In nitration of benzene

A small isotope effect has been observed in nitration of benzene by nitronium borofluoride in tetramethylene sulphone at 30 °C (kH/kD = 0.86) and this has been attributed to a secondary effect of the change in hybridisation from sp2 to sp3 of the ring carbon during the course of the reaction109. However, naphthalene gives an isotope effect of 1.15 under the same conditions, and anthracene a value of 2.6115. It does not seem at all clear why these relatively unhindered and normally more reactive molecules should give rise to an isotope effect when benzene does not. 

Table 2.2 Relative reaction rates in nitration of benzene derivatives...

In nitration of benzene, the species which brings about nitration giving nitrobenzene is the electrophilic nitronium ion, NO. ... 

In the nitration of benzene, wj-dinilro- and sym-trinitrobenzenes are obtained under more vigorous conditions. With naphthalene, 1-nitronaphthalene is the first product and further nitration gives a mixture of 1,5- and 1,8-dinitronaphthalenes 2-nitronaphthalene is never obtained. 

The value of the second-order rate constant for nitration of benzene-sulphonic acid in anhydrous sulphuric acid varies with the concentration of the aromatic substrate and with that of additives such as nitromethane and sulphuryl chloride. The effect seems to depend on the total concentration of non-electrolyte, moderate values of which (up to about 0-5 mol 1 ) depress the rate constant. More substantial concentrations of non-electrolytes can cause marked rate enhancements in this medium. Added hydrogen sulphate salts or bases such as pyridine... 

Hji function. A better correlation, up to nearly 89% sulphuric acid, is obtained by comparing the results at 25 °C with the acidity function — (/f + log % q). si, 42a, 43a these comparisons a straight line of approximately unit slope is obtained (fig. 2.4), although for the nitration of benzene in acidities greater than 68% sulphuric acid, the slope becomes i-20 (fig. 2.5). 

Rates of nitration in perchloric acid of mesitylene, luphthalene and phenol (57 I-6i-i %), and benzene (57 i-64 4%) have been deter-mined. The activated compounds are considered below ( 2.5). A plot of the logarithms of the second-order rate coefficients for the nitration of benzene against — ( f + log over the range of acidity... 

This consideration prompted an investigation of the nitration of benzene and some more reactive compounds in aqueous sulphuric and perchloric acids, to establish to what extent the reactions of these compounds were affected by the speed of diffusion together of the active species. ... 

The rates of nitration of benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene in solutions of nitric acid c. 3-7 mol 1 ) in nitromethane were independent... 

Nitration in organic solvents is strongly catalysed by small concentrations of strong acids typically a concentration of io mol 1 of sulphuric acid doubles the rate of reaction. Reaction under zeroth-order conditions is accelerated without disturbing the kinetic form, even under the influence of very strong catalysis. The effect of sulphuric acid on the nitration of benzene in nitromethane is tabulated in table 3.3. The catalysis is linear in the concentration of sulphuric acid. 

In experiments on the nitration of benzene in acetic acid, to which urea was added to remove nitrous acid (which anticatalyses nitration 4.3.1), the rate was found to be further depressed. The effect was ascribed to nitrate ions arising from the formation of urea nitrate. In the same way, urea depressed the rate of the zeroth-order nitration of mesitylene in sulpholan. ... 

The kinetics of nitration of benzene in solutions at c. 20 °C in carbon tetrachloride have been investigated. In the presence of an excess of benzene (c. 2-4 mol 1 ) the rate was kinetically of the first order in the concentration of benzoyl nitrate. The rate of reaction was depressed by the addition of benzoic anhydride, provided that some benzoic acid was present. This result suggested that benzoyl nitrate itself was not responsible for the nitration, but generated dinitrogen pentoxide... 

