Nitration, aromatic electron transfer

One aspect of aromatic nitration that has received attention is the role of charge-transfer and electron-transfer intermediates on the path to the ff-complex intermediate. For... 

Moreover, the thermal nitration of various aromatic substrates with different X-PyNO cations shows the strong rate dependence on the acceptor strength of X-PyNO and the aromatic donor strength. This identifies the influence of the HOMO-LUMO gap in the EDA complexes (see Chart 3), and thus provides electron-transfer activation as the viable mechanistic basis for the aromatic nitration. Indeed, the graphic summary in Fig. 18 for toluene nitration depicts the isomeric composition of o-, m- and p-nitrotoluene to be singularly invariant over a wide range of substrate selectivities (k/kQ based on the benzene... 

Aromatic nitrosation with nitrosonium (NO + ) cation - unlike electrophilic nitration with nitronium (NO ) cation - is restricted to very reactive (electron-rich) substrates such as phenols and anilines.241 Electrophilic nitrosation with NO+ is estimated to be about 14 orders of magnitude less effective than nitration with N02+. 242 Such an unusually low reactivity of NO+ toward aromatic donors (as compared to that of NO ) is not a result of the different electron-acceptor strengths of these cationic acceptors since their (reversible) electrochemical reduction potentials are comparable. In order to pinpoint the origin of such a reactivity difference, let us examine the nitrosation reaction in the light of the donor-acceptor association and the electron-transfer paradigm as follows. 

Since electron transfer (log kE) represents the adiabatic counterpart to the photochemical process (hvcr), the triad in (87) is (stoichiometrically) equivalent to that in (63) and its collapse to the Wheland intermediate will lead to nitration products that are the same as those formed in charge-transfer nitration. When such a comparison of electrophilic and charge-transfer nitrations is carried out in quantitative detail, the aromatic donors fall roughly into two categories. 

Finally, we ask, if the reactive triads in Schemes 1 and 19 are common to both electrophilic and charge-transfer nitration, why is the nucleophilic pathway (k 2) apparently not pertinent to the electrophilic activation of toluene and anisole One obvious answer is that the electrophilic nitration of these less reactive [class (ii)] arenes proceeds via a different mechanism, in which N02 is directly transferred from V-nitropyridinium ion in a single step, without the intermediacy of the reactive triad, since such an activation process relates to the more conventional view of electrophilic aromatic substitution. However, the concerted mechanism for toluene, anisole, mesitylene, t-butylbenzene, etc., does not readily accommodate the three unique facets that relate charge-transfer directly to electrophilic nitration, viz., the lutidine syndrome, the added N02 effect, and the TFA neutralization (of Py). Accordingly, let us return to Schemes 10 and 19, and inquire into the nature of thermal (adiabatic) electron transfer in (87) vis-a-vis the (vertical) charge-transfer in (62). 

The electron-transfer mechanism for electrophilic aromatic nitration as presented in Scheme 19 is consistent with the CIDNP observation in related systems, in which the life-time of the radical pair [cf. (87)] is of particular concern (Kaptein, 1975 Clemens et al., 1984, 1985 Keumi et al., 1988 Morkovnik, 1988 Olah et al., 1989 Johnston et al., 1991 Ridd, 1991 Rudakov and Lobachev, 1991). As such, other types of experimental evidence for aromatic cation radicals as intermediates in electrophilic aromatic nitration are to be found only when there is significant competition from rate processes on the timescale of r<10 los. For example, the characteristic C-C bond scission of labile cation radicals is observed only during the electrophilic nitration of aromatic donors such as the dianthracenes and bicumene analogues which produce ArH+- with fragmentation rates of kf> 1010s-1 (Kim et al., 1992a,b). 

Since electrophilic and charge-transfer nitrations are both initiated via the same EDA complex and finally lead to the same array of nitration products, we infer that they share the intermediate stages in common. The strength of this inference rests on the variety of aromatic substrates (with widely differing reactivities and distinctive products) to establish the mechanistic criteria by which the identity of the two pathways are exhaustively tested. On this basis, electrophilic nitration is operationally equivalent to charge-transfer nitration in which electron-transfer activation is the obligatory first step. The extent to which the reactive triad in (90) is subject to intermolecu-lar interactions in the first interval (a few picoseconds) following electron transfer will, it is hoped, further define the mechanistic nuances of dissociative electron transfer in adiabatic and vertical systems (Shaik, 1991 Andrieux et al., 1992), especially when inner-sphere pathways are considered (Kochi, 1992). 

The nitration reagents (NO2 Y) for electrophilic aromatic nitration span a wide range and contain anions Y such as nitric acid (Y = OH-), acetyl nitrate (Y = OAc-), dinitrogen pentoxide (Y = NO3-), nitryl chloride (Y = Cl-), TV-nitropyridinium (Y = pyridine) and tetranitromethane [Y = C(N02)3-]. All reagents contain electron-deficient species which can serve as effective electron acceptors and form electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complexes with electron-rich donors including aromatic hydrocarbons107 (ArH, equation 86). Excitation of the EDA complexes by irradiation of the charge-transfer (CT) absorption band results in full electron transfer (equation 87) to form radical ion... 

