Thiophenes electrophilic substitutions

Two excellent reviews <71AHC(13)235, 72IJS(C)(7)6l) have dealt with quantitative aspects of electrophilic substitution on thiophenes. Electrophilic substitution in the thiophene ring appears to proceed in most cases by a mechanism similar to that for the homocyclic benzene substrates. The first step involves the formation of a cr-complex, which is rate determining in most reactions in a few cases the decomposition of this intermediate may be rate determining. Evidence for the similarity of mechanism in the thiophene and benzene series stems from detailed kinetic studies. Thus in protodetritiation of thiophene derivatives in aqueous sulfuric and perchloric acids, a linear correlation between log k and —Ho has been established the slopes are very close to those reported for hydrogen exchanges in benzene derivatives. Likewise, the kinetic profile of the reaction of thiophene derivatives with bromine in acetic acid in the dark is the same as for bromination of benzene derivatives. The activation enthalpies and entropies for bromination of thiophene and mesitylene are very similar. 

Electrophilic Substitution of Thiophenes. Electrophilic substitution involves the reaction of electron deficient species, so-called electrophiles (E+), with suitable substrates, in this case thiophene or alkylthiophenes, to give a 2-substituted thiophene (Figure 2). 

Pyrrole, Furait and Thiophen. Electrophilic substitution in these three heterocyclic rings takes place faster at the 2-position than at the 3-position. The standard explanation for attack at C-2 is based on the relative energies of the intermediates 4.51 and 4.52. They both have conjugated systems of four p orbitals, with the heteroatom at the end in 4.51 and inside in 4.52. It is not obvious why the former should be lower in energy than the... 

Electrophilic substitution of thiophene occurs largely at the 2-position and the reactivity of the ring is greater than that of benzene. 3-Substituted derivatives are generally prepared by indirect means or through ring cyclization reactions. 

The electrophilic substitution of thiophene is much easier than that of benzene thus, thiophene is protonated in aqueous sulphuric acid about 10 times more rapidly than benzene, and it is brominated by molecular bromine in acetic acid about 10 times more rapidly than benzene. Benzene in turn is between 10 and lo times more reactive than an uncharged pyridine ring to electrophilic substitution. 

Quantitative data are available on the effect on electrophilic substitution reactions of the fusion of a benzene ring to the b face of a furan or thiophene ring. The overall effect is to decrease reactivity this decrease is much more pronounced in the case of fusion to a furan than to a thiophene ring. As a consequence the overall reactivities of benzo[Z)]furan and benzo[Z)]thiophene are approximately equal 71AHC(13)235). 

In view of the overall increased reactivity of furan compared with thiophene it would be anticipated that furan would be less regioselective in its reactions with electrophiles than thiophene. Possible reasons for the high regioselectivity of furan in electrophilic substitution reactions include complex formation between substrates and reagents and the ability of heteroatoms to assist in the stabilization of cationic intermediates (80CHE1195). 

The range of preparatively useful electrophilic substitution reactions is often limited by the acid sensitivity of the substrates. Whereas thiophene can be successfully sulfonated in 95% sulfuric acid at room temperature, such strongly acidic conditions cannot be used for the sulfonation of furan or pyrrole. Attempts to nitrate thiophene, furan or pyrrole under conditions used to nitrate benzene and its derivatives invariably result in failure. In the... 

Rate data are also available for the solvolysis of l-(2-heteroaryl)ethyl acetates in aqueous ethanol. Side-chain reactions such as this, in which a delocalizable positive charge is developed in the transition state, are frequently regarded as analogous to electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions. In solvolysis the relative order of reactivity is tellurienyl> furyl > selenienyl > thienyl whereas in electrophilic substitutions the reactivity sequence is furan > tellurophene > selenophene > thiophene. This discrepancy has been explained in terms of different charge distributions in the transition states of these two classes of reaction (77AHC(21)119>. 

Acyl-pyrroles, -furans and -thiophenes in general have a similar pattern of reactivity to benzenoid ketones. Acyl groups in 2,5-disubstituted derivatives are sometimes displaced during the course of electrophilic substitution reactions. iV-Alkyl-2-acylpyrroles are converted by strong anhydrous acid to A-alkyl-3-acylpyrroles. Similar treatment of N-unsubstituted 2- or 3-acyIpyrroles yields an equilibrium mixture of 2- and 3-acylpyrroles pyrrolecarbaldehydes also afford isomeric mixtures 81JOC839). The probable mechanism of these rearrangements is shown in Scheme 65. A similar mechanism has been proposed for the isomerization of acetylindoles. 

