Meta directing

A is a parameter that can be varied to give the correct amount of ionic character. Another way to view the valence bond picture is that the incorporation of ionic character corrects the overemphasis that the valence bond treatment places on electron correlation. The molecular orbital wavefimction underestimates electron correlation and requires methods such as configuration interaction to correct for it. Although the presence of ionic structures in species such as H2 appears coimterintuitive to many chemists, such species are widely used to explain certain other phenomena such as the ortho/para or meta directing properties of substituted benzene compounds imder electrophilic attack. Moverover, it has been shown that the ionic structures correspond to the deformation of the atomic orbitals when daey are involved in chemical bonds. 

The meta directing groups include those in which the atom directly attached to the aromatic nucleus is either positively charged or strongly unsaturated. These are, in order of decreasing effectiveness —... 

Disconnection b will not do as the nitio group is meta-directing and in any case nitro benzene wiU not react under FriedeTCrafts conditions. Disconnection a is fine as the MeO group is more powerfully ortho-direeting than the Me group (Ber., 1907, 3514). 

Why IS there such a marked difference between methyl and trifluoromethyl substituents m their influence on electrophilic aromatic substitution s Methyl is activating and ortho para directing trifluoromethyl is deactivating and meta directing The first point to remember is that the regioselectivity of substitution is set once the cyclohexadienyl cation intermediate is formed If we can explain why... 

Our analysis of substituent effects has so far centered on two groups methyl and triflu oromethyl We have seen that a methyl substituent is activating and ortho para directing A trifluoromethyl group is strongly deactivating and meta directing What about other substituents ... 

Very strongly deactivating 0 II —CCI —C=N —SO3H -CF3 —NO2 (acyl chloride) (cyano) (sulfonic acid) (trifluoromethyl) (nitro) Meta directing... 

The next group of substituents in Table 12 2 that we 11 discuss are the ones near the bottom of the table those that are meta directing and strongly deactivating... 

As Table 12 2 indicates a variety of substituent types are meta directing and strongly deactivating We have already discussed one of these the trifluoromethyl group Several of the others have a carbonyl group attached directly to the aromatic ring... 

Cyano groups are electron withdrawing deactivating and meta directing... 

Often the directing effects of substituents reinforce each other Brommation of p mtrotoluene for example takes place at the position that is ortho to the ortho para directing methyl group and meta to the meta directing nitro group... 

Because the position of electrophilic attack on an aromatic nng is controlled by the direct ing effects of substituents already present the preparation of disubstituted aromatic com pounds requires that careful thought be given to the order of introduction of the two groups Compare the independent preparations of m bromoacetophenone and p bromoace tophenone from benzene Both syntheses require a Friedel-Crafts acylation step and a bromination step but the major product is determined by the order m which the two steps are carried out When the meta directing acetyl group is introduced first the final product IS m bromoacetophenone... 

A less obvious example of a situation in which the success of a synthesis depends on the order of introduction of substituents is illustrated by the preparation of m nitroace tophenone Here even though both substituents are meta directing the only practical synthesis is the one in which Friedel-Crafts acylation is carried out first... 

A related problem concerns the synthesis of p nitrobenzoic acid Here two meta directing substituents are para to each other This compound has been prepared from toluene according to the procedure shown... 

Deactivating and meta directing These substituents are strongly electron withdrawing and destabilize carbocations They include... 

The Gattermann-Koch synthesis is suitable for the preparation of simple aromatic aldehydes from ben2ene and its substituted derivatives, as well as from polycychc aromatics. The para isomers are produced preferentially. Aromatics with meta-directing substituents cannot be formylated (108). 

The entrance of a third or fourth substituent can be predicted by Beilstein s rule. If a substituent Z- enters into a compound C H XY, both X and Y exert an influence, but the group with the predominant influence directs Z- to the position it will occupy. Since all meta-directing groups are deactivating, it follows that ortho—para activating groups predominate when one of them is present on the benzene ring. 

In the pyrrole series, ester groups a to nitrogen are more readily hydrolyzed by alkali, but those in a /3 position more readily by acid. A methoxycarbonyl group in the 2-positlon is meta directing thus bromination yields mainly 4-bromo-2-methoxycarbonylpyrrole. Free radical chlorination with f-butylhypochlorite gives the 5-chloro derivative. 

Finally, certain 3-substituted compounds can be prepared by utilizing the - meta) directing powet (cf. Section IV,B) of some groups in the 2-position which afterward can be removed. 3-Nitrothiophene is prepared by nitration of 2-thiophenesulfonyl chloride and by removal of the sulfonic acid group of the 4-nitro-2-sulfonyl chloride formed with superheated steam. Another approach to 3-nitrothio-phene is to nitrate 2-cyanothiophene, separate the 4-nitro-2-cyano-thiophene from the 5-isomer, hydrolyze, and decarboxylate. A final method of preparation of 3-nitrothiophene is by simultaneous de-bromination and decarboxylation of 5-bromo-4-nitro-2-thiophene-carboxylic acid obtained through the nitration of methyl 5-bromo-2-thiophenecarboxylate. 

Meta-directing deactivators, such as —CHO, act through a combination of electron-withdrawing inductive and resonance effects that reinforce each other and are felt most strongly at the ortho and para positions. As a result, the ortho and para intermediates are less stable so reaction with an electrophile occurs at the meta position (Figure 16.16). 

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