Pyrrole electrophilic substitutions

Just about everything is the other way round with pyrrole. Electrophilic substitution is much easier than it is with benzene—almost too easy in fact—while nucleophilic substitution is more difficult. Pyrrole is not a base nor can it be converted to an N-oxide. We need to find out why this is. 

Indoles are only slightly less reactive than pyrroles, electrophilic substitution taking place in the heterocyclic ring, at a /3-position in acetylation using a Vilsmeier combination (A,A-dimethylacetamide/phosgene), the rate ratio compared with pyrrole is 1 3. " In contrast to pyrrole there is a very large difference in reactivity... 

Indoles are usually constructed from aromatic nitrogen compounds by formation of the pyrrole ring as has been the case for all of the synthetic methods discussed in the preceding chapters. Recently, methods for construction of the carbocyclic ring from pyrrole derivatives have received more attention. Scheme 8.1 illustrates some of the potential disconnections. In paths a and b, the syntheses involve construction of a mono-substituted pyrrole with a substituent at C2 or C3 which is capable of cyclization, usually by electrophilic substitution. Paths c and d involve Diels-Alder reactions of 2- or 3-vinyl-pyrroles. While such reactions lead to tetrahydro or dihydroindoles (the latter from acetylenic dienophiles) the adducts can be readily aromatized. Path e represents a category Iley cyclization based on 2 -I- 4 cycloadditions of pyrrole-2,3-quinodimcthane intermediates. 

Introduction of substituents on the carbocyclic ring relies primarily on electrophilic substitution and on organometallic reactions. The former reactions are not under strong regiochcmical control. The nitrogen atom can stabilize any of the C-nng o-complexes and both pyrrole and benzo ring substituents can influence the substitution pattern, so that the position of substitution tends to be dependent on the specific substitution pattern (Scheme 14.1). 

Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution. The Tt-excessive character of the pyrrole ring makes the indole ring susceptible to electrophilic attack. The reactivity is greater at the 3-position than at the 2-position. This reactivity pattern is suggested both by electron density distributions calculated by molecular orbital methods and by the relative energies of the intermediates for electrophilic substitution, as represented by the protonated stmctures (7a) and (7b). Stmcture (7b) is more favorable than (7a) because it retains the ben2enoid character of the carbocycHc ring (12). 

Iron Porphyrins. Porphyrias (15—17) are aromatic cycHc compouads that coasist of four pyrrole units linked at the a-positions by methine carbons. The extended TT-systems of these compounds give rise to intense absorption bands in the uv/vis region of the spectmm. The most intense absorption, which is called the Soret band, falls neat 400 nm and has 10. The TT-system is also responsible for the notable ring current effect observed in H-nmr spectra, the preference for planar conformations, the prevalence of electrophilic substitution reactions, and the redox chemistry of these compounds. Porphyrins obtained from natural sources have a variety of peripheral substituents and substitution patterns. Two important types of synthetic porphyrins are the meso-tetraaryl porphyrins, such as 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphine [917-23-7] (H2(TPP)) (7) and P-octaalkylporphyrins, such as 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octaethylporphine [2683-82-1] (H2(OEP)) (8). Both types can be prepared by condensation of pyrroles and aldehydes (qv). 

The following rules pertain to electrophilic substitution in pyrroles (35) (/) an electron-withdrawing substituent in the a-position directs substitution to the P and a -positions, (2) an electron-releasing substituent in the a-position directs substitution to the neighboring -position or to the a -position, (J) an electron-withdrawing substituent in the -position leads to substitution in the a -position, and (4) an electron-releasing substituent in the P-position tends to direct substitution into the neighboring a-position. 

Frontier orbital theory predicts that electrophilic substitution of pyrroles with soft electrophiles will be frontier controlled and occur at the 2-position, whereas electrophilic substitution with hard electrophiles will be charge controlled and occur at the 3-position. These predictions may be illustrated by the substitution behaviour of 1-benzenesulfonylpyr-role. Nitration and Friedel-Crafts acylation of this substrate occurs at the 3-position, whereas the softer electrophiles generated in the Mannich reaction (R2N=CH2), in formylation under Vilsmeier conditions (R2N=CHC1) or in formylation with dichloromethyl methyl ether and aluminum chloride (MeO=CHCl) effect substitution mainly in the 2-position (81TL4899, 81TL4901). Formylation of 2-methoxycarbonyl-l-methylpyrrole with... 

It is also of significance that in the dilute gas phase, where the intrinsic orientating properties of pyrrole can be examined without the complication of variable phenomena such as solvation, ion-pairing and catalyst attendant on electrophilic substitution reactions in solution, preferential /3-attack on pyrrole occurs. In gas phase t-butylation, the relative order of reactivity at /3-carbon, a-carbon and nitrogen is 10.3 3.0 1.0 (81CC1177). 

