Electrophilic substitution partial rate factors

TABLE 7.1 Partial rate factors for some electrophilic substitutions of toluene... 

The applicability of the two-parameter equation and the constants devised by Brown to electrophilic aromatic substitutions was tested by plotting values of the partial rate factors for a reaction against the appropriate substituent constants. It was maintained that such comparisons yielded satisfactory linear correlations for the results of many electrophilic substitutions, the slopes of the correlations giving the values of the reaction constants. If the existence of linear free energy relationships in electrophilic aromatic substitutions were not in dispute, the above procedure would suffice, and the precision of the correlation would measure the usefulness of the p+cr+ equation. However, a point at issue was whether the effect of a substituent could be represented by a constant, or whether its nature depended on the specific reaction. To investigate the effect of a particular substituent in different reactions, the values for the various reactions of the logarithms of the partial rate factors for the substituent were plotted against the p+ values of the reactions. This procedure should show more readily whether the effect of a substituent depends on the reaction, in which case deviations from a hnear relationship would occur. It was concluded that any variation in substituent effects was random, and not a function of electron demand by the electrophile. ... 

Partial rate factor (Section 12 10) In electrophilic aromatic substitution a number that compares the rate of attack at a particular nng carbon with the rate of attack at a single po sition of benzene... 

The table below gives first-order rate constants for reaction of substituted benzenes with w-nitrobenzenesulfonyl peroxide. From these data, calculate the overall relative reactivity and partial rate factors. Does this reaction fit the pattern of an electrophilic aromatic substitution If so, does the active electrophile exhibit low, moderate, or high substrate and position selectivity ... 

These relative rate data per position are experimentally detennined and are known as partial rate factors. They offer a convenient way to express substituent effects in electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions. 

Evidently S, is a measure of intramolecular selectivity because it involves a ratio, the contribution of the benzene substitution rate disappears, and the selectivity factor expresses the selectivity of the reagent X in Eq. (7-83) for the para position relative to the meta position. Each individual partial rate factor, on the other hand, is expressive of an inteimolecular selectivity thus p is a measure of the selectivity of the reagent for the para position in CgHsY relative to benzene. It was observed that Eq. (7-85), where Cmc is a constant, is satisfied for a large number of electrophilic substitutions of toluene. 

Equation (7-85) is a selectivity-reactivity relationship, with lower values of Sf denoting lower selectivity. Lower values ofpt correspond to greater reactivity, with the limit being a partial rate factor of unity for an infinitely reactive electrophile. This selectivity-reactivity relationship is followed for the electrophilic substitution reactions of many substituted benzenes, although toluene is the best studied of these. 

Substituents have a much smaller effect than in electrophilic or nucleophilic substitution hence the partial rate factors (see p. 690) are not great. Partial rate factors for a few groups are given in Table 14.2. ... 

Abramovitch, Roy, and Uma 51> disagreed with this, pointing out a number of inconsistencies with that conclusion. Thus, while the total rate ratios are not much different from unity, as expected for a homolytic substitution, the values of °h A = 1.0, °HeA = 0.96, and °hA = 0.80 do not support this mechanism since such electron-donating substituents should facilitate attack by an electrophilic free radical 59-60> and lead to total rate ratios greater than unity. Also, the partial rate factor calculated for attack at the meta position of toluene was unusually low, and it is not clear why this position should be deactivated towards attack either by a free radical or by an electrophilic species. 

There is, however, no very satisfactory explanation of why such m-attack as does take place on QH5Y should also be faster than attack on QHg or of why attack on the o-position in C6H5Y is commonly faster than attack on the p-position. The relatively small spread of the partial rate factors for a particular QH5Y means that homolytic aromatic substitution normally leads to a more complex mixture of products than does electrophilic attack on the same species. 

Partial Rate Factors r)r Electrophilic Substitution of Dibenzofuran AND Diphenyl Ether... 

Dewar, M. J. S., T. Mole, and E. W. T. Warford, Electrophilic Substitution. Part VI. The Nitration of Aromatic Hydrocarbons Partial Rate Factors and Their Interpretation, J. Chem. Soc., Part 111, 3581-3586 (1956). 

Under mild conditions nitration and acetylation of hexahelicene give the 5-nitro-and 5-acetyl substitution product as the main product in about 50% yield. In both cases another monosubstitution product is formed, which was identified tentatively by NMR as the corresponding 8-substituted hexahelicene. From the relative rates of detritiation (krel) or the partial rate factors (f) given in Table 27, it seems more probable, however, that the 7-isomers are formed as the side product, as the positional reactivity order of detritiation is C(5) >C(7) >C(8) >C(1) >C-(4) >C(6) >C(2) > C-(3). The preferred reactivity at C(5), found in electrophilic substitutions, is predicted by all the simple Hiickel parameters, whereas the next two positions are correctly predicted by Nr and Lr. Judging from Nr-, Fr- and Lr-values the C-(l) position does not experience much steric hindrance in the H-exchange. Relative to some other positions (C(4), C(6)) its reactivity is higher than expected. The Mulliken overlap population predicts, however, the highest reactivity for C(l) and leaves room for the supposition that this position is considerably masked. 

The partial rate factors af and /3f for the a- and /3-positions of thiophene have been calculated for a wide range of electrophilic reactions these have been tabulated (71 AHC(13)235, 72IJS(C)(7)6l). Some side-chain reactions in which resonance-stabilized car-benium ions are formed in the transition states have also been included in this study. A correspondence between solvolytic reactivity and reactivity in electrophilic aromatic substitution is expected because of the similar electron-deficiency developed in the aromatic system in the two types of reactions. The plot of log a or log /3f against the p-values of the respective reaction determined for benzene derivatives, under the same reaction conditions, has shown a linear relationship. Only two major deviations are observed mercuration and protodemercuration. This is understandable since the mechanism of these two reactions might differ in the thiophene series from the benzene case. 

In contrast to thiophene, benzo[6]thiophene is preferentially substituted at the /3-position. The /3 a reactivity ratios and partial rate factors for the electrophilic substitutions of benzo[6]thiophene have been summarized. The reactivity ratio varies over a wide range, depending on the nature of the electrophile and the temperature of the reaction in the case of acetylation, the percentage of the a-substituted product increases with temperature. Also in contrast to thiophene, the extended selectivity treatment applied to the reactions at the a- and /3-positions of benzo[6]thiophene gives a non-linear plot. The effect of fusion of a benzene ring to thiophene is to decrease the reactivity of the a-position and increase the reactivity of the /3-position. 

Table 9.12 compares partial rate factors for substitution by phenyl radical with those for electrophilic bromination. Selectivity is clearly much lower for the radical substitution furthermore, for attacking phenyl radical, nearly all positions in the substituted benzenes are more reactive than in benzene itself, a finding that reflects the tendency for most substituents to stabilize a radical, and thus to lower transition state energy for formation of the cyclohexadienyl intermediate, when compared with hydrogen. The strong polar effects, which cause the familiar pattern of activation and deactivation in the electrophilic substitutions, are absent. One factor that presumably contributes to the low selectivity in radical attack is an early transition state in the addition step, which is exothermic by roughly 20 kcal mole-1.178... 

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... 

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