Nitrous acid effect

This dihydronaphthohydroquinone is dissolved in hot acetic acid, the solution is let cool to about 100°, and an aqueous solution of sodium nitrite is run in rapidly with swirling. Nitrous acid effects smooth oxidation to 5,8-dihydro-l,4-naphtho-quinone (4, which can be isolated in 91-97% yield). The temperature is adjusted to 65°, and a warm (65°) solution of sodium dichromate containing a little sulfuric acid is added. The temperature is checked at 65-70° for 15 min., and after 45 min. addition of ice and water precipitates bright yellow naphthoquinone, m.p. 124-125°. 

The influence of added species upon the rates and kinetic forms of nitration in organic solvents were of the greatest importance in elucidating details of the processes involved, particularly of the steps leading to the nitronium ion. These influences will first be described, and then in the following section explained. The species to be considered are sulphuric acid, nitrate ions, urea and water. The effect of nitrous acid is considered later ( 4.3). 

In experiments on the nitration of benzene in acetic acid, to which urea was added to remove nitrous acid (which anticatalyses nitration 4.3.1), the rate was found to be further depressed. The effect was ascribed to nitrate ions arising from the formation of urea nitrate. In the same way, urea depressed the rate of the zeroth-order nitration of mesitylene in sulpholan. ... 

Solutions of dinitrogen tetroxide (the mixed anhydride of nitric and nitrous acids) in sulphuric acid are nitrating agents ( 4.3.2), and there is no doubt that the effective reagent is the nitronium ion. Its formation has been demonstrated by Raman spectroscopy and by cryoscopy ... 

We are not concerned here with the mechanism of nitrosation, but with the anticatalytic effect of nitrous acid upon nitration, and with the way in which this is superseded with very reactive compounds by an indirect mechanism for nitration. The term nitrous acid indicates all the species in a solution which, after dilution with water, can be estimated as nitrous acid. 

The anticatalytic effect of nitrous acid in nitration The effect of nitrous acid was first observed for zeroth-order nitrations in nitromethane ( 3.2). The effect was a true negative catalysis the kinetic order was not affected, and nitrous acid was neither consumed nor produced by the nitration. The same was true for nitration in acetic acid. In the zeroth-order nitrations the rate depended on the reciprocal of the square root of the concentration of nitrous acid =... 

For nitrations carried out in nitric acid, the anticatalytic influence of nitrous acid was also demonstrated. The effect was smaller, and consequently its kinetic form was not established with certainty. Further, the more powerful type of anticatalysis did not appear at higher concentrations (up to 0-23 mol 1 ) of nitrous acid. The addition of water (up to 5 % by volume) greatly reduced the range of concentration of nitrous acid which anticatalysed nitration in a manner resembling that required by the inverse square-root law, and more quickly introduced the more powerful type of anticatalytic effect. 

If we consider the effect of nitrous acid upon zeroth-order nitration in organic solvents we must bear in mind that in these circumstances dinitrogen tetroxide is not much ionised, so the measured concentration of nitrous acid gives to a close approximation the concentration of dinitrogen tetroxide. Further, the negligible self-ionisation of nitric acid ensures that the total concentration of nitrate ions is effectively that formed from dinitrogen tetroxide. Consequently as we can see from the equation for the ionisation of dinitrogen tetroxide ( 4.3.1),... 

The weak effect of nitrous acid upon nitration in nitric acid is a consequence of the already considerable concentration of nitrate ions supplied in this case by the medium. 

In contrast to its effect upon the general mechanism of nitration by the nitronium ion, nitrous acid catalyses the nitration of phenol, aniline, and related compounds. Some of these compounds are oxidised under the conditions of reaction and the consequent formation of more nitrous acids leads to autocatalysis. 

The effect of nitrous acid on the nitration of mesitylene in acetic acid was also investigated. In solutions containing 5-7 mol 1 of nitric acid and < c. 0-014 mol of nitrous acid, the rate was independent of the concentration of the aromatic. As the concentration of nitrous acid was increased, the catalysed reaction intervened, and superimposed a first-order reaction on the zeroth-order one. The catalysed reaction could not be made sufficiently dominant to impose a truly first-order rate. Because the kinetic order was intermediate the importance of the catalysed reaction was gauged by following initial rates, and it was shown that in a solution containing 5-7 mol 1 of nitric acid and 0-5 mol 1 of nitrous acid, the catalysed reaction was initially twice as important as the general nitronium ion mechanism. 

Despite the fact that solutions of acetyl nitrate prepared from purified nitric acid contained no detectable nitrous acid, the sensitivity of the rates of nitration of very reactive compounds to nitrous acid demonstrated in this work is so great that concentrations of nitrous acid below the detectable level could produce considerable catalytic effects. However, because the concentration of nitrous acid in these solutions is unknown the possibility cannot absolutely be excluded that the special mechanism is nitration by a relatively unreactive electrophile. Whatever the nature of the supervenient reaction, it is clear that there is at least a dichotomy in the mechanism of nitration for very reactive compounds, and that, unless the contributions of the separate mechanisms can be distinguished, quantitative comparisons of reactivity are meaningless. 