Benzo[6]thiophene, 2-(aryloxymethyl)-3-chloromethyl-synthesis, 4, 872 Benzo[6]thiophene, 2-arylthio-synthesis, 4, 931 Benzo[6]thiophene, 2-bromo-reaction with potassamide, 4, 829-830 synthesis, 4, 934 Benzo[6]thiophene, 3-bromo-Grignard reagents, 4, 831 reactions, 4, 830 synthesis, 4, 934 Benzo[6]thiophene, 4-bromo-synthesis, 4, 878, 934 Benzo[6]thiophene, 5-bromo-electrophilic substitution, 4, 797 Benzo[6]thiophene, 6-bromo-synthesis, 4, 878, 934 Benzo[6]thiophene, 5-t-buty 1-3-methyl-synthesis, 4, 880... 

Benzo[6]thiophene, 7-chloro-3-methyl-electrophilic substitution, 4, 798... 

Benzo[i]thiophene, 4,5,6,7-tetrafluoro-electrophilic substitution, 4, 797 synthesis, 4, 895, 932... 

It can be seen from resonance structures (2) to (4) that a — I — M-substituent deactivates the 3- and 5-position most strongly in electrophilic substitution. If this deactivation of the 5-position is strong enough to overcome the activating effects of the sulfur in the 5-position, substitution will be directed to the 4-position to an increasing extent. Tirouflet and Fournari studied the nitration of 2-substituted thiophenes of this type. The analysis was carried out polarographically, and the percentage of 4-isomer was as follows ... 

From resonance structure (12) it is obvious that a —I—M-substit-uent strongly deactivates the 2-position toward electrophilic substitution, and one would thus expect that monosubstitution occurs exclusively in the 5-position. This has also been found to be the case in the chlorination, bromination, and nitration of 3-thiophenecarboxylic acid. Upon chlorination and bromination a second halogen could be introduced in the 2-position, although further nitration of 5-nitro-3-thiopheneearboxylic acid could not be achieved. Similarly, 3-thiophene aldehyde has been nitrated to 5-nitro-3-thiophene aldehyde, and it is further claimed that 5-bromo-3-thiopheneboronic acid is obtained upon bromination of 3-thiopheneboronic acid. ... 

The ease with which electrophilic substitution occurs in position 4 in thiophenes containing a —I—M-substituent in position 3, if the reactive a-positions are blocked with halogens or methyl groups, in contrast to the difiiculty of achieving such substitution in the 3-position of a —I—M 2-substituted thiophene was noticed already by Steinkopf et They easily dinitrated and disulfonated 2,5-di-... 

C. Electrophilic Substitution of Compounds Containing Several Thiophene Rings... 

Since thiophene derivatives, heterocyclic aromatic compounds, are sensitive toward electrophilic substitution reactions, the bromination of these compounds generally gives a mixture of mono-, di-, and other poly-substituted bromination products (ref. 19). However, we have recently found that BTMA Br3 is a useful... 

The thiophene ring can be elaborated using standard electrophilic, nucleophilic, and organometallic chemistry. A variety of methods have been developed to exploit the tendency for the thiophene ring (analogous to that of furan and pyrrole) to favor electrophilic substitution and metallation at its a-carbons. Substitution at the p-carbons is more challenging, but this problem can also be solved by utilizing relative reactivity differences. 

Electrophilic substitution in furan, thiophene, selenophene and pyrrole has, up to 1970, been comprehensively reviewed by Marino.66 Italian workers have determined the relative reactivities of selenophene and thiophene as well67 relative rates are given in Table I. Including furan, the order of reactivity is furan > selenophene > thiophene. 

Relative Rates of Electrophilic Substitution for Selenophene and Thiophene... 

To summarize, electrophilic substitutions and metalations of thiophenes take place preferably at the a-positions due to the electronegativity of the sulfur atom. This is the consequence of the more effective incorporation of lone pair electrons on the sulfur into the aromatic system. Although regioselective reactions are routinely performed for oc,p-dihalofurans, regioselectivity is not as easily achieved in Pd-mediated chemistry with oc,p-dihalothiophenes. 

The heteroaromatic stannanes undergo the normal electrophilic substitution reactions of their protic precursors, and often to an enhanced degree. They are often prepared with the aim of a subsequent Stille cross-coupling reaction, and oligothiophenes with potentially useful optical and electron properties have been prepared by coupling between stannyl- and bromo-thiophenes, for example, Equation (63).204... 

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. 

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