Phenols electrophiles

In phenol, electrophilic attack at the p-position gives rise to an intermediate represented by the following resonance forms ... 

Following our report in 2008, a number of reports on nickel-catalyzed cross-couplings of non-sulfonylated phenolic electrophiles have appeared. They are summarized in Table 1. 

As described in the previous section, Ni(0)/PCy3 is an effective catalyst system for cross-coupling using conventionally inert phenolic electrophiles, including aryl ethers, carboxylates, and carbamates. In this section, the C-O bond activatimi reactions catalyzed by other metals are described. 

Braune and Okuda have shown the possibility to substitute porphyrin initiators by simpler systems based on the association of ammonium salts with a bulky aluminum bis(phenolate) electrophile. According to their study, the ring-opening polymerization of PO cannot occur at simple Lewis add centers, but that nucleophilic ate complexes must be present at the same time. However, so far, only the synthesis of PPO oligomers with MWs less than 5000 has been reported for this system. The important contribution of Braune and Okuda is that they confirmed the Vandenberg binudear mechanism earlier proposed for epoxide polymerization (see Figure 12). °- ... 

The results in table 2.6 show that the rates of reaction of compounds such as phenol and i-napthol are equal to the encounter rate. This observation is noteworthy because it shows that despite their potentially very high reactivity these compounds do not draw into reaction other electrophiles, and the nitronium ion remains solely effective. These particular instances illustrate an important general principle if by increasing the reactivity of the aromatic reactant in a substitution reaction, a plateau in rate constant for the reaction is achieved which can be identified as the rate constant for encounter of the reacting species, and if further structural modifications of the aromatic in the direction of further increasing its potential reactivity ultimately raise the rate constant above this plateau, then the incursion of a new electrophile must be admitted. 

Again the uncertainty about the proportion of an observed result which is due to nitration and the proportion which is due to nitrosation exists. Thus, in expt. 11 phenol was being nitrated above the encounter rate and the observed isomer distribution could arise from a combination of nitration by whatever is the usual electrophile with nitration by a new, less reactive electrophile, or with nitrosation, or all three processes could be at work. 

If, on the other hand, the encounter pair were an oriented structure, positional selectivity could be retained for a different reason and in a different quantitative sense. Thus, a monosubstituted benzene derivative in which the substituent was sufficiently powerfully activating would react with the electrophile to give three different encounter pairs two of these would more readily proceed to the substitution products than to the starting materials, whilst the third might more readily break up than go to products. In the limit the first two would be giving substitution at the encounter rate and, in the absence of steric effects, products in the statistical ratio whilst the third would not. If we consider particular cases, there is nothing in the rather inadequate data available to discourage the view that, for example, in the cases of toluene or phenol, which in sulphuric acid are nitrated at or near the encounter rate, the... 

Reactions of aromatic and heteroaromatic rings are usually only found with highly reactive compounds containing strongly electron donating substituents or hetero atoms (e.g. phenols, anilines, pyrroles, indoles). Such molecules can be substituted by weak electrophiles, and the reagent of choice in nature as well as in the laboratory is usually a Mannich reagent or... 

Phenol and anisole are among the commonly en countered benzene deriva tives listed in Table 111 Electrophilic aromatic substi tution in phenol is discussed in more detail in Section 24 8... 

Many of the properties of phenols reflect the polarization implied by the resonance description The hydroxyl oxygen is less basic and the hydroxyl proton more acidic in phenols than m alcohols Electrophiles attack the aromatic ring of phenols much faster than they attack benzene indicating that the ring especially at the positions ortho and para to the hydroxyl group is relatively electron rich... 

In most of their reactions phenols behave as nucleophiles and the reagents that act on them are electrophiles Either the hydroxyl oxygen or the aromatic ring may be the site of nucleophilic reactivity m a phenol Reactions that take place on the ring lead to elec trophilic aromatic substitution Table 24 4 summarizes the behavior of phenols m reac tions of this type... 

A hydroxyl group is a very powerful activating substituent and electrophilic aro matic substitution m phenols occurs far faster and under milder conditions than m ben zene The hrst entry m Table 24 4 for example shows the monobrommation of phenol m high yield at low temperature and m the absence of any catalyst In this case the reac tion was carried out m the nonpolar solvent 1 2 dichloroethane In polar solvents such as water it is difficult to limit the brommation of phenols to monosubstitution In the fol lowing example all three positions that are ortho or para to the hydroxyl undergo rapid substitution... 

Other typical electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions—nitration (second entry) sul fonation (fourth entry) and Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation (fifth and sixth entnes)—take place readily and are synthetically useful Phenols also undergo elec trophilic substitution reactions that are limited to only the most active aromatic com pounds these include mtrosation (third entry) and coupling with diazomum salts (sev enth entry)... 

Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution Reactions of Phenols (Continued)... 

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... 

The hydroxyl group of a phenol is a strongly activating substituent and electrophilic aromatic substitution occurs readily m phenol and its deriv atives Typical examples were presented m Table 24 4... 

In general, the xanthenes are synthesized by the reaction of two moles of a nucleophilic / -substituted phenol (10) with an electrophilic carbonyl compound (11), the reaction occurring most readily with an acid catalyst at temperatures of 100—200°C. 

Friedel-Crafts acylation using nittiles (other than HCN) and HCI is an extension of the Gattermann reaction, and is called the Houben-Hoesch reaction (120—122). These reactions give ketones and are usually appHcable to only activated aromatics, such as phenols and phenoHc ethers. The protonated nittile, ie, the nitrilium ion, acts as the electrophilic species in these reactions. Nonactivated ben2ene can also be acylated with the nittiles under superacidic conditions 95% trifluoromethanesulfonic acid containing 5% SbF (Hg > —18) (119). A dicationic diprotonated nittile intermediate was suggested for these reactions, based on the fact that the reactions do not proceed under less acidic conditions. The significance of dicationic superelectrophiles in Friedel-Crafts reactions has been discussed (123,124). 

Beside being acidic, a significant industrial chemical property of phenol is the extremely high reactivity of its ring toward electrophilic substitution. If steric conditions permit, the substitution leads first to the formation of the 2- or 4-mono derivative, then to the 2,4- or 2,6-diderivative, and finally to the 2,4,6-triderivative. The halogenation of phenol produces mono-, di-, and tribal ophenols. 

Reactions with Aldehydes and Ketones. An important use for alkylphenols is ia phenol—formaldehyde resias. These resias are classified as resoles or aovolaks (see Phenolic resins). Resoles are produced whea oae or more moles of formaldehyde react with oae mole of pheaol uader basic catalysis. These resias are thermosets. Novolaks are thermoplastic resias formed whea an excess of phenol reacts with formaldehyde under acidic conditions. The acid protonates formaldehyde to generate the alkylating electrophile (17). 

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