Naphthalene: acylation bromination

Cyclohexadienol was prepared by Rickborn in 1970 from reaction of the epoxide of 1,4-cyclohexadiene with methyl lithium.100 A hydrate of naphthalene, 1-hydroxy-1,2-dihydro-naphthalene was prepared by Bamberger in 1895 by allylic bromination of O-acylated tetralol (1-hydroxy-l,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene) followed by reaction with base.101 Hydrates of naphthalene and other polycylic aromatics are also available from oxidative fermentation of dihydroaromatic molecules, which occurs particularly efficiently with a mutant strain (UV4) of Pseudomonas putida.102,103 The hydrates are alcohols and they undergo acid-catalyzed dehydration to form the aromatic molecule by the same mechanism as other alcohols, except that the thermodynamic driving force provided by the aromatic product makes deprotonation of the carbocation (arenonium ion) a fast reaction, so that in contrast to simple alcohols, formation of the carbocation is rate-determining (Scheme 6).104,105... 

The importance of the steric effect accounts for the spread of the data for lf-N in the substitution reactions. Nitration and non-catalytic chlorination, reactions of modest steric requirements, define points which fall above the arbitrary reference line. Bromination, a reaction of somewhat greater steric requirements, is not accelerated to the extent anticipated on the basis of the results for nitration or chlorination. The benzoylation reaction with large steric requirements is two orders of magnitude slower than the equally selective chlorination reaction. The unusually small ratio for lf-N/2f-N for the acylation reaction is a further indication of the steric effects. Apparently, the direct substitution reactions of naphthalene respond to the retarding steric influence of the peri hydrogen in much the same way as for other ortho substituents. 

Note that both the bromination and the acylation of naphthalene result in the substitution of the electrophile at the 1 position. None of the isomeric product with the electrophile bonded to the 2 position is isolated in either case. The higher reactivity of the 1 position can be understood by examination of the resonance structures for the arenium ion. When the electrophile adds to the 1 position, the arenium ion has a total of seven resonance structures, whereas only six exist for the arenium ion resulting from addition of the electrophile to the 2 position. 

Methylnaphthalene can be converted into 2-methyl-6-acetylnaphthalene by acylation with BFs/acetic anhydride, with high selectivity and conversion rates. 2-Methyl-6-acetylnaphthalene, when oxidized at 130 °C and at a pressure of 6 to 8 bar using cobalt/bromine catalysts in acetic add produces naphthalene-2,6-di-carboxylic add. 

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