Before coupling, excess nitrous acid must be destroyed. Nitrite can react with coupling components to form nitroso compounds causiag deHterious effects on the final dyestuff. The presence of nitrite can be detected by 4,4 -diamiQO-diphenyHnethane-2,2 -sulfone [10215-25-5] (Green reagent) or starch—iodide. Removal of nitrite is achieved by addition of sulfamic acid or urea [57-13-6], however, sulfamic acid [5329-14-6] has been more effective ia kinetic studies of nine nitrous acid scavangers (18). 

The unusual conditions needed to produce an a2o dye, namely, strong acid plus nitrous acid for dia2oti2ation, the low temperatures necessary for the unstable dia2onium salt to exist, and the presence of electron-rich amino or hydroxy compounds to effect coupling, means that a2o dyes have no natural counterparts. 

The behavior of aminopyrazole 88 (R = 4-NO2—C6H4) under these conditions was quite different diazotization using nitrous acid in concentrated hydrochloric acid afforded an alkynylpyrazole diazonium chloride, which did not participate in the Richter reaction, probably due to the electron-withdrawing effect of the nitro group. Instead, after neutralization of the hydrochloric acid with sodium hydrogen... 

We shall discuss ionic nitration mechanisms in terms of nitration by pure nitric acid and where appropriate comment on effects of such additives as sulfuric acid, water, nitrous acid etc. The nitration scheme now generally ac-... 

The oxides of nitrogen are somewhat sol in w, reacting with it in the presence of oxygen to form nitric and nitrous acids. This is the action that takes place deep in the respiratory system. The acids formed are irritants, causing congestion of the throat and bronchi, and edema of the lungs. The acids are neutralized by the alkalies present in the tissues, with the formation of nitrates and nitrites. The latter may cause some arterial dilation, fall in blood press, headache and dizziness, and there may be some formation of methemoglobin. However, the nitrite effect is of secondary importance... 

The major problem of these diazotizations is oxidation of the initial aminophenols by nitrous acid to the corresponding quinones. Easily oxidized amines, in particular aminonaphthols, are therefore commonly diazotized in a weakly acidic medium (pH 3, so-called neutral diazotization) or in the presence of zinc or copper salts. This process, which is due to Sandmeyer, is important in the manufacture of diazo components for metal complex dyes, in particular those derived from l-amino-2-naphthol-4-sulfonic acid. Kozlov and Volodarskii (1969) measured the rates of diazotization of l-amino-2-naphthol-4-sulfonic acid in the presence of one equivalent of 13 different sulfates, chlorides, and nitrates of di- and trivalent metal ions (Cu2+, Sn2+, Zn2+, Mg2+, Fe2 +, Fe3+, Al3+, etc.). The rates are first-order with respect to the added salts. The highest rate is that in the presence of Cu2+. The anions also have a catalytic effect (CuCl2 > Cu(N03)2 > CuS04). The mechanistic basis of this metal ion catalysis is not yet clear. 

Nitrous acid can have both a catalytic and an anticatalytic effect on aromatic nitration, the former being appropriate in dilute (ca. 6 M) nitric acid solutions and the latter appropriate to more concentrated solutions. 

The effect of nitrous acid on nitration in nitromethane and acetic acid is also attributed to the effect of nitrate ions even though the ionisation of the dinitrogen tetroxide is much less in these solvents. As noted above (p. 31), the anticatalytic effect of nitrous acid is not governed by k x = a+6[HN03] at nitrous acid concentrations above 0.1 M. 

In sulphuric acid, nitrous acid has a catalytic effect since dinitrogen tetroxide reacts with sulphuric acid to give nitronium ions according to equilibrium (39)102. 

For 4-nitrophenol (studied in the range 1.4-10 M nitric acid) the first-order rate coefficients (at constant nitrous acid concentration) decrease approximately 50 % as the nitric acid concentration is increased from 2 M to 5 M but increase considerably as it is further increased to 10 M the increase is greater the lower the fixed concentration of nitrous acid and is attributed to the catalysed reaction. The rate decrease was attributed to superimposition upon the normal catalysis noted above for 4-chloroanisole of the effect of lowering of the concentration of the highly reactive phenoxide ion as the acidity was increased. In 10 M nitric acid the anti-catalysed reaction was again observed. 

A. o-Bromobenzenediazonium hexafluorophosphate. A solution of 95 ml. of 12N hydrocMoric acid in 650 ml. of water is added with stirring to 60 g. of o-bromoaniline (0.35 mole Note 1) in a 2-1. three-necked flask equipped with stirrer and thermometer. Solution is effected by heating the mixture on a steam bath (Note 2). A solution of 29 g. (0.42 mole) of sodium nitrite in 75 ml. of water is added with stirring while the mixture is maintained at — 5° to —10° by means of a bath of ice and salt or of dry ice and acetone. At the end of the addition there is an excess of nitrous acid, which can be detected with starch iodide paper. Seventy-four milliliters (134 g., 0.60 mole) of 65% hexafluorophosphoric acid (Note 3) is added in one portion, with vigorous stirring, to the cold solution of the diazonium salt. Cooling and slow stirring are continued for an additional 30 minutes, and the precipitated diazonium hexafluorophosphate is then collected on a Bilchner funnel. The diazonium salt is washed on the funnel with 300 ml. of cold water and with a solution of 80 ml. of methanol in 320 ml. 

Predict the pH region in which each of the following buffers will be effective, assuming equal molarities of the acid and its conjugate base (a) sodium nitrite and nitrous acid ... 

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