Reactivity effects electrophilic reactions

The selectivity of an electrophile, measured by the extent to which it discriminated either between benzene and toluene, or between the meta- and ara-positions in toluene, was considered to be related to its reactivity. Thus, powerful electrophiles, of which the species operating in Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions were considered to be examples, would be less able to distinguish between compounds and positions than a weakly electrophilic reagent. The ultimate electrophilic species would be entirely insensitive to the differences between compounds and positions, and would bring about reaction in the statistical ratio of the various sites for substitution available to it. The idea has gained wide acceptance that the electrophiles operative in reactions which have low selectivity factors Sf) or reaction constants (p+), are intrinsically more reactive than the effective electrophiles in reactions which have higher values of these parameters. However, there are several aspects of this supposed relationship which merit discussion. 

Resonance effects are the primary influence on orientation and reactivity in electrophilic substitution. The common activating groups in electrophilic aromatic substitution, in approximate order of decreasing effectiveness, are —NR2, —NHR, —NH2, —OH, —OR, —NO, —NHCOR, —OCOR, alkyls, —F, —Cl, —Br, —1, aryls, —CH2COOH, and —CH=CH—COOH. Activating groups are ortho- and para-directing. Mixtures of ortho- and para-isomers are frequently produced the exact proportions are usually a function of steric effects and reaction conditions. 

Aniline and its derivatives are so reactive in electrophilic aromatic substitution that special strategies are usually necessary to carry out these reactions effectively. This topic is discussed in Section 22.14. 

It has also been stated that the 5-position of selenazoles is more reactive toward electrophilic substitution than that of thiazoles. Such reactivity is still further increased by substituents in the 2-position of the selenazole ring, which can have an —E-effect. Simultaneously, however, an increasing tendency toward ring fission was observed by Haginiwa. Reactions of the selenazole ring are thus limited mainly to the 5-position which, specially in the 2-amino-and the 2-hydrazino-selenazoles, is easily substituted by electrophilic reagents. However, all attempts to synthesize selenazole derivatives by the Gattermann and by the Friedel-Crafts methods... 

The traditional means of assessment of the sensitivity of radical reactions to polar factors and establishing the electrophilicity or nucleophilieity of radicals is by way of a Hammett op correlation. Thus, the reactions of radicals with substituted styrene derivatives have been examined to demonstrate that simple alkyl radicals have nucleophilic character38,39 while haloalkyl radicals40 and oxygcn-ccntcrcd radicals " have electrophilic character (Tabic 1.4). It is anticipated that electron-withdrawing substituents (e.g. Cl, F, C02R, CN) will enhance overall reactivity towards nucleophilic radicals and reduce reactivity towards electrophilic radicals. Electron-donating substituents (alkyl) will have the opposite effect. 

Ether cleavage can also be effected by reaction with acetic anhydride and Lewis acids such as BF3, FeCl3, and MgBr2.97 Mechanistic investigations point to acylium ions generated from the anhydride and Lewis acid as the reactive electrophile. 

Irreversible inhibition of CYPs is particularly worrisome as its consequences cannot be predicted easily or quantified from in vitro data the in vivo effect of an irreversible inhibitor is usually greater than that predicted based on affinity alone. Moreover, irreversible inhibition is generally the consequence of the production of reactive metabolites (electrophiles), which can also bind covalently to endogenous proteins and, in rare cases, trigger serious autoimmune reactions [4]. 

Additional acylation studies were also reported (24), (26). In the first case it is claimed that acylation of thiophene is achieved by means of HC104 and acetic anhydride affording a 65 % yield of 2-acetylthiophene. In the second paper Levine and coworkers reported that while 2,5-dimethylthiophene could be readily acetylated, 2,5-dichlorothiophene acetylated sluggishly. This is, however, readily explained, since the presence of chlorine atoms on the thiophene ring decreased its reactivity in electrophilic substitution reactions. In the case of methyl substitution, however, the 3 and 4 positions of the ring are activated toward electrophilic substitution by the inductive and hyperconjugative effects. Thus 2,5-dimethylthiophene was successfully acylated by the boron fluoride etherate method in high yield with three aliphatic anhydrides. 

The a-elimination process is a very fast and effective reaction of trifluoromethyl carbanions (Figure 1.9)." Consequently, the corresponding organometallic species (Li, Mg) cannot be used in organic synthesis. When the carbon-metal bond is close to a covalent bond, the anionic species is more stable, but has almost no reactivity toward electrophiles. Zinc, and especially silicon, derivatives constitute the best compromises." When the fluoroalkyl chain is longer, organometallics are more stable and can be used in synthesis (Figure 1.10)." ... 

Electron-donating substituents (e.g., methyl) generally lead to increased relative transformation rates for example, the relative reactivity of anthracene is 1200 compared to 21,000, 6500, and 1600 for 9,10-dimethyl-, 9-methyl-, and 2-methylanthracene, respectively (Table 10.29). Electron-withdrawing substituents, e.g., nitro, decreased rates. These effects are characteristic of electrophilic reactions. 

The effect of monofluorination on alkene or aromatic reactivity toward electrophiles is more difficult to predict Although a-fluonne stabilizes a carbocation relative to hydrogen, its opposing inductive effect makes olefins and aromatics more electron deficient. Fluorine therefore is activating only for electrophilic reactions with very late transition states where its resonance stabilization is maximized The faster rate of addition of trifluoroacetic acid and sulfuric acid to 2-fluoropropene vs propene is an example [775,116], but cases of such enhanced fluoroalkene reactivity in solution are quite rare [127] By contrast, there are many examples where the ortho-para-dueeting fluorine substituent is also activating in electrophilic aromatic substitutions [128]... 

Because systematic variations in selectivity with reactivity are commonly quite mild for reactions of carbocations with n-nucleophiles, and practically absent for 71-nucleophiles or hydride donors, many nucleophiles can be characterized by constant N and s values. These are valuable in correlating and predicting reactivities toward benzhydryl cations, a wide structural variety of other electrophiles and, to a good approximation, substrates reacting by an Sn2 mechanism. There are certainly failures in extending these relationships to too wide a variation of carbocation and nucleophile structures, but there is a sufficient framework of regular behavior for the influence of additional factors such as steric effects to be rationally examined as deviations from the norm. Thus comparisons between benzhydryl and trityl cations reveal quite different steric effects for reactions with hydroxylic solvents and alkenes, or even with different halide ions... 

Phenols are smoothly converted into phenolic aldehydes by reaction with chloroform in the presence of base (the Reimer-Tiemann reaction). This overall formylation reaction is of interest in that it involves the generation from chloroform and alkali of the reactive intermediate, dichlorocarbene (2). This effects electrophilic substitution in the reactive phenolate ions giving the benzylidene dichloride (3) which is hydrolysed by the alkaline medium to the corresponding hydroxyaldehyde. The phenolic aldehyde is isolated from the reaction medium after acidification. 

Advances in NMR spectroscopy have made this technique very effective for identification and structural characterization of reactive intermediates in electrophilic reactions. Nowadays it is a powerful tool which can be used for prediction and evaluation of reactivity of polyfluorinated materials. 

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