Nitration in liquid phase

1 NITRATION IN LIQUID PHASE Alkyl and Acyl Nitrates as Nitrating Agents 

Nitration of monosubstituted aromatics, toluene in particular, has been extensively studied using zeolites in order to direct the reaction towards the formation of the desired para-isomer. Toluene has been nitrated para-selectively with benzoyl nitrate over zeolite catalysts.[14,15] For example, when mordenite is used as a catalyst, MNTs are formed in almost quantitative yields, giving 67 % of the para-isomer in 10 min, but tetrachloromethane is required as solvent. However, the main problems associated with the use of benzoyl nitrate are handling difficulties due to its sensitivity toward decomposition, and the tendency toward detonation upon contact with rough surfaces. Nagy et a/.[19 21] reported the nitration of benzene, chlorobenzene, toluene and o-xylene with benzoyl nitrate in the presence of an amorphous aluminosilicate, as well as with zeolites HY and ZSM-11, in hexane as a 

Nitration by Using Nitric Acid and Acetic Anhydride as Water Trapping Reagent 

Laszlo and co-workers[11,25-271 developed a reagent known as claycop, which is Cu(NC 3)2 supported on acidic montmorillonite clay, that selectively nitrates toluene using nitric acid, and acetic anhydride as water trapping reagent (Menke conditions). The reaction conditions required to obtain high selectivity of the para-isomer 

Using Menke s conditions, Smith et al.[29,30] have described a method for the nitration of benzene, alkylbenzenes and halogenobenzenes using zeolites with different topologies (HBeta, HY, HZSM-5 and HMordenite) as catalysts and a stoichiometric amount of nitric acid and acetic anhydride. The reactions were carried out without solvent at temperatures between -50 °C and 20 °C. For the nitration of toluene, tridirectional zeolites HBeta and HY were the most active catalysts achieving 99 % conversion in 5 min reaction time. However, HY exhibited selectivity to the p-nitrotoluene very similar to the homogeneous phase, while with HBeta, selectivities to p-nitrotoluene higher than 70% could be achieved. HBeta zeolite exhibited excellent para-selectivity for the nitration of the different monosubstituted aromatics (Table 5.1). The catalyst can be recycled and the only by-product, acetic acid, can be separated by vacuum distillation. 

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Aromatic compounds are usually nitrated in liquid phase by treatment with a mixture of concentrated nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid serves as a dehydrating agent which prevents dilution of the nitric acid by the liberated water. Acetic anhydride in acetic acid and boron trifluoride also serve this purpose. 

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