Pyrazolium salts, nitration

The general discussion (Section 4.02.1.4.1) on reactivity and orientation in azoles should be consulted as some of the conclusions reported therein are germane to this discussion. Pyrazole is less reactive towards electrophiles than pyrrole. As a neutral molecule it reacts as readily as benzene and, as an anion, as readily as phenol (diazo coupling, nitrosation, etc.). Pyrazole cations, formed in strong acidic media, show a pronounced deactivation (nitration, sulfonation, Friedel-Crafts reactions, etc.). For the same reasons quaternary pyrazolium salts normally do not react with electrophiles. 

A -Pyrazolines such as (410) are oxidized by iodine, mercury(II) acetate and trityl chloride to pyrazolium salts (411), and compound (410) even reduces silver nitrate to Ag° (69JOU1480). Electrochemical oxidation of l,3,5-triaryl-2-pyrazolines has been studied in detail (74BSF768, 79CHE115). They Undergo oxidative dimerization and subsequent transformation into the pyrazole derivative (412). 

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