Synthesis with aromatic substitution reactions

In the case of phenazine, substitution in the hetero ring is clearly not possible without complete disruption of the aromatic character of the molecule. Like pyrazine and quinoxa-line, phenazine is very resistant towards the usual electrophilic reagents employed in aromatic substitution reactions and substituted phenazines are generally prepared by a modification of one of the synthetic routes employed in their construction from monocyclic precursors. However, a limited range of substitution reactions has been reported. Thus, phenazine has been chlorinated in acid solution with molecular chlorine to yield the 1-chloro, 1,4-dichloro, 1,4,6-trichloro and 1,4,6,9-tetrachloro derivatives, whose gross structures have been proven by independent synthesis (53G327). 

The synthesis of an alkylated aromatic compound 3 by reaction of an aromatic substrate 1 with an alkyl halide 2, catalyzed by a Lewis acid, is called the Friedel-Crafts alkylation This method is closely related to the Friedel-Crafts acylation. Instead of the alkyl halide, an alcohol or alkene can be used as reactant for the aromatic substrate under Friedel-Crafts conditions. The general principle is the intermediate formation of a carbenium ion species, which is capable of reacting as the electrophile in an electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction. 

Individual substitutions may not necessarily be true electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions. Usually it is assumed that they are, however, and with this assumption the furan nucleus can be compared with others. For tri-fluoroacetylation by trifluoroacetic anhydride at 75 C relative rates have been established, by means of competition experiments 149 thiophene, 1 selenophene, 6.5 furan, 1.4 x 102 2-methylfuran, 1.2 x 105 pyrrole, 5.3 x 107. While nitrogen is usually a better source of electrons for an incoming electrophile (as in pyrrole versus furan) there are exceptions. For example, the enamine 63 reacts with Eschenmoser s salt at the 5-position and not at the enamine grouping.150 Also amusing is an attempted Fischer indole synthesis in which a furan ring is near the reaction site and diverted the reaction into a pyrazole synthesis.151... 

During my early years as an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky, I demonstrated the synthesis of a simple quinone methide as the product of the nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction of water at a highly destabilized 4-methoxybenzyl carbocation. I was struck by the notion that the distinctive chemical reactivity of quinone methides is related to the striking combination of neutral nonaromatic and zwitterionic aromatic valence bond resonance structures that contribute to their hybrid resonance structures. This served as the starting point for the interpretation of the results of our studies on nucleophile addition to quinone methides. At the same time, many other talented chemists have worked to develop methods for the generation of quinone methides and applications for these compounds in organic syntheses and chemical biology. The chapter coauthored with Maria Toteva presents an overview of this work. 

The next three chapters are by Inoue and Mori, Albini, and Rossi, and deal with alkene photoisomerization reactions, the modification of benzylic positions and photochemical aromatic substitution reactions. (E)-2-cyclo-heptenone is produced upon irradiation of the Z-isomer at — 50 °C and can be trapped by cyclopentadiene to afford the adduct 13 [13]. Benzyl-substituted dihydroisoquinolinium derivatives can be used for the photochemical synthesis of tetrahydroisoquinolines. The corresponding... 

A new method of synthesis of the eyano-substituted fused 1,4-oxazepine derivative 91 has been outlined by Abramov et al. <03H(60)1611>, based on nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions with 89 and 90. 

The first chapter discusses the concept of aromaticity, after which there is a description of aromatic substitution reactions. Chapters covering the chemistry of the major functionalized derivatives of benzene follow. A chapter on the use of metals in aromatic chemistry discusses not only the chemistry of Grignard reagents and aryllithium compounds but also the more recent uses of transition metals in the synthesis of aromatic compounds. The penultimate chapter discusses the oxidation and reduction of the benzene ring and the text concludes with the chemistry of some polycyclic compounds. 

Scheme 2.3.3). The approach has been used to make imidazoles (11) with dimethylamino groups in the 4- and/or 2-positions. Such compounds are not well known (they are inclined to be sensitive to the elfects of air and moisture, and their behaviour in electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions parallels that of i (A(-dimethylaniline [8]), and the method is of value for that reason alone. Its wider application to imidazole synthesis seems unlikely. 

A convenient synthesis of 2-mercaptobenzothiazoles 44 features an exclusive ortho-selective nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction of or//zo-haloanilines 41 and subsequent intramolecular cyclization of the intermediate O-ethyl carbonodithioates 43 <05JHC727>. 2-Mercaptobenzothiazoles 44 are readily converted to the corresponding 2-chlorobenzothiazoles 45 upon treatment with sulfuryl chloride. 

As exemplified by equation (2), the Perkin condensation of o-hydroxybenzaldehydes is an important method for the synthesis of substituted coumarins. An interesting variation on this procedure has been reported recently. Heating a mixture of o-fluorobenzaldehyde, 2-thiopheneacetic acid, acetic anhydride and triethylamine affords directly the coumarin (20 equation 13) instead of the expected cinnamic acid (21). The reaction proceeds similarly with several arylacetic acids. The reaction presumably proceeds through the cinnamic acids (21). The observed product can conceivably arise by direct nucleophilic displacement involving the carboxylate or by an elimination/addition (benzyne) mechanism. The authors note that when 2-fluorobenzaldehyde is replaced by its 2-bromo analog in this reaction, the substituted cinnamic acid (22) is the major product and the corresponding coumarin (20) is obtained only in low yield. It is suggested that since it is known that fluoride is displaced more rapidly in nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions, while bromo aromatic compounds form benzynes more rapidly, this result is consistent with a nucleophilic displacement mechanism. 

The synthesis of halogenated 2(3/f)-benzothiazolethiones 44 is carried out using ortho-selective nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction of polyhaloanilines 41 with potassium 0-ethyl xanthate 42 <04JOC7371>. 

BusSnH-mediated intramolecular arylations of various heteroarenes such as substituted pyrroles, indoles, pyridones and imidazoles have also been reported [51]. In addition, aryl bromides, chlorides and iodides have been used as substrates in electrochemically induced radical biaryl synthesis [52]. Curran introduced [4-1-1] annulations incorporating aromatic substitution reactions with vinyl radicals for the synthesis of the core structure of various camptothecin derivatives [53]. The vinyl radicals have been generated from alkynes by radical addition reactions [53, 54]. For example, aryl radical 27, generated from the corresponding iodide or bromide, was allowed to react with phenyl isonitrile to afford imidoyl radical 28, which further reacts in a 5-exo-dig process to vinyl radical 29 (Scheme 8) [53a,b]. The vinyl radical 29 then reacts in a 1,6-cyclization followed by oxidation to the tetracycle 30. There is some evidence [55] that the homolytic aromatic substitution can also occur via initial ipso attack to afford spiro radical 31, followed by opening of this cyclo-... 

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