A review on the nitration of aromatics (using a range of species including N02 and NO3) has appeared. Evidence for electron-transfer mechanisms via radical cations has been reviewed. In addition, another review comparing the reactivity of a range of radicals and radical cations has appeared. While radicals prefer to add to the carbon of CN triple bonds, radical cations were found to prefer addition at the N atom. Ab initio calculations were performed to rationalize this behaviour. 

Feng et al. (1986) performed quantum-chemical calculations of aromatic nitration. The resnlts they obtained were in good accordance with the IPs of N02 and benzene and its derivatives. The radical-pair recombination mechanism is favored for nitration whenever the IP of an aromatic molecule is much less than that of N02. According to calculations, nitration of toluene and xylene with N02 most probably proceeds according to ion-radical mechanism. Nitration of nitrobenzene and benzene derivatives with electron-acceptor substituents can proceed through the classical polar mechanism only. As for benzene, both mechanisms (ion-radical and polar) are possible. Substituents that raise the IP of an aromatic molecule to a value higher than that of N02 prevent the formation of this radical pair (one-electron transfer appears to be forbidden). This forces the classical mechanism to take place. It shonld be nnderlined that a solvent plays the decisive role in nitration. 

Therefore, one-electron oxidation of naphthalene by NO+ is the rate-determining stage at low naphthalene concentrations (= means eqnilibrinm of this oxidation). At high naphthalene concentrations, the rate of the process no longer depends on the rate of accnmnlation of cation-radical species. In this case, the rate depends on recombination of the species with N02 radical. The anthors point ont that for many of the more reactive aromatic componnds, reaction paths involving electron transfer in nitration will become more important as the concentration of the aromatic componnd is increased, irrespective of the concentration of the species accepting the electron (Leis et al. 1988). 

The title system in AN forms a homogeneous solution. The generation of NO cation takes place. As known, NO is a remarkable, diverse reagent not only for nitrosation and nitration but also for oxidation. Kochi et al. (1973) christened a new general mechanism oxidative aromatic substitution to describe aromatic snbstitntion reactions (Kochi 1990, Bosch and Kochi 1994). This mechanism incorporates ground-state electron transfer before the substitution step (see also Skokov and Wheeler 1999). 

Aromatic cation-radicals can also react with NOj", giving nitro compounds. Such reactions proceed either with a preliminary prepared cation-radical or starting from nncharged componnd if iodine and silver nitrite are added. As for mechanisms, two of them seem feasible—first, single electron transfer from the nitrite ion to a cation-radical and second, nitration of ArH with the NOj radical. This radical is quantitatively formed when iodine oxidizes silver nitrite in carbon tetrachloride (Neelmeyer 1904). 

Gas-phase nitration is important from theoretical and practical points of view. In solution, the solvation of the small nitronium ion should exceed that of the large aromatic cation-radical, and hence electron transfer should be less probable. In the gas-phase process, the solvation is absent and only inner reorganization energy remains significant. 

Further, if the rate-determining step involves single-electron transfer, isotope effects should not affect the nitration rate, that is, k lk should be 1. Using ion-cyclotron resonance for studying aromatic nitration in the gas phase, Dunbar et al. (1972) found no isotope effect. 

Conversion of toluenes to the benzoic acid is also accomplished by anodic oxidation in acetic acid containing some nitric acid. It is not clear if this reaction involves the aromatic radical-cation or if the oxidising agents are nitrogen oxide radicals generated by electron transfer from nitrate ions [66, 67]. Oxidation of 4-fluorotoluene at a lead dioxide anode in dilute sulphuric acid gives 4-fluorobenzoic acid in a reaction which involves loss of a proton from the aromatic radical-cation and them in further oxidation of the benzyl radical formed [68]. 

A. S. Morkovnik, the Oxidation-Reduction Stage in the Nitration Reaction, Russ. Chem. Rev. 57,144 (1988). L. Eberson u. F. Radner, Electron-Transfer Mechanisms in Electrophilic Aromatic Nitration, Acc. Chem. 

A further significant mechanistic pathway for aromatic nitration can involve a single electron-transfer reaction to an initial radical ion intermediate ... 

According to present knowledge, the one-electron transfer of stage 2 (the outer-sphere transfer) is hardly probable from the energetic point of view (see Chapter 1). Meanwhile, cation radical formation frequently takes place at aromatic nitration (Morkovnik 1988). Positional selectivity depends on spin-density distributions in these cation radicals. In principle, the attack of the N02 radical is probably at the position of the aromatic cation radical, which bears the maximal spin density. 

Substituents or reaction conditions that raise the ionization potential of an aromatic molecule to a value higher than that of N02 prevent formation of this radical pair (one-electron transfer appears to be forbidden). This forces the classical mechanism. As for reaction conditions, a solvent plays the decisive role in nitration. 

MO studies of aromatic nitration cast doubt on the existence of jt-complexes and electron-transfer complexes in liquid-phase nitrations.14 The enthalpy of protonation of aromatic substrates provides a very good index of substrate reactivity to nitration. Coulomb interaction between electrophile and substituent can be a special factor influencing regioselectivity. A detailed DFT study of the reaction of toluene with the nitronium ion has been reported.15 Calculated IR spectra for the Wheland intermediates suggest a classical SE2 mechanism. MO calculations of cationic localization energies for the interaction of monosubstituted benzenes with the nitronium ion correlate with observed product yields.16... 

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