Naphthalene electrophilic reactivity

Another class of polyimides that are characterised by a higher chain flexibility, when compared to PPI, are based on naphthalene-l,4,5,8-tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (DNTA). These polymers are of considerable interest due to their high heat resistance and thermal stability and due to easy accessibility of the starting monomers. DNTA is a widely available dianhydride showing the highest electrophilic reactivity among bisfnaphthalene-tetracarboxylic anhydrides [18, 19]. 

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons undergo electrophilic aromatic substitution when treated with the same reagents that react with benzene In general polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are more reactive than benzene Most lack the symmetry of benzene how ever and mixtures of products may be formed even on monosubstitution Among poly cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons we will discuss only naphthalene and that only briefly Two sites are available for substitution m naphthalene C 1 and C 2 C 1 being normally the preferred site of electrophilic attack... 

The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as naphthalene, anthracene, and phenan-threne undergo electrophilic aromatic substitution and are generally more reactive than benzene. One reason is that the activation energy for formation of the c-complex is lower than for benzene because more of the initial resonance stabilization is retained in intermediates that have a fused benzene ring. 

In alternant hydrocarbons (p. 55), the reactivity at a given position is similar for electrophilic, nucleophilic, and free-radical substitution, because the same kind of resonance can be shown in all three types of intermediate (cf. 20,22, and 23). Attack at the position that will best delocalize a positive charge will also best delocalize a negative charge or an unpaired electron. Most results are in accord with these predictions. For example, naphthalene is attacked primarily at the 1 position by NOj, NHJ, and Ph, and always more readily than benzene. 

The amplitude of the frontier orbitals determines the selectivity. The most reactive atom in a molecule has the largest amplitude of the frontier orbitals. The frontier orbitals overlap each other to the greatest extent at the sites with the largest amphtudes. Reactions occur on the atoms in the electron donors and acceptors, where the HOMO and LUMO amplitudes are largest, respectively. Electrophiles prefer the a position of naphthalene, an electron donor, with the larger HOMO amplitude (Scheme 21). Nucleophiles attack the carbons of the carbonyl groups, an electron acceptor, with the larger LUMO amplitude (Scheme 7). 

The benzanthrone system is susceptible to both electrophilic and nucleophilic attack. The most reactive sites towards electrophiles are the 3- and 9-positions, which can be compared with the 4,4 -positions in biphenyl. The 9-position is somewhat deactivated by the carbonyl group, however. Thus, for example, monobromination takes place at the 3-position and further substitution gives 3,9-dibromobenzanthrone. Nitration and benzoylation similarly give rise to the 3-substituted product. The 3-position is in fact peri-hindered (compare naphthalene) so that sulphonation yields the 9-sulphonic acid. Electron withdrawal by the carbonyl group activates the 4- and 6-positions towards nucleophilic attack for example, hydroxylation occurs at these sites. 

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, ... 

The reactivities of isomeric thienothiophenes calculated in n -electron approximation by the PPP method, and those calculated considering all valence electrons, show reasonable agreement. It should be noted, however, that the choice of parameters in PPP calculations is somewhat arbitrary, especially for heavy atoms (e.g., sulfur). This may lead to a discrepancy between theoretical (in 7r-electron approximation) and experimental estimation of reactivities. For example, Clark applied the semiempirical method PPP SCF MO to calculate the reactivities of different positions in thienothiophenes 1—3, thiophene, and naphthalene from the localization energy values and found the following order of decreasing reactivity for electrophilic substitution thieno[3,4-b]-thiophene (3) > thieno[2,3-Z>]thiophene (I) > thieno [3,2-b]thiophene... 

Although naphthalene, phenanthrene, and anthracene resemble benzene in many respects, they are more reactive than benzene in both substitution and addition reactions. This increased reactivity is expected on theoretical grounds because quantum-mechanical calculations show that the net loss in stabilization energy for the first step in electrophilic substitution or addition decreases progressively from benzene to anthracene therefore the reactivity in substitution and addition reactions should increase from benzene to anthracene. 

Condensed aromatic hydrocarbons are more reactive towards electrophilic reagents, and naphthalene, for example, may be brominated quite readily in solution in carbon tetrachloride without the need for a catalyst electrophilic attack takes place at the more reactive a-position to yield 1-bromonaphthalene (Expt 6.25). 

The text points out that C-l of naphthalene is more reactive than C-2 toward electrophilic aromatic substitution. Thus, of the two possible products of sulfonation, naphthalene-1-sulfonic acid should be formed faster and should be the major product under conditions of kinetic control. Since the problem states that the product under conditions of thermodynamic control is the other isomer, naphthalene-2-sulfonic acid is the major product at elevated temperature. 

There are principally two different approaches of correlating experimental rate data of electrophilic substitution with reactivity indices (1) Correlating the index with the rate data of a given reaction, e.g. bromination. For example, a satisfying correlation of Dewar reactivity numbers with the log of rate constants of the bromination of benzene, naphthalene (1- and 2-position), biphenyl (4-position), phenanthrene (9-position), and anthracene (9-position) has been observed [55]. In correlations of this type the reactivity index corresponds to the reactivity constant in the Hammett equation while the slope of the linear correlation corresponds to the reaction constant (see also Sect. 3) (2) correlating the index with experimental a values. 

A review of solvent properties of, and organic reactivity in, ionic liquids demonstrates the relatively small number of quantitative studies of electrophilic aromatic substitution in these media.3 Studies mentioned in the review indicate conventional polar mechanisms. 1-Methylpyrrole reacts with acyl chlorides in the ionic liquid 1-butylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate to form the corresponding 2-acylpyrrole in the presence of a catalytic amount of ytterbium(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate.4 The ionic liquid-catalyst system is recyclable. Chloroindate(III) ionic liquids5 are catalytic media for the acylation, using acid chlorides and anhydrides, of naphthalene, benzene, and various substituted benzenes at 80-120 °C. Again the ionic liquid is recyclable. 

The regioselectivity and reactivity of Ar-SE reactions of naphthalene are explained correctly by comparing the free activation enthalpies for the formation of the sigma complexes 1- E— C10H10+ and 2-E— E— C10H10+ from the electrophile and naphthalene and for the formation of the sigma complex E— C6H6+ from the electrophile and benzene, respectively. 

Polycyclic aromatic compounds also undergo electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions. Because the aromatic resonance energy that is lost in forming the arenium ion is lower, these compounds tend to be more reactive than benzene. For example, the brotni-nation of naphthalene, like that of other reactive aromatic compounds, does not require a Lewis acid catalyst ... 

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. 

An alternative mode of reactivity is observed for [Os]-naphthalene when the nucleophile for the tandem addition is built into the electrophile. The normal mode of reactivity results in the formation of cis-l,4-dihydronaphthalenes (vide supra), but when a solution of the methyl vinyl ketone Michael addition product 24 in methanol (Table 6, entry 1) and a catalytic amount of triflic acid are allowed to react, the complexed hydrophenanthrenone 25 is isolated in 89 % yield [18]. This reactivity results from the pendant ketone undergoing a tauto-merization to form an enol, which can then attack the allyl cation at C2. The stereochemistry of the nucleophilic addition is still anti to the face involved in the metal coordination, but the... 

Electrophilic substitution in 12.2 indicates that the 7-position (corresponding to the p-position of naphthalene) is the more reactive, and this follows since this position is para conjugated with sulfur (12.8), whereas the 6-position is ortho conjugated (12.9). Yields are lower than in substitution of 12.1, but this does not necessarily indicate that 12.2 is less reactive, since substitution is accompanied by ring-contraction reactions. No quantitative data are yet available. 

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