The range of preparatively useful electrophilic substitution reactions is often limited by the acid sensitivity of the substrates. Whereas thiophene can be successfully sulfonated in 95% sulfuric acid at room temperature, such strongly acidic conditions cannot be used for the sulfonation of furan or pyrrole. Attempts to nitrate thiophene, furan or pyrrole under conditions used to nitrate benzene and its derivatives invariably result in failure. In the... 

Acyl-pyrroles, -furans and -thiophenes in general have a similar pattern of reactivity to benzenoid ketones. Acyl groups in 2,5-disubstituted derivatives are sometimes displaced during the course of electrophilic substitution reactions. iV-Alkyl-2-acylpyrroles are converted by strong anhydrous acid to A-alkyl-3-acylpyrroles. Similar treatment of N-unsubstituted 2- or 3-acyIpyrroles yields an equilibrium mixture of 2- and 3-acylpyrroles pyrrolecarbaldehydes also afford isomeric mixtures 81JOC839). The probable mechanism of these rearrangements is shown in Scheme 65. A similar mechanism has been proposed for the isomerization of acetylindoles. 

This procedure provides a method for functionalizing the pyrrole ring in the 3-position, normally a difficult synthetic step when conventional electrophilic substitution is used, The technique has been extended to... 

Pyrrole undergoes electrophilic substitution much in the same way as benzene. 

The copper-catalyzed decomposition of diazoacetic ester in the presence of pyrrole was first described in 1899 and later investigated in more detail by Nenitzescu and Solomonica. Ethyl pyrrole-2-acetate (13), the normal product of electrophilic substitution, was obtained in 50% yield and was degraded to 2-methylpyrrole. Similarly iV -methylpyrrole with two moles of diazoacetic ester gave, after hydrolysis, the 2,5-diacetic acid (14) while 2,3,5-trimethylpyrrole gave, after degradation, 2,3,4,5-tetramethylpyrrole by substitution of ethoxycarbonylcarbene at the less favored )3-position. Nenitzescu and Solomonica also successfully treated pyrroles with phenyl-... 

Activation of the pyrrole heteronucleus with respect to electrophilic substitution is enhanced by coordination of the [Os(NH3)5] " " unit. Species Os(NH3)5(OTf )3 is reduced in the presence of pyrroles to yield a series 61 (R = =... 

Pyrrole and 1-methylpyrrole enter the electrophilic substitution with [Pt(PPh3)2 (ti -C3H5)](BF4) to give 88 (R = H, Me) (98JA3243). 

E. Treibs Views on the Nature of the Acid Catalysis of Electrophilic Substitution in Pyrroles.298... 

All acid-catalyzed electrophilic substitution reactions are held by Treibs to occur by way of the distinct reactive species (23), thus the very greatly accelerated interaction of pyrrole and formaldehyde in acid solution involves attack of neutral formaldehyde on (23). Another example is the interaction of 2,3,4,6-tetramethylpyrrole with p-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde in acid solution, for which the following reaction (Scheme 2) is given,(23a) being presumably intended... 

Although pyrrole appears to be both an amine and a conjugated diene, its chemical properties are not consistent with either of these structural features. Unlike most other amines, pyrrole is not basic—the pKa of the pyrrolin-ium ion is 0.4 unlike most other conjugated dienes, pyrrole undergoes electrophilic substitution reactions rather than additions. The reason for both these properties, as noted previously in Section 15.5, is that pyrrole has six 77 electrons and is aromatic. Each of the four carbons contributes one... 

The chemistry of these polycyclic heterocycles is just what you miglu expect from a knowledge of the simpler heterocycles pyridine and pyrrole Quinoline and isoquinoline both have basic, pyridine-like nitrogen atoms, anc both undergo electrophilic substitutions, although less easily than benzene Reaction occurs on the benzene ring rather than on the pyridine ring, and r mixture of substitution products is obtained. 

Indole has a nonbasic, pyrrole-like nitrogen and undergoes electrophilic substitution more easily than benzene. Substitution occurs at C3 of the electron-rich pyrrole ring, rather than on the benzene ring. 

The condensation of 2,5-diunsubstituted pyrroles with formic acid20 is a viable method to produce porphyrins. However, the most common procedure21 22 involves the heating of the corresponding pyrroles 1 with aldehydes and aldehyde derivatives like imines or a Mannich reagent in the presence of acid. The reaction is initiated by electrophilic attack of the aldehyde (or aldehyde derivative) to the pyrrole 1. The formed (hydroxyalkyl)pyrrole 3 then undergoes electrophilic substitution with another pyrrole to form a dipyrrylmethane 4. Repeated addition of aldehyde and pyrrole finally forms a tetrameric (hydroxyalkyl)bilane 5. 

The thiophene ring can be elaborated using standard electrophilic, nucleophilic, and organometallic chemistry. A variety of methods have been developed to exploit the tendency for the thiophene ring (analogous to that of furan and pyrrole) to favor electrophilic substitution and metallation at its a-carbons. Substitution at the p-carbons is more challenging, but this problem can also be solved by utilizing relative reactivity differences. 

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