Phenol reaction with arenediazonium

Reaction with arenediazonium salts Adding a phe nol to a solution of a diazonium salt formed from a primary aromatic amine leads to formation of an azo compound The reaction is carried out at a pH such that a significant portion of the phenol is pres ent as its phenoxide ion The diazonium ion acts as an electrophile toward the strongly activated ring of the phenoxide ion... 

Reaction with arenediazonium salts Adding a phenol to a solution of a diazonium salt fornned fronn a primary aromatic amine leads to formation of an azo compound. 

In addition to being used to synthesize substituted benzenes, arenediazonium ions can be used as electrophiles in electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions. Because an arenediazonium ion is unstable at room temperature, it can be used as an electrophile only in reactions that can be carried out well below room temperature. In other words, only highly activated benzene rings (phenols, anilines, and N-alkylanilines) can undergo electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions with arenediazonium ion electrophiles. The product of the reaction is an azo compound. The N=N linkage is called an azo linkage. 

Arenediazonium ions 1 can undergo a coupling reaction with electron-rich aromatic compounds 2 like aryl amines and phenols to yield azo compounds 3. The substitution reaction at the aromatic system 2 usually takes place para to the activating group probably for steric reasons. If the para position is already occupied by a substituent, the new substitution takes place ortho to the activating group. 

Arenediazonium salts undergo a coupling reaction with activated aromatic rings such as phenols and arylamines to yield brightly colored azo compounds, Ar—N=N—Ar. ... 

Various aromatic amines, phenols, and compounds containing active methylene groups can be titrated with arenediazonium salts, from which 4-bromo-l-naphthale-nediazonium chloride seems to be the most widely applicable titrant. Compounds that react slowly with arenediazonium salts can be determined by back-titration when the excess of arenediazonium salt is back-titrated with either sodium tetraphenylborate or 2,4-diaminotoluene. Indirect determination is useful for secondary amines, which react with arenediazonium ions to form triazenes. The determination of diazonium salts of ampholytic character is based on the reaction of these salts with l-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone, the excess of which is titrated with 4-bromo-l-naphthalenediazonium chloride solution. 

The intermediate in the decomposition of an arenediazonium ion in water is an aryl cation, which then undergoes reaction with water to form the phenol. 

Note that the aryl cation is so unstable that it can be formed only with N2 as the leaving group. This reaction of arenediazonium salts represents the main laboratory preparation of phenols. 

The optimal pH-value for the coupling reaction depends on the reactant. Phenols are predominantly coupled in slightly alkaline solution, in order to first convert an otherwise unreactive phenol into the reactive phenoxide anion. The reaction mechanism can be formulated as electrophilic aromatic substitution taking place at the electron-rich aromatic substrate, with the arenediazonium ion being the electrophile ... 

The diazonio group can also be replaced by —OH to yield a phenol and by —H to yield an arene. A phenol is prepared by reaction of the arenediazonium salt with copper(I) oxide in an aqueous solution of copper(ll) nitrate, a reaction that is especially useful because few other general methods exist for introducing an -OH group onto an aromatic ring. 

Arylamines are converted by diazotization with nitrous acid into arenediazonium salts, ArN2+ X-. The diazonio group can then be replaced by many other substituents in the Sandmeyer reaction to give a wide variety of substituted aromatic compounds. Aryl chlorides, bromides, iodides, and nitriles can be prepared from arenediazonium salts, as can arenes and phenols. In addition to their reactivity toward substitution reactions, diazonium salts undergo coupling with phenols and arylamines to give brightly colored azo dyes. 

This diazotization reaction is compatible with the presence of a wide variety of substituents on the benzene ring. Arenediazonium salts are extremely important in synthetic chemistry, because the diazonio group (N=N) can be replaced by a nucleophile in a radical substitution reaction, e.g. preparation of phenol, chlorobenzene and bromobenzene. Under proper conditions, arenediazonium salts react with certain aromatic compounds to yield products of the general formula Ar-N=N-Ar, called azo compounds. In this coupling reaction, the nitrogen of the diazonium group is retained in the product. 

Diazonium Salts as Electrophiles Diazo Coupling Arenediazonium ions act as weak electrophiles in electrophilic aromatic substitutions. The products have the structure Ar—N=N—Ar, containing the —N=N— azo linkage. For this reason, the products are called azo compounds, and the reaction is called diazo coupling. Because they are weak electrophiles, diazonium salts react only with strongly activated rings (such as derivatives of aniline and phenol). 

A more interesting problem than the influence of substituents in the electrophilic reagent of azo coupling is the extremely high selectivity of the C-coupling reactions, relative to other electrophilic aromatic substitutions. Unsubstituted benzene does not react with any arenediazonium ion, 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene reacts very slowly with strongly electrophilic diazonium ions only aromatic amines (e.g. N,N-dimethyl-aniline) or phenolate ions react very fast, in some cases close to diffusion control. 

Arenediazonium ions are weak electrophiles they react with highly reactive aromatic compounds—with phenols and tertiary arylamines—to yield azo compounds. This electrophilic aromatic substitution is often called a diazo coupling reaction. 

Formation of a phenol by reaction of an arenediazonium salt with water (19.24). 

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