Nucleophilic aromatic substitution nitro-group displacement

Reaction of a nitro-substituted aryl halide with a good nucleophile leads to nucleophilic aromatic substitution. Methoxide will displace fluoride from the ring, preferentially at the positions ortho and para to the nitro group. 

When aromatic nitro compounds are treated with cyanide ion, the nitro group is displaced and a carboxyl group enters with cine substitution (p. 854), always ortho to the displaced group, never meta or para. The scope of this reaction, called the von Richter rearrangement, is variable. As with other nucleophilic aromatic substitutions, the reaction gives best results when electron-withdrawing groups are in ortho and para positions, but yields are low, usually < 20% and never > 50%. 

Diazophenol formation is most competitive when a nitramine substrate contains an electron-withdrawing nitro group ortho to the nitro group being displaced and hence meta to the nitramine functionality, assumedly because that site is then activated towards nucleophilic aromatic substitution. Heating nitramines in inert chlorinated solvents also favours diazophenol formation but this is suppressed by using urea or sulfamic acid as additives. 

In general, the more nitro groups present on the aromatic ring the easier the leaving group displacement. Nucleophilic aromatic substitution is therefore a very important reaction in the chemistry of polynitroarylenes. While the use of such reactions has been extensive in the synthesis of explosives, the reaction also has important implications for the chemical stability of many polynitroarylenes (discussed in Section 4.8.2). 

A byproduct from the reductive ring closure was often the corresponding 2-aminodiphenylamine, arising from direct reduction of the nitro group without ring formation. Competing nucleophilic aromatic substitution by this new aniline of a displaceable ortho substituents normally leads to byproduct for-... 

I.S. Chung, S.Y Kim, Meta-activated nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction poly(biphenylene oxide)s with trifluoromethyl pendent groups via nitro displacement, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 123 (44) (2001) 11071-11072. 

Aromatic halides are normally quite inert to the types of nucleophiles that readily displace halide ions from allgrl halides. However, when an aromatic compound contains strong electron-withdrawing nitro groups ortho or para (or both) to the halogen, nucleophilic aromatic substitution occurs quite readily. For example, when 1 -chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene is heated at reflux in aqueous sodium carbonate followed by treatment with aqueous acid, it is converted in nearly quantitative yield to 2,4-dinitrophenol. 

The outcome of the regioconservative reactions is vaguely attributed to a "direct displacement" process or to a "chelation-driven nucleophilic aromatic ipso substitution". Presumably both times the authors refer to the well-known two-step addition/elimination mechanism of nucleophilic aromatic substitution. However, to make this option practically feasible, the haloarene has to be activated by powerful electron-acceptors, in particular, nitro groups (as in 2- or 4-halonitroarenes) or by ring-incorporated nitrogen (as in 2- or 4-halopyridines). Without that, the crucial Meisenheimer complex is energetically out of reach. 

Arylations of nitro compounds can be achieved by aromatic nucleophilic substitution using aromatic nitro compounds, as discussed in Chapter 9.100 Komblum and coworkers reported displacement of the nitro group of nitrobenzenes by the anion of nitroalkanes. The reactions are usually carried out in dipolar aprotic solvents such as DMSO or HMPA, and nitroaromatic rings are substituted by a variety of electron-withdrawing groups (see Eq. 5.63).101... 

Such nucleophilic displacements are likely to be addition-elimination reactions, whether or not radical anions are also interposed as intermediates. The addition of methoxide ion to 2-nitrofuran in methanol or dimethyl sulfoxide affords a deep red salt of the anion 69 PMR shows the 5-proton has the greatest upfield shift, the 3- and 4-protons remaining vinylic in type.18 7 The similar additions in the thiophene series are less complete, presumably because oxygen is relatively electronegative and the furan aromaticity relatively low. Additional electronegative substituents increase the rate of addition and a second nitro group makes it necessary to use stopped flow techniques of rate measurement.141 In contrast, one acyl group (benzoyl or carboxy) does not stabilize an addition product and seldom promotes nucleophilic substitution by weaker nucleophiles such as ammonia. Whereas... 

Sandmeyer-type reactions are a useful route to polynitroarylenes with unusual substitution patterns. In these reactions an arylamine is treated with a source of nitrous acid to form an intermediate diazonium salt which is readily displaced on reaction with a suitable nucleophile. Many substituents can be incorporated into the aromatic ring via this method, including the nitro group. 

A still different scheme is used for the preparation of the benzimidazole buterizine (74). Alkylation of benzhydrylpiperazine with substituted benzyl chloride 70 gives the intermediate 7U Nucleophilic aromatic displacement on this compound by means of ethyl amine leads to reduction of the nitro group then gives the diamine T. Treatment of that with the orthoformate ester of pentanoic acid serves to form the imidazole ring. There is thus obtained the peripheral vasodilating agent buteri zi ne (74). ... 

An alternate and more controlled approach to the synthesis of phenothiazines involves sequential aromatic nucleophilic displacement reactions. This alternate scheme avoids the formation of the isomeric products that are sometimes observed to form from the sulfuration reaction when using substituted aryl rings. The first step in this sequence consists of the displacement of the activated chlorine in nitrobenzene (30-1) by the salt from orf/io-bromothiophenol (30-2) to give the thioether (30-3). The nitro group is then reduced to form aniline (30-4). Heating that compound in a solvent such as DMF leads to the internal displacement of bromine by amino nitrogen and the formation of the chlorophenothiazine (30-4). Alkylation of the anion from that intermediate with 3-chloro-l-dimethylaminopropane affords chlorpromazine (30-5) [31]. 

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