles with benzoyl chloride at 200-230° for some hours gives high yields of 4-benz-oylpyrazoles (60) even in the absence of catalysts.48,505,647,624,825... 

Neither Friedel-Crafts acylation nor alkylation reactions can be earned out on mtroben zene The presence of a strongly deactivating substituent such as a nitro group on an aromatic ring so depresses its reactivity that Friedel-Crafts reactions do not take place Nitrobenzene is so unreactive that it is sometimes used as a solvent m Friedel-Crafts reactions The practical limit for Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation reactions is effectively a monohalobenzene An aromatic ring more deactivated than a mono halobenzene cannot be alkylated or acylated under Friedel-Crafts conditions... 

Despite these numerous limitations, the Friedel-Crafts reaction, in its various modifications (for example, acylation, Sec. 19.6), is an extremely useful synthetic tool. 

The carbonium ion may also be formed from an alkene or alcohol. The carbonium ion formed from any of these starting materials is particularly prone to rearrangement reactions. These are called Wagner-Meerwein rearrangements, and severely limit the synthetic utility of this reaction to form simple alkyl substituted aromatic compounds. The tendency to rearrange may be reduced if the acyl derivative is used instead. This modification is called the Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction, and it has the further advantage that normally only monoacylation occurs, instead of the polyalkylation that happens using the simple Friedel-Crafts reaction. 

An amine group limits Friedel-Crafts reactions because it reacts with the catalyst so the reaction can t proceed. Friedel-Crafts alkylation or acylation doesn t take place with groups more deactivating than halogen. 

Friedel-Crafts acylation involves the direct introduction of an acyl group on the aromatic rings. This reaction, when carried out using corrosive and liquid catalysts, poses tedious workup and separation problems. An effort to minimize such limitations was made by Alizadeh et al. (2007), who reported a Friedel-Crafts reaction involving the treatment of acetic anhydride with aromatic compounds in the presence of SSA as a reusable, nontoxic, and heterogeneous catalyst (Scheme 5.44). 

This principal reaction mechanism is widely believed to apply to most S Ar reactions irrespective of the electrophilic reagent. There are however a number of experimental observations that indicate exceptions to this mechanism. There are examples of thermodynamically controlled Friedel-Crafts reactions, when using reaction conditions like polyphosphoric acid and elevated temperatures [27,28]. In iodination and some cases of Friedel-Crafts acylation, the last step of the reaction, the proton abstraction, has been shown to have a substantial kinetic isotope effect, which indicates that this step is at least partially rate limiting [29-31]. There are also still open questions regarding the exact nature of the reaction intermediates, and we will focus on these issues in the remaining part of the chapter. 

Limitations of Friedel-Crafts Reactions The remaining steps in the Friedel-Crafts acylation of benzene are the following ... 

Alkyl halides and sulfonates are the most frequently used alkylating acceptor synthons. The carbonyl group is used as the classical a -synthon. O-Silylated hemithioacetals (T.H. Chan, 1976) and fomic acid orthoesters are examples for less common a -synthons. In most synthetic reactions carbon atoms with a partial positive charge (= positively polarized carbon) are involved. More reactive, "free carbocations as occurring in Friedel-Crafts type alkylations and acylations are of comparably limited synthetic value, because they tend to react non-selectively. 

Other typical electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions—nitration (second entry) sul fonation (fourth entry) and Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation (fifth and sixth entnes)—take place readily and are synthetically useful Phenols also undergo elec trophilic substitution reactions that are limited to only the most active aromatic com pounds these include mtrosation (third entry) and coupling with diazomum salts (sev enth entry)... 

The synthetic importance of the Houben-Hoesch reaction is even more limited by the fact that aryl ketones are also available by application of the Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction. 

While the Friedel-Crafts acylation is a general method for the preparation of aryl ketones, and of wide scope, there is no equivalently versatile reaction for the preparation of aryl aldehydes. There are various formylation procedures known, each of limited scope. In addition to the reactions outlined above, there is the Vdsmeier reaction, the Reimer-Tiemann reaction, and the Rieche formylation reaction The latter is the reaction of aromatic compounds with 1,1-dichloromethyl ether as formylating agent in the presence of a Lewis acid catalyst. This procedure has recently gained much importance. 

Many variations of the reaction can be carried out, including halogenation, nitration, and sulfonation. Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation reactions, which involve reaction of an aromatic ling with carbocation electrophiles, are particularly useful. They are limited, however, by the fact that the aromatic ring must be at least as reactive as a halobenzene. In addition, polyalkylation and carbocation rearrangements often occur in Friedel-Crafts alkylation. 

Friedel-Crafts acylations of the metal acetylacetonate rings are much slower than the electrophilic substitutions described above, probably because of the considerable steric bulk at the reaction site. Furthermore, the strongly acidic conditions during the reaction and subsequent hydrolysis step give rise to considerable degradation, particularly in the case of the more sensitive chromium and cobalt chelates. This consideration places severe limitations on the reaction conditions that can be employed. 

The Friedel-Crafts acylation of alkanes requires hydride abstraction, which can be induced by the acylium ion itself, to form the corresponding carbocation. This may undergo carbocationic rearrangements prior to a proton loss to form an alkene, which then reacts with the acylating agent. Similar to the acylation of alkenes, the product is an unsaturated ketone. The reaction is limited to alkanes that are prone to undergo hydride transfer. 

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