Nitration Nitroarenes

Nitration of aromatic rings by nitronium tetrafluoroborate is a general method. Fifty-seven arenes, haloarenes, nitroarenes,... 

Considerable attention has been directed to the formation of nitroarenes that may be formed by several mechanisms (a) initial reaction with hydroxyl radicals followed by reactions with nitrate radicals or NO2 and (b) direct reaction with nitrate radicals. The first is important for arenes in the troposphere, whereas the second is a thermal reaction that occurs during combustion of arenes. The kinetics of formation of nitroarenes by gas-phase reaction with N2O5 has been examined for naphthalene (Pitts et al. 1985a) and methylnaphthalenes (Zielinska et al. 1989) biphenyl (Atkinson et al. 1987b,c) acephenanthrylene (Zielinska et al. 1988) and for adsorbed pyrene (Pitts et al. 1985b). Both... 

The nitration step was the ultimate test of our decision to pursue a protecting group-free strategy. We were very pleased to find that the desired nitroarene... 

The charge-transfer nitrations of the aromatic donors are generally carried out to rather low actinic conversions to avoid complications from light absorption by the nitroarene products, and in duplicate sets (with a dark control) to monitor simultaneously any competition from thermal processes. For example, the yellow solution of anisole and Me2PyN02 in acetonitrile at — 40°C is irradiated with the aid of the cut-off filter that effectively removes all excitation light with Aexc<400nm. After reasonable photochemical conversions are attained, the H NMR spectrum is found to be virtually identical to that of the reaction mixture obtained by electrophilic (thermal) nitration (60). 

The chemical structures of some common mifttary explosives are shown in Figure 1. These include the nitrate esters such as nitrocellulose (NC), NG, EGDN, and (PETN) nitroarenes such as trinitrotoluene (TNT, CH3—C6H2(N02)3), picric acid (HO—C5H2(N02)3), and 2,4,6-trinitrophenylmethylnitramine (tetryl) and nitramines such as RDX (C3H6N6O6), HMX (C4H8N8O8), and hexanitrohexa-azaisowurtzitane (CL— 20). Of these, only CL— 20 is new , that is, less than 50 years old [3]. Mixtures of oxidizers and fuels, such as AN and FO (called ANFO), are also secondary explosives. 

The question of formation of nitroarenes during Hi-Vol sampling of ambient POM was considered in early studies (Pitts et al., 1978 Pitts, 1979) and addressed in several of the studies of PAH nitrations discussed above. In a definitive evaluation, Arey and co-workers (1988a) coated several perdeuterated PAHs... 

In the mid-1980s, the discovery of significant amounts of 2-nitropyrene in ambient particulate matter collected in a rural region of Denmark by Nielsen and co-workers (1984) and 2-nitrofluoranthene in southern California by Pitts and colleagues (1985b) provided unique initial evidence for the possible formation of nitroarenes by reactions of precursor PAHs in ambient air. Thus, these compounds are not electrophilic nitration products of their parent PAHs and are generally not observed in combustion sources such as diesel soot see, for example, Table 10.34 and the report of Ciccioli and co-workers on the detection of emissions of 2-nitrofluoranthene and 2-nitropyrene solely from a very minor Italian industrial source (see Ciccioli et al., 1993, 1995, 1996, and references therein). 

Pitts, J. N Jr., Nitration of Gaseous Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Simulated and Ambient Urban Atmospheres A Source of Mutagenic Nitroarenes, Atmos. Environ., 21, 2531-2547 (1987). 

Acceptor-substituted haloarenes have been successfully used to O-arylate phenols by aromatic nucleophilic substitution (Table 7.14). The most common arylating agents are 2-fluoro-l-nitroarenes, 2-halopyridines, 2-halopyrimidines, and 2-halotriazines. When sufficiently reactive haloarenes are used, the reaction proceeds smoothly with either the arylating agent or the phenol linked to the support. The thallium(III) nitrate catalyzed arylation of phenols with aryl iodides has been used for macrocycli-zations on solid phase [184], Burgess and co-workers have developed a solid-phase synthesis of 3-turri mimetics based on ring-closure by aromatic nucleophilic substitution (Entry 4, Table 7.14 see also Table 10.5). Phenols, alkylamines, and thiols have been successfully used as nucleophiles for this type of macrocyclization [185],... 

Recalling that arylamines are normally prepared by reduction of nitroarenes, we see that ethyl m-nitrophenyl ketone is a pivotal synthetic intermediate. It is prepared by nitration of ethyl phenyl ketone, which is analogous to nitration of acetophenone, shown in Section 12.16. The preparation of ethyl phenyl ketone by Friedel-Crafts acylation of benzene is shown in Section 12.7. 

C. Oxley, .L. Smith, W. Wang, "Compatibility of Ammonium Nitrate with Monomolecular Explosives, Part I," . Phys. Chem., 98 (1994) 3893-3900. .C. Oxley, .L Smith, W. Wang, "Compatibility of Ammonium Nitrate with Monomolecular Explosives, Part II Nitroarenes," . Phys. Chem., 98 (1994) 3901-3907. 

Miyake and co-workers (40) have published a synthesis of ellipticine that features a novel reductive phenylation of nitroarenes (41) (Scheme 4). Nitration of 5,8-dimethyl-l, 2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (22) gave an inseparable mixture of nitro compounds 23. Treatment of this mixture with iron pentacarbonyl and triflic acid in the presence of benzene gave a 2 1 mixture of amines 24 and 25. Separation of these isomers and diazotization of each with nitrous acid, conversion to the azide, and thermolysis yielded ellipticine (1) and isoellipticine (27) (5,11-dimethyl-10f/-pyrido[3,4- )]carbazole), respectively, following Pd/C dehydrogenation of the initially formed nitrene insertion product (e.g., 26). The overall yield of ellipticine is 9%. 

SAMPLE SOLUTION (a) The last step in the synthesis of o-isopropylaniline, the reduction of the corresponding nitro compound by catalytic hydrogenation, is given as one of the three preceding examples. The necessary nitroarene is obtained by fractional distillation of the ortho-para mixture formed during nitration of isopropylbenzene. 

The nitric acid used for side chain oxidation must usually be diluted 1 3 with water, so as to avoid nitration of the ring. Only with nitroarenes, e.g.,... 

Sera, N., H. Tokiwa, and T. Hirohata Induction of nitroarenes in cigarette smoke condensates treated with nitrate Toxicol. Lett. 50 (1990) 289-298. 

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