The Ortho-Para Ratio

The catalysed nitration of phenol gives chiefly 0- and />-nitrophenol, (< 0-1% of w-nitrophenol is formed), with small quantities of dinitrated compound and condensed products. The ortho para ratio is very dependent on the conditions of reaction and the concentration of nitrous acid. Thus, in aqueous solution containing sulphuric acid (i 75 mol 1 ) and nitric acid (0-5 mol 1 ), the proportion of oriha-substitution decreases from 73 % to 9 % as the concentration of nitrous acid is varied from o-i mol l i. However, when acetic acid is the solvent the proportion of ortAo-substitution changes from 44 % to 74 % on the introduction of dinitrogen tetroxide (4-5 mol 1 ). 

The theory that the catalysed nitration proceeds through nitrosation was supported by the isolation of some />-nitrosophenol from the interrupted nitration of phenol, and from the observation that the ortho.-para ratio (9 91) of strongly catalysed nitration under aqueous conditions was very similar to the corresponding ratio of formation of nitrosophenols in the absence of nitric acid. ... 

The effect of low temperatures affecting the ortho para ratio is more important for light... 

Thermal conductivity is used as an analytical tool in the deterrnination of hydrogen. Because the thermal conductivities of ortho- and i7n -hydrogen are different, thermal conductivity detectors are used to determine the ortho para ratio of a hydrogen sample (240,241). In one method (242), an analy2er is described which spHts a hydrogen sample of unknown ortho para ratio into two separate streams, one of which is converted to normal hydrogen with a catalyst. The measured difference in thermal conductivity between the two streams is proportional to the ortho para ratio of the sample. 

A study of alkylations with a group of substituted benzyl halides and a range of Friedel-Crafts catalysts has provided insight into the trends in selectivity and orientation that accompany changes in both the alkyl group and the catalysts. There is a marked increase in substrate selectivity on going from / -nitrobenzyl chloride to /i-methoxybenzyl chloride. For example, with titanium tetrachloride as the catalyst, Aitoi Abenz increases from 2.5 to 97. This increase in substrate selectivity is accompanied by an increasing preference for para substitution. With /i-nitrobenzyl chloride, the ortho para ratio is 2 1 (the... 

Steric effects play a major role in determining the ortho para ratio in Friedel-Crafts alkylations. The amount of ortho substitution of toluene decreases as the size of the entering alkyl group increases along the series methyl, ethyl, /-propyl. No ortho product is found when the entering group is /-butyl. ... 

Steric fectors clearly enter into determining the ortho para ratio. The hindered 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl group is introduced with a 50 1 preference for the para position. Similarly, in the benzoylation of alkylbenzenes by benzoyl chloride-aluminum chloride, the amount of ortho product decreases (10.3%, 6.0%, 3.1%, 0.6%, respectively) as the branching of the alkyl group is increased along the series methyl, ethyl, i-propyl, t-butyl. ... 

The conversion of ortho-hydrogen to para-hydrogen is slow in the absence of a catalyst. Therefore, as one cools room-temperature hydrogen to low temperatures, the ortho. para ratio remains at 3 1, and entropy is present that results from the mixing of these two different types of hydrogen. 

Amines and phenols can be nitrated by dilute (< 5 M) solutions of nitric acid in water or acetic acid provided nitrous acid is present1 °3. A mixture of products is frequently obtained and the ortho para ratio can vary widely according to the nitrous acid concentration104 105, thereby indicating a different electrophile under these conditions. 

Hanstein and Traylor544 used a 4.3 M solution of trifluoroacetic acid in chloroform to measure the rates of deuteration of (PhCH2)2Hg at 35 °C, for which kx = 2,100 x 10"7. Comparison with other deuteration rates (which, however, were neither quoted nor referred to) was said to give a (CH2HgCH2Ph) = — 1.14 and the ortho para ratio was 0.84. For the compound PhCH2B(OH)j, the rate of deuteration by 3 M tartaric acid at 100 °C was found to be 5 x 10 7 (ortho para ratio = 1.1) and from this a value of ff4 (CH2B(OH)J) of —1.11 was claimed, but without the relevant data used to obtain these c+ values cautious use of them seems appropriate. 

N. Vass, "The Nature of the Alternating Effect in Carbon Chains. Pt. XXIII. Anomalous Orientation by Halogens, and Its Bearing on the Problem of the Ortho-Para-Ratio in Aromatic Substitution," JCS 131 (1928) 417425. 

Polyethylene films influence the product distribution in a different way, depending on the nature of the aryloxy radical. Thus, the ortho/para ratio in the PFR of phenyl esters is 2, both in hexane and films. However, this ratio is very different for 1-naphthyl esters 2 in hexane and > 6 in the films. This has been ascribed to the more available rotational movement for phenoxyl than for naphthoxyl radicals. As a matter of fact, van der Waals volumes are quite different, being 81 A for the former and 124 A for the latter [292]. 

It has been noted that the ortho para ratio for protodetritiation of p-[ H] toluene varies with acid medium, and although side reactions are present with both sulphuric acid and Lewis acids, they are usually absent in trifluoroacetic acid. See (a) Taylor, R. Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution. J. Wiley and Sons, New York, 1990, pp. 61-64 (b) Baker, R. Eabcm C. Taylor, R. J. Chem. Soc. 1961,4927. 

When aromatic amines react with potassium persulfate in alkaline aqueous solution at room temperature in the absence of a catalyst, they are converted to the corresponding phenol . Behrman has studied the ortho-para ratio in this reaction and found that the ortho product predominates over the para product (in contrast with the Elbs reaction)... 

In a kinetic study of the acylation of toluene, with p-xylene and the corresponding perdeutero compounds with aroyl triflates, correlation was found between the primary kinetic isotope effect and the ortho para ratio.35 Different conformations of the bent cr complexes36 for the two isomers resulted in a much higher rate of deprotonation and rearomatization for the para isomer. By appropriately selecting reaction conditions and thereby affecting the ratio of the two conformations, unusually high amounts of ortho products may be obtained.37,38... 

Experimental procedures are given in Expt 6.107 for o- and p-hydroxy-propiophenones (R = Et). The ortho-para ratio in the product is influenced by the nature of the alkyl residue, the temperature, the solvent and the amount of aluminium chloride used generally low temperatures favour the formation of p-hydroxyketones. It is usually possible to separate the two hydroxyketones by fractional distillation under reduced pressure through an efficient fractionating column or by steam distillation the ortho isomers, being chelated, are more steam volatile. It may be mentioned that Clemmensen reduction (cf. Sections 5.1.3, p. 476 and 6.1.1, p. 826) of the hydroxyketones affords an excellent route to alkyl phenols. 

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