Quinoline electrophilic chlorination

Chlorination. Electrophilic chlorination of quinoline (66) in neutral medium showed a positional selectivity order of 3 > 6 > 8. The 5- and 8-positions should be sterically hindered to some extent. Hammett cr+ values predict an order for electrophilic substitution of 5 > 8 = 6 > 3. Treatment with chlorine at 160-190°C converted quinoline into a mixture of 3-chloro-, 3,4-dichloro-, 3,4,6- and 3,4,8-trichloro-, 3,4,6,8-tetrachloro-, and 3,4,6,7,8-pentachloro-quinolines. At lower temperatures ( 100°C) the major product was 3-chloroquinoline, albeit in low yield. The 4-substituted species may have arisen from an addition-elimination or radical process (70JHC171). 

Electrophilic chlorination of quinoline under neutral conditions occurs in the orientation order 3 > 6 > 8. Hammett ct+ values predict an order for electrophilic substitution of 5 > 8 = 6 > 3. The reactivity order can be affected by substitution of an electron-withdrawing group in the benzene ring, which directs the chlorination to the pyridine ring. Thus, NCS in acetic acid or sulfuryl chloride in o-dichlorobenzene converts 8-nitroquinoline into 3-chloro-8-nitroquinoline in high yield (91M935). 

Chloroquinolines are reactive groupings due to electron-deficient carbon to which the halogen is attached. This carbon is electron-deficient due to the combined electron-withdrawing effects of the chlorine substituent and the quinoline nitrogen. The electrophilic carbon is thus able to react readily with nucleophiles present in the body. The impact of this grouping on a molecule is illustrated by 6-chloro-4-oxo-10-propyl-4H-pyrano[3,2-g]quinoline-2,8-dicarboxylate (Figure 8.28). In contrast to many related compounds (chromone-carboxylates) lacking the chloroquinoline, 6-chloro-4-oxo-10-propyl-4H-pyrano[3,2-g]quinoline-2,8-dicarboxylate is excreted as a... 

Bromination of pyridine is much easier than chlorination. Vapour phase bromination over pumice or charcoal has been studied extensively (B-67MI20500) and, as with chlorination, orientation varies with change in temperature. At 300 °C, pyridine yields chiefly 3-bromo-and 3,5-dibromo-pyridine (electrophilic attack), whilst at 500 °C 2-bromo- and 2,6-dibromo-pyridine predominate (free radical attack). At intermediate temperatures, mixtures of these products are found. Similarly, bromination of quinoline over pumice at 300 °C affords the 3-bromo product, but at higher temperatures (450 °C) the 2-bromo isomer is obtained (77HC(32-1)319). Mixtures of 3-bromo- and 3,5-dibromo-pyridine may be produced by heating a pyridine-bromine complex at 200 °C, by addition of bromine to pyridine hydrochloride under reflux, and by heating pyridine hydrochloride perbromide at 160-170 °C (B-67MI20500). 

Chlorination of quinoline in the presence of silver sulfate in sulfuric acid gives 5-chloro, 8-chloro- and 5,8-dichloro-quinoline (63CI(L)1840, 66MI20601). Similarly, addition of iodine to quinoline and silver sulfate in sulfuric acid at 150-200 °C gives 5-iodo-, 8-iodo- and 5,8-diiodo-quinoline (Scheme 8). It is thought that I+ is the electrophile (64CI(L)1753, 66MI20602). 

Further studies of electrophilic substitution using the 2,3-dihydrothiazolo analogue (320) show that regioselective bromination can be effected in the 7-position (347) at low temperature. Chlorination with sulfuryl chloride, however, occurs exclusively in the 5-position. The 5-chloro derivative (348) can be further nitrated in the 7-position. By analogy, bromination of quinoline analogues (349) occurs in the azine ring, in the 5-position. The [3,2-a]pyrimidine analogue (350 R=H) similarly yields the 7-bromide. The activation by... 

Quinolines and isoquinolines can also react with electrophiles at the pyridine side. This can be rationalized by a different reaction mechanism involving the prior introduction of a nucleophile in the heterocyclic quinoline/isoquinoline ring followed by an electrophilic substitution involving attack on the intermediate enamine. Notable is the electrophilic bromination of isoquinoline hydrobromide in a solvent like nitrobenzene that provides 81% yield of 4-bromoisoquinoline, in contrast to the bromination or chlorination of an isoquinoline-aluminum chloride complex that affords 78% of 5-bromoisoquinoline. Exhaustive bromination or chlorination under Lewis acid conditions usually yields mixtures of 5,8-halogenated isoquinolines along with 5,7,8-trisubstituted derivatives. ... 

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