Nitronium salts aromatic nitration with

Nitronium salts are efficient and powerful nitrating agents. Nitronium tetrafluoroborate is the most commonly used nitronium salt for nitration and is commercially available as a solid or as a solution in sulfolane in which the ions are highly solvated and exist as an ion pair. Nitronium tetrafluoroborate shows poor solubility in most organic solvents and so the more soluble nitronium hexafluorophosphate is sometimes preferred for nitrations. Olah and co-workers - have studied the nitration of a vast array of aromatics with nitronium salts. Solutions of nitronium salts in aprotic organic solvents are useful for the nitration of acid sensitive or readily oxidized substrates. Nitronium tetrafluoroborate has been used for the... 

CFs.SOaH. It contains nitronium salt NO CF3S07- The major difference between the aromatic nitration with this and other nitronium salt is an extremely high reaction rate. 

Figure 1. Energy Diagram for Aromatic Nitration with A.) highly energetic nitronium salts, B.) more selective nitrating agents (acetyl or methyl nitrate)...

Mixture of nitric and sulfuric acid (mixed acid) used extensively in nitration of aromatic hydrocarbons, is generally unsuitable for nitration of alkanes, since primary nitroalkanes are rapidly hydrolyzed by hot sulfuric acid and secondary and tertiary nitroalkanes form tars (in all probability via rapid alkene-forming elimination and subsequent polycondensation, polymerization, etc.). It is, however, significant to point out that it is not necessarily the lack of reactivity of paraffins with mixed acid that makes the nitration of saturated hydrocarbons unsuitable, but that fast secondary reactions of any nitro products formed (as well as oxidative side reactions) can take place. This difficulty can be, at least in part, overcome by using preformed nitronium salts as nitrating agents. 

Olah s original preparative nitrations were carried out with mixtures of the aromatic compound and nitronium salt alone or in ether, and later with sulpholan as the solvent. High yields of nitro-compounds were obtained from a wide range of aromatic compounds, and the anhydrous conditions have obvious advantages when functional groups such as cyano, alkoxycarbonyl, or halogenocarbonyl are present. The presence of basic fimctions raises difficulties with pyridine no C-nitration occurs, i-nitropyridinium being formed. ... 

It has already been noted that, as well as alkylbenzenes, a wide range of other aromatic compounds has been nitrated with nitronium salts. In particular the case of nitrobenzene has been examined kinetically. Results are collected in table 4.4. The reaction was kinetically of the first order in the concentration of the aromatic and of the nitronium salt. There is agreement between the results for those cases in which the solvent induces the ionization of nitric acid to nitronium ion, and the corresponding results for solutions of preformed nitronium salts in the same solvent. 

In nitration with nitronium salts in sulpholan, nitrobenzene was substituted in the following proportions 8% ortho, 90% meta and 2% paraf under the same conditions benzylidyne trifluoride yielded 8%, 88% and 4% of 0-, m- and p-nitro compound respectively Both of these aromatic compounds were stated to be io -10 times less reactive than benzene. "... 

Nitrations can be performed in homogeneous media, using tetramethylene sulfone or nitromethane (nitroethane) as solvent. A large variety of aromatic compounds have been nitrated with nitronium salts in excellent yields in nonaqueous media. Sensitive compounds, otherwise easily hydroly2ed or oxidized by nitric acid, can be nitrated without secondary effects. Nitration of aromatic compounds is considered an irreversible reaction. However, the reversibihty of the reaction has been demonstrated in some cases, eg, 9-nitroanthracene, as well as pentamethylnitrobenzene transnitrate benzene, toluene, and mesitylene in the presence of superacids (158) (see Nitration). 

Ridd and Yoshida explored the At-nitration of aromatic nitroanilines with nitronium hex-afluorophosphate in nitromethane with the aim of studying the Bamberger rearrangement (Chapter 4, Section 4.5). In was found that amines of low basicity essentially undergo complete A -substitution if the amine is in excess 2,4-dinitroaniline and 2,3-dinitroaniline form A, 2,4-trinitroaniline and At,2,3-trinitroaniline, respectively, as the sole products. More basic nitroanilines give mixtures of C-substituted, At-substituted and poly-substimted materials. The use of nitronium salts for At-nitration has been extensively reviewed. ... 

Stable nitronium salts, which are readily prepared from nitric acid (or nitrates) with HF and BF3 (and other Lewis acids such as PF5, SbF5, etc.) [Eqs. (5.171) and (5.172)], will nitrate aromatics in organic solvents generally with close to quantitative yield. Because HF and PF5 (or BF3) can be easily recovered and recycled, the method can be considered as a nitric acid nitration using a superacid catalyst [Eq. (5.173)]. 

Except for nitric acid and the nitrated mixture, the nitration of aromatic compounds can be carried out with nitronium salts as well [12],... 

Olah et al. have found out that the reaction rates on the nitration with nitronium salts are in good agreement with the stability of ir-complexes [6, 13-16], On this basis the authors have assumed that the nitronium salts serve as the nitrating agent the stage limiting the reaction rate is the formation of ir-complcx (Fig. 2) that is rather uncommon in aromatic substitution. 

Reaction of a primary aliphatic amine, n-butylamine, with nitronium tetrafluoroborate in methylene chloride or acetonitrile produced not n-butylnitramine, but n-butyl nitrate in about 20% yield. However, treating an electronegatively substituted primary aromatic amine, picramide, with nitronium tetrafluoroborate did give the primary nitramine, N,2,4,6-tetra-nitroaniline, in 85% yield. Olah (16) had reported previously that aniline was oxidized vigorously by nitronium salts. 

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