Nitro nucleophilic substitution, mechanism

The lack of a uniform order of relative reactivity of the halogens in reactions of certain nucleophiles with nitro- and polynitro-phenyl halides led Parker and Read to propose a one-stage mechanism for some aromatic nucleophilic substitutions. An alternative explanation within the framework of the two-stage S Ar2 mechanism had been proposed earlier. A range of mechanisms has been considered in the past by Chapman, who properly points out that only in a limited number of examples is the evidence for the two-stage mechanism compelling even though the balance of evidence favors it. 

Quite recently, it was reported that heating of tetracyano derivative 268 with potassium nitrite and potassium carbonate in DMF provided 53% of phenoxathiin 270 (Scheme 42) (OOlHl 161). The probable mechanism is, that one activated nitro group in 268 is displaced with a nitrosoxy group by nucleophilic substitution of nitrite ion, followed by hydrolysis to 269, which then undergoes denitrocyclization reaction to the final product. 

In many cases, the yields of these products are high. However, the use of /V-silylated triazoles as nucleophiles or the use of cyclic nitroso acetals (475) substituted at the C-3 atom leads to a noticeable decrease in the yield of the oximes. Therefore, steric hindrance in nitroso acetals and a decrease in nucleophilicity of A-centered nucleophiles result in an increase in the contribution of side reactions. It should be emphasized that C -nucleophiles, such as anions of nitro compounds, are not involved in coupling reactions with cyclic nitroso acetals (475). However, the products, which formally correspond to the C,C-coupling mechanism, can be prepared by the nucleophilic substitution of chlorine in compound (476 d) by a Sa/2 mechanism (Scheme 3.254, product (483c), the yield was 79%). 

Nucleophilic substitution is the widely accepted reaction route for the photosubstitution of aromatic nitro compounds. There are three possible mechanisms11,12, namely (i) direct displacement (S/v2Ar ) (equation 9), (ii) electron transfer from the nucleophile to the excited aromatic substrate (SR wlAr ) (equation 10) and (iii) electron transfer from the excited aromatic compound to an appropriate electron acceptor, followed by attack of the nucleophile on the resultant aromatic radical cation (SRi w 1 Ar ) (equation 11). Substituent effects are important criteria for probing the reaction mechanisms. While the SR wlAr mechanism, which requires no substituent activation, is insensitive to substituent effects, both the S/v2Ar and the Sr+n lAr mechanisms show strong and opposite substituent effects. 

Alkyl halides are often used as substrates instead of alcohols. In such cases the salt of the inorganic acid is usually used and the mechanism is nucleophilic substitution at the carbon atom. An important example is the treatment of alkyl halides with silver nitrate to form alkyl nitrates. This is used as a test for alkyl halides. In some cases there is competition from the central atom. Thus nitrite ion is an ambident nucleophile that can give nitrites or nitro compounds (see 0-60).731 Dialkyl or aryl alkyl ethers can be cleaved with anhydrous sulfonic acids.732... 

The Sn(AE) mechanism consists of the initial addition (A) of the nucleophile (attachment) to the carbon atom bearing the potential leaving group, followed by the elimination (E) of the latter.85 It is analogous to the one usually occurring in the nucleophilic substitution of nitro-activated aromatic substrates. 

A survey of many such reactions suggests that there is no single, simple pattern that can be used to predict the outcome of photochemical nucleophilic substitutions, but rather a situation in which oneof at least three mechanisms may operate, and this has been borne out by more detailed mechanistic studies. One approach to rationalizing the preferred orientation in the excited-state reactions is to calculate electron densities at the various ring carbon atoms for a particular pattern of substituents, and to assume that preferential attack by a nucleophile will take place at the position of lowest electron density. This static reactivity leads to the prediction that a nitro group is meta-directing for direct nucleophilic attack in the excited state,... 

The cine substitution of phenyl 3-nitro-4-thienyl sulfone has been discussed in Section 3.14.3.5. An intramolecular example of cine substitution by an AEa mechanism is provided by the Truce-Smiles rearrangement of the sulfone (459) to (460) (78JOC101). PhS02 as a leaving group has a higher steric requirement than Br in nucleophilic substitution reactions. In order to give a unified picture, details are deferred to Section 3.14.3.8. 

Figure 8-5. Reactions of halobenzene derivatives with nucleophiles, a) Unactivated compounds are extremely inert and only react by mechanisms that involve the formation of benzynes. b) The presence of the electron-withdrawing nitro group, which can stabilise an anionic intermediate by the delocalisation of the charge onto the electronegative oxygen atoms, allows facile nucleophilic substitutions.

Benzylic electrophiles bearing electron-withdrawing groups at the arene do not always yield the expected products of nucleophilic substitution on treatment with a nucleophile. One important side reaction is the dimerization of these compounds to yield 1,2-diarylethenes (stilbenes). This dimerization does not require such highly activated systems as the example sketched in Scheme 4.28, but can even occur with, for example, 2- or 4-nitrobenzyl chloride [120, 121]. The latter compounds are converted into the corresponding stilbenes by treatment with KOH in ethanol [120]. Di-arylmethyl halides behave similarly and can yield tetraarylethenes on treatment with a base. These reactions presumably proceed via the mechanism sketched in Scheme 4.27, in which the amphiphilic character of the nitro group plays a decisive role (metalated nitroalkanes or 4-nitrobenzyl derivatives can act as nucleophiles and as electrophiles). 

Nucleophilic substitution of unactivated benzene derivatives occurs by a mechanism different from the addition-elimination we saw with the nitro-substituted halobenzenes. A clue to the mechanism is provided by the reaction of p-bromotol ucnc with sodium amide. The products are a 50 50 mixture of m- andp-toluidine. 

Nucleophilic substitution of the diazo group is practically the only method for the production of nitro derivatives of tetrazole [392, 436 143], 5-Nitrotetrazole itself was isolated and identified in the form of metallic salts [436-440, 442, 443], The mechanism of substitution of the diazo group by a nitro group in heterocyclic compounds has not been studied specially. As already mentioned, in many cases the reaction takes place as catalytic nucleophilic substitution and does not require the use of a catalyst (copper salts) [392,444], The results from investigation of the kinetics of the substitution of the diazonium group by the nitro group in compounds of the benzene series make it possible to suppose that the diazonitrite is formed intermediately and quickly reacts with a second nitrite anion [392,444], Some difference between the kinetics of the reaction of 3-diazonium-5-carboxy-l,2,4-triazole and 3-diazonium-5-methoxycarbonyl-l,2,4-triazole with sodium nitrite in hydrochloric acid and the analogous process in the benzene series is probably due to prototropic... 

The nitroazoles are widely used in the reaction of vicarious nucleophilic substitution of hydrogen. Vicarious nucleophilic C-amination is, practically, the single method of direct introduction of the amino group into nitro compounds. Using the vicarious nucleophilic substitution reaction we have successfully carried out the C-amination of some representatives of nitrobenzazoles, nitroazoles, and model compounds thereof and studied the structure of aminated products and the C-amination mechanism [673-678],... 

An important group of reactions pertaining to this class is the nucleophilic substitution of a chloro or a nitro group at the benzylic position of p-nitrocumyl derivatives similarly to the SRN1 ring substitution (Sect. 2.1.4) the process is accelerated by light absorption (possibly on the part of a nucleophile-substrate ground state complex) and proceeds via a chain mechanism (Scheme 36) [192-194]... 

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