INDEX electrophilic aromatic substitution

The wide scope of application of the electrophilicity index of Parr, Szentpaly, and Liu has been reviewed.1 Applications to electrophilic aromatic substitutions discussed are few. However, some alkylation and acylation reactions do correlate well with electrophilicity values. In the case of the nitration of toluene and chlorobenzene, correlation is not very good and it is suggested2 that electrophilicity is a kinetic quantity with inherent thermodynamic information. 

Reference should also be made to a superdelocalizability index Sp derived within the frame of the simple FEMO model [35], Goodness of fit of correlations of SfE values with relative rate constants for electrophilic aromatic substitution was found to be comparable with those based on CNDO/2 calculations. 

Electrophilic aromatic substitution is a typical reaction for BHs. In the MO treatment, some indices such as free valence [40], localization energy [41], and other quantities [42,43] have been introduced to predict the orientation of electrophilic aromatic substitution. Within the VB framework, several indices have also been formulated [44]. Here we introduce an alternative index, which is available from accurate VB wave functions, and demonstrate its applicability in accounting for the electrophilic aromatic substitution. 

Zhou Z, Parr RG. Activation hardness. New index for describing the orientation of electrophilic aromatic substitution. J Am Chem Soc 1990 112 5720-5724. 

Aromatic substitution reactions are often complicated and multistep processes. A correlation, however, in many cases can be found between the charged attacking species and the electron density distribution in the molecule attacked during electrophilic and nucleoph c substitution. No such correlation is expected in radical substitution where the attacking particles are neutral, rather a correlation between the reactivities of separate bonds and a free valency index of the bond order. This allows the prediction of the most reactive bonds. Such an approach has been used by researchers who applied quantum calculations to estimate the reactivities of the isomeric thienothiophenes and to compare them with thiophene or naphthalene. " Until recently quantum methods for studying reactivities of aromatics and heteroaromatics were developed mainly in the r-electron approximation (see, for example, Streitwieser and Zahradnik ). The M orbitals of a sulfur atom were shown not to contribute substantially to calculations of dipole moments, polarographic reduction potentials, spin-density distribution, ... 

Besides the applications of the electrophilicity index mentioned in the review article [40], following recent applications and developments have been observed, including relationship between basicity and nucleophilicity [64], 3D-quantitative structure activity analysis [65], Quantitative Structure-Toxicity Relationship (QSTR) [66], redox potential [67,68], Woodward-Hoffmann rules [69], Michael-type reactions [70], Sn2 reactions [71], multiphilic descriptions [72], etc. Molecular systems include silylenes [73], heterocyclohexanones [74], pyrido-di-indoles [65], bipyridine [75], aromatic and heterocyclic sulfonamides [76], substituted nitrenes and phosphi-nidenes [77], first-row transition metal ions [67], triruthenium ring core structures [78], benzhydryl derivatives [79], multivalent superatoms [80], nitrobenzodifuroxan [70], dialkylpyridinium ions [81], dioxins [82], arsenosugars and thioarsenicals [83], dynamic properties of clusters and nanostructures [84], porphyrin compounds [85-87], and so on. 

An attempt has been made to analyse whether the electrophilicity index is a reliable descriptor of the kinetic behaviour. Relative experimental rates of Friedel-Crafts benzylation, acetylation, and benzoylation reactions were found to correlate well with the corresponding calculated electrophilicity values. In the case of chlorination of various substituted ethylenes and nitration of toluene and chlorobenzene, the correlation was generally poor but somewhat better in the case of the experimental and the calculated activation energies for selected Markovnikov and anti-Markovnikov addition reactions. Reaction electrophilicity, local electrophilicity, and activation hardness were used together to provide a transparent picture of reaction rates and also the orientation of aromatic electrophilic substitution reactions. Ambiguity in the definition of the electrophilicity was highlighted.15... 

If only the electron density of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) is taken into account, an electrophilic attack is said to be regulated by the frontier electron density index (54JCP1433 79FCF1). In nucleophilic substitutions, the aromatic substrate tends to accept an electron pair in the transition state, and so the frontier orbital is taken as the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO). In this case, the frontier electron density is assumed to be as the electron distribution that would be present in the LUMO if it were occupied by two electrons. In contrast to arguments based on the charge or 7c-electron densities, both nucleophilic and electrophilic substitution occur preferentially at the atom with the highest electron density within the appropriate frontier orbital, i.e., LUMO or HOMO, respectively. 

The reactivity and the orientation effects in aromatic electrophilic substitutions are usually estimated from the relative facility of formation of o-complexes (arenium ions) by comparing such calculation parameters as the index of free valence, the it-electron density, the localization energy of a pair of electrons etc. S. Nagakura and J. Tanaka 27-679) judependraitly, R. Brown have emphasized the role... 

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