Phenyl radicals aromatic substitution

The first step of a free radical aromatic substitution, the formation of the a-com-plex, is also an addition step. The o,m,p-product ratio therefore also responds to steric effects. This is shown for the free radical phenylation and dimethylamination of toluene and r.-butylbenzene in Table 8. The larger the substituent on the aromatic system and the bulkier the attacking radical, the more p-substitution product is obtained at the expense of o-substitution. In the phenylation reaction the yield of m-product also increases in contrast to the dimethylamination reaction. The substitution pattern of this latter reaction is, in addition to the steric effect, governed heavily by polar effects because a radical cation is the attacking species113. ... 

Not all radical aromatic substitutions are as immune to polar effects as is attack by phenyl. Some radicals reveal marked electrophilic or nucleophilic character. Oxygen-centered radicals, for example, are electrophilic, as would be expected if there is substantial polar contribution to the transition state. Table 9.13 lists partial rate factors for substitution by benzoyl radicals note that the orientation and activation trends found in typical electrophilic substitutions have begun to appear, but are still modest compared with the dramatic effects shown in Table 9.12 for a true heterolytic substitution.179... 

The thiazolyl radicals are, in comparison to the phenyl radical, electrophilic as shown by isomer ratios obtained in reaction with different aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds. Sources of thiazolyl radicals are few the corresponding peroxide and 2-thiazolylhydrazine (202, 209, 210) (see Table III-34) are convenient reagents, and it is the reaction of an alky] nitrite (jsoamyl) on the corresponding (2-, 4-, or 5-) amine that is most commonly used to produce thiazolyl radicals (203-206). The yields of substituted thiazole are around 40%. These results are summarized in Tables III-35 and IIT36. 

Radicals derived from monocyclic substituted aromatic hydrocarbons and having the free valence at a ring atom (numbered 1) are named phenyl (for benzene as parent, since benzyl is used for the radical C5H5CH2—), cumenyl, mesityl, tolyl, and xylyl. All other radicals are named as substituted phenyl radicals. For radicals having a single free valence in the side chain, these trivial names are retained ... 

The reactivity of pyridine relative to that of benzene has been measured using the competitive technique developed by Ingold and his schoool for corresponding studies of electrophilic aromatic substitution. The validity of the method applied to free-radical reactions has been discussed. Three sources of the phenyl radical have been used the results obtained are set out in Table II. 

For reactions with S, specificity is found to decrease in the series cyanoisopropyl mcthyl Fbutoxy>phcnyl>bcnzoyloxy. Cyanoisopropyl (Scheme 3.3),7 f-bntoxy and methyl radicals give exclusively tail addition. Phenyl radicals afford tail addition and ca l% aromatic substitution. Benzoyloxy radicals give tail addition, head addition, and aromatic substitution (Scheme 3.4). ... 

Peroxide decomposition in aromatic and other unsaturated solvents homolytic aroniMic substitution and olefin polymerization Decomposition of peroxides in aromatic solvents leads to attack on the aromatic nucleus by radicals and hence to substitution products (for a recent summary, see Williams, 1970). In the substitution of benzene and related substrates by phenyl radicals, for example, cyclohexadienyl... 

Substituted phenylacetic acids form Kolbe dimers when the phenyl substituents are hydrogen or are electron attracting (Table 2, Nos. 20-23) they yield methyl ethers (non-Kolbe products), when the substituents are electron donating (see also chap. 8). Benzoic acid does not decarboxylate to diphenyl. Here the aromatic nucleus is rather oxidized to a radical cation, that undergoes aromatic substitution with the solvent [145]. 

In 1969, Elschenbroich and Cais reported the ESR spectra of several ferrocenyl anion radicals, including benzoyl, p-tolyl, p-carbomethoxy-benzoyl, p-nitrophenyl, p-cyanophenyl, and nitroferrocene, prepared by electrolytic reduction in either acetonitrile or DMF (5S). In general, the ferrocenyl group destabilizes the anion radicals compared to a phenyl substituent. When both groups are present, delocalization of the unpaired electron into the phenyl substituent is more extensive, and the ESR spectra resemble, for the most part, anion radicals of substituted aromatics. There is small spin density in the ferrocenyl moiety, which appears as small hyperfine couplings for the cyclopentadienyl protons ortho to the point of substitution (38). 

The main feature of carbanions derived from nitriles lies in the dependence on the aromatic substrate involved thus, two different outcomes of the substitution reaction are possible formation of the substitution compound by ET to the substrate from the radical anion intermediate 7, formed by coupling of phenyl radicals and acetonitrile anion, or formation of products from elimination of the cyano group as is the case with phenyl halides [31,32] (Sch. 3). The same reactivity pattern is found with halothiophenes [33]. 

The most vexed subject in this field is the site of radical attack on substituted aromatic rings. Some react cleanly where we should expect them to. Phenyl radicals add to naphthalene 7.36, to anthracene 7.37 and to thiophene 7.38, with the regioselectivity shown on the diagrams. In all three cases, the frontier orbitals are clearly in favour of this order of reactivity (because of the symmetry in these systems, both HOMO and LUMO have the same absolute values for the coefficients). 

Oxidation of benzoylacetanilide in MeCN gives a good yield of 2,4-dioxo-l-phenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline. The reaction is reported to be an intramolecular coupling between an amidyl radical and the radical cation of the benzoyl group [83], but an electrophilic aromatic substitution by the amidyl cation or an addition of the amidyl radical to the phenyl ring (followed by an oxidation) could also be considered. 

---