First-order nitrations. The kinetics of nitrations in solutions of acetyl nitrate in acetic anhydride were first investigated by Wibaut. He obtained evidence for a second-order rate law, but this was subsequently disproved. A more detailed study was made using benzene, toluene, chloro- and bromo-benzene. The rate of nitration of benzene was found to be of the first order in the concentration of aromatic and third order in the concentration of acetyl nitrate the latter conclusion disagrees with later work (see below). Nitration in solutions containing similar concentrations of acetyl nitrate in acetic acid was too slow to measure, but was accelerated slightly by the addition of more acetic anhydride. Similar solutions in carbon tetrachloride nitrated benzene too quickly, and the concentration of acetyl nitrate had to be reduced from 0-7 to o-i mol 1 to permit the observation of a rate similar to that which the more concentrated solution yields in acetic anhydride. 

The rates of nitration of benzene in solutions at 25 °C containing 0-4-2-0 mol 1 of acetyl nitrate in acetic anhydride have been deter-mined.2 The rates accord with the following kinetic law ... 

The effects of added species. The rate of nitration of benzene, according to a rate law kinetically of the first order in the concentration of aromatic, was reduced by sodium nitrate, a concentration of io mol 1 of the latter retarding nitration by a factor of about Lithium nitrate... 

The kinetics of the nitration of benzene, toluene and mesitylene in mixtures prepared from nitric acid and acetic anhydride have been studied by Hartshorn and Thompson. Under zeroth order conditions, the dependence of the rate of nitration of mesitylene on the stoichiometric concentrations of nitric acid, acetic acid and lithium nitrate were found to be as described in section 5.3.5. When the conditions were such that the rate depended upon the first power of the concentration of the aromatic substrate, the first order rate constant was found to vary with the stoichiometric concentration of nitric acid as shown on the graph below. An approximately third order dependence on this quantity was found with mesitylene and toluene, but with benzene, increasing the stoichiometric concentration of nitric acid caused a change to an approximately second order dependence. Relative reactivities, however, were found to be insensitive... 

Hammett s equation, and substituent effects, 137-43 heteromolecules, 130 Holleman s product rule, 3 hyperconjugation, in nitration of alkyl-benzenes, 165-7 in nitration of positive poles, 169... 

Figure 12 3 adapts the general mechanism of electrophilic aromatic substitution to the nitration of benzene The first step is rate determining m it benzene reacts with nitro mum ion to give the cyclohexadienyl cation intermediate In the second step the aro maticity of the ring is restored by loss of a proton from the cyclohexadienyl cation... 

The role of nitronium ion in the nitration of benzene was demonstrated by Sir Christo pher Ingold—the same per son who suggested the SnI and Sn2 mechanisms of nu cleophilic substitution and who collaborated with Cahn and Prelog on the R and S notational system... 

Nitration (Section 12 3) The active electro phile in the nitration of benzene and its... 

For the process step involving handling of spent sulfuric acid, several patents have been issued in which improvements in this step were a main claim. The azeotropic nitration of benzene essentially eliminates the need to reconcentrate sulfuric acid (10,11). The nitration step is carried out at higher than usual temperatures (120—160°C). Because excess benzene is used, the higher temperature allows water to be removed as a water—benzene azeotrope. The water is separated and the benzene phase, containing approximately 8% nitrobenzene, is recycled back into the reactor. The dry sulfuric acid is then reused continuously. 

Manufacture and Processing. Mononitrotoluenes are produced by the nitration of toluene in a manner similar to that described for nitrobenzene. The presence of the methyl group on the aromatic ring faciUtates the nitration of toluene, as compared to that of benzene, and increases the ease of oxidation which results in undesirable by-products. Thus the nitration of toluene generally is carried out at lower temperatures than the nitration of benzene to minimize oxidative side reactions. Because toluene nitrates at a faster rate than benzene, the milder conditions also reduce the formation of dinitrotoluenes. Toluene is less soluble than benzene in the acid phase, thus vigorous agitation of the reaction mixture is necessary to maximize the interfacial area of the two phases and the mass transfer of the reactants. The rate of a typical industrial nitration can be modeled in terms of a fast reaction taking place in a zone in the aqueous phase adjacent to the interface where the reaction is diffusion controlled. 

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