7-Nitrotoluene

CAS 88-72-2 ortho isomer 99-08-1 meta isomer 99-99-0 para isomer 

Physical Form. Ortho and meta isomers are yellowish liquid para isomer is a yellow solid 

All isomers are used in the synthesis of dyestuffs, explosives, and agricultural chemicals 

Toxicology. Nitrotoluene has a low potency for producing methemoglobin and subsequent anoxia. Chronic exposure to other aromatic nitro compounds has caused anemia, and it is expected that nitrotoluene may cause the same effect. Animal data suggest a potential for hepatic, renal, and reproductive damage. 

In general, higher ambient temperatures increase susceptibility to cyanosis from exposure to methemoglobin-forming agents.  

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White crystals, m.p. 90-9 rC. Prepared fromp-nitrotoluene by way of p-aminobenzoic acid. It is used as a local anaesthetic on mucous surfaces internally and by injection, and is taken internally to relieve gastric pain. 

Oxidation of a side chain by alkaline permanganate. Aromatic hydrocarbons containing side chains may be oxidised to the corresponding acids the results are generally satisfactory for compounds with one side chain e.g., toluene or ethylbenzene -> benzoic acid nitrotoluene -> nitrobenzoic acid) or with two side chains e.g., o-xylene -> phthalic acid). 

Nitrotoluene is similarly converted largely into 2 4-dinitrotoluene ... 

Place 18 g. (12 ml.) of fuming nitric acid, sp. gr. 1 5, and 30 g. (16-5 ml.) of concentrated sulphuric acid and a few fragments of broken glass in a 250 or 500 ml. round-bottomed flask. Add gradually, in small portions, 14 g. of p-nitrotoluene do not allow the temperature to rise above 50 and cool the flask, if necessary, by immersion in cold water. Place a small funnel in the mouth of the flask and heat on a water bath at 90-95° for 30 minutes. Allow to cool almost to the laboratory temperature and pour the reaction mixture slowly into about 500 ml. of ice water containing a few small pieces of ice. Filter the crude dinitrotoluene through a Buchner funnel at the pump, wash it thoroughly with cold water, and drain as completely as possible. RecrystalUse from the minimum volume of hot methyl alcohol (flask, reflux condenser, and water bath experimental details as in Section IV,12). The yield of pure 2 4-dinitrotoluene, m.p. 71°, is 12 -5 g. 

Equip a I litre three-necked flask with a mechanical stirrer and a thermometer, and immerse the flask in a bath of ice and salt. Place 306 g. (283 ml.) of acetic anhydride, 300 g. (285 ml.) of glacial acetic acid and 25 g. of p-nitrotoluene in the flask, and add slowly, with stirring, 42 5 ml. of concentrated sulphuric acid. When the temperature has fallen to 5°, introduce 50 g. of A.R. chromic anhydride in small portions at such a rate that the temperature does not rise above 10° continue the stirring for 10 minutes after all the chromium trioxide has been added. Pour the contents of the flask into a 3 litre beaker two-thirds filled with crushed ice and almost fill the beaker with cold water. Filter the solid at the pump and wash it with cold water until the washings are colourless. Suspend the product in 250 ml. of cold 2 per cent, sodium carbonate solution and stir mechanically for 10-15 minutes filter (1), wash with cold water, and finally with 10 ml. of alcohol. Dry in a vacuum desiccator the yield of crude p-nitrobenzal diacetate is 26 g. (2),... 

That the rate profiles are close to parallel shows that the variations in rates reflect the changing concentration of nitronium ions, rather than idiosyncrasies in the behaviour of the activity coefficients of the aromatic compounds. The acidity-dependences of the activity coefficients of / -nitrotoluene, o- and -chloronitrobenzene (fig. 2.2, 2.3.2), are fairly shallow in concentrations up to about 75 %, and seem to be parallel. In more concentrated solutions the coefficients change more rapidly and it... 

The same sort of situation is encountered in the nitration of the nitrotoluenes. The following diagrams record the observed partial rate... 

The reduction of o-nitrophenyl acetic acids or esters leads to cyclization to oxindoles. Several routes to o-nitrophenylacetic acid derivatives arc available, including nitroarylation of carbanions with o-nitroaryl halides[2l,22] or trif-late[23] and acylation of o-nitrotoluenes with diethyl oxalate followed by oxidation of the resulting 3-(u-nitrophenyl)pyruvate[24 26]. 

Diethyl oxalate (29.2 g, 0.20mol) and 4-bromo-2-nitrotoluene (21.6 g, O.lOmol) were added to a cooled solution of sodium cthoxide prepared from sodium (4.6 g, 0.20 mol) and ethanol (90 ml). The mixture was stirred overnight and then refluxed for 10 min. Water (30 ml) was added and the solution refluxed for 2h to effect hydrolysis of the pyruvate ester. The solution was cooled and concentrated in vacuo. The precipitate was washed with ether and dried. The salt was dissolved in water (300 ml) and acidified with cone. HCl. The precipitate was collected, washed with water, dried and recrystallizcd from hexane-EtOAc to give 15.2 g of product. 

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