Thiophenes reactivity

Some theoretical aspects of thiophene reactivity and structure have also been discussed, for example the kinetics of proton transfer from 2,3-dihydrobenzo[6]thiophenc-2-onc <06JOC8203>, the configuration of imines derived from thiophenecarbaldehydes <06JOC7165>, and the relative stability of benzo[c]thiophene <06T12204>. The kinetics of nucleophilic aromatic substitution of some 2-substituted-5-nitrothiophenes in room temperature ionic liquids have also been investigated <06JOC5144>. 

Relative rates. The order of reactivities at position 2 is pyrrole > furan > tellurophene > selenophene > thiophene. Where data are available for both 2- and 3-positions, the following order is seen 2-furan > 2-thiophene > 3-furan > 3-thiophene. Reactivity parameters (+) for the 2- and 3-positions of thiophene for reactions of varying -values (ranging from 0.66 to 12.0) have been established. 

Electrophilic substitution in pyrrole, furan, and thiophene. Reactivity and orientation j... 

Heteroaromatics such as furan, thiophene, and even the 2-pyridone 280 react with acrylate to form 281(244-246]. Benzene and heteroaromatic rings are introduced into naphthoquinone (282) as an alkene component[247]. The pyrrole ring is more reactive than the benzene ring in indole. 

The oxidative coupling of thiophene, furan[338] and pyrrole[339,340] is also possible. The following order of reactivity was observed in the coupling of substituted furans[338] R = H > Me > CHO > CO Me > CH(OAc)i > CO2H. The cross-coupling of furans and thiophenes with arene is possible, and 4-phenylfurfural (397) is the main product of the cross-coupling of furfural and benzene[341]. 

Section 12 18 Heterocyclic aromatic compounds may be more reactive or less reactive than benzene Pyridine is much less reactive than benzene but pyrrole furan and thiophene are more reactive... 

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 reactivity of five-membered rings with one heteroatom to electrophilic reagents has been quantitatively compared in a variety of substitution reactions. Table 2 shows the rates of substitution compared to thiophene for formylation by phosgene and iV,AT-dimethylfor-mamide, acetylation by acetic anhydride and tin(IV) chloride, and trifluoroacetylation with trifluoroacetic anhydride (71AHC(13)235). 

The reactivity sequence furan > tellurophene > selenophene > thiophene is thus the same for all three reactions and is in the reverse order of the aromaticities of the ring systems assessed by a number of different criteria. The relative rate for the trifluoroacetylation of pyrrole is 5.3 x lo . It is interesting to note that AT-methylpyrrole is approximately twice as reactive to trifluoroacetylation as pyrrole itself. The enhanced reactivity of pyrrole compared with the other monocyclic systems is also demonstrated by the relative rates of bromination of the 2-methoxycarbonyl derivatives, which gave the reactivity sequence pyrrole>furan > selenophene > thiophene, and by the rate data on the reaction of the iron tricarbonyl-complexed carbocation [C6H7Fe(CO)3] (35) with a further selection of heteroaromatic substrates (Scheme 5). The comparative rates of reaction from this substitution were 2-methylindole == AT-methylindole>indole > pyrrole > furan > thiophene (73CC540). 

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. 

The effect of substituents on the reactivity of heterocyclic nuclei is broadly similar to that on benzene. Thus mem-directing groups such as methoxycarbonyl and nitro are deactivating. The effects of strongly activating groups such as amino and hydroxy are difficult to assess since simple amino compounds are unstable and hydroxy compounds exist in an alternative tautomeric form. Comparison of the rates of formylation and trifiuoroacetylation of the parent heterocycle and its 2-methyl derivative indicate the following order of sensitivity to substituent effects furan > tellurophene > selenophene = thiophene... 

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 benzo[6] heterocycles are generally less reactive than their monocyclic counterparts. Thus benzo[6]thiophene unlike thiophene does not undergo Vilsmeier formylation or the Mannich reaction. 

Thiophene, which is more stable to acid, is readily sulfonated by shaking with concentrated sulfuric acid at room temperature. Benzene is not reactive under these conditions and this is the basis for the purification of benzene from thiophene contamination. With all three heterocycles, if the a-positions are blocked, then sulfonation occurs at the /3-position. 

An important extension of these reactions is the Mannich reaction, in which aminomethyl-ation is achieved by the combination of formaldehyde, a secondary amine and acetic acid (Scheme 24). The intermediate immonium ion generated from formaldehyde, dimethyl-amine and acetic acid is not sufficiently reactive to aminomethylate furan, but it will form substitution products with alkylfurans. The Mannich reaction appears to be still more limited in its application to thiophene chemistry, although 2-aminomethylthiophene has been prepared by reaction of thiophene with formaldehyde and ammonium chloride. The use of A,iV-dimethyf (methylene) ammonium chloride (Me2N=CH2 CF) has been recommended for the iV,iV-dimethylaminomethylation of thiophenes (83S73). 

Competitive metallation experiments with IV-methylpyrrole and thiophene and with IV-methylindole and benzo[6]thiophene indicate that the sulfur-containing heterocycles react more rapidly with H-butyllithium in ether. The comparative reactivity of thiophene and furan with butyllithium depends on the metallation conditions. In hexane, furan reacts more rapidly than thiophene but in ether, in the presence of tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA), the order of reactivity is reversed (77JCS(P1)887). Competitive metallation experiments have established that dibenzofuran is more easily lithiated than dibenzothiophene, which in turn is more easily lithiated than A-ethylcarbazole. These compounds lose the proton bound to carbon 4 in dibenzofuran and dibenzothiophene and the equivalent proton (bound to carbon 1) in the carbazole (64JOM(2)304). 

Furan has the greater reactivity in cycloaddition reactions compared with pyrrole and thiophene the latter is the least reactive diene. However, A -substituted pyrroles show enhanced dienic character compared with the parent heterocycle. 

Benzo[Z)]furans and indoles do not take part in Diels-Alder reactions but 2-vinyl-benzo[Z)]furan and 2- and 3-vinylindoles give adducts involving the exocyclic double bond. In contrast, the benzo[c]-fused heterocycles function as highly reactive dienes in [4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions. Thus benzo[c]furan, isoindole (benzo[c]pyrrole) and benzo[c]thiophene all yield Diels-Alder adducts (137) with maleic anhydride. Adducts of this type are used to characterize these unstable molecules and in a similar way benzo[c]selenophene, which polymerizes on attempted isolation, was characterized by formation of an adduct with tetracyanoethylene (76JA867). 

In many cases, substituents linked to a pyrrole, furan or thiophene ring show similar reactivity to those linked to a benzenoid nucleus. This generalization is not true for amino or hydroxyl groups. Hydroxy compounds exist largely, or entirely, in an alternative nonaromatic tautomeric form. Derivatives of this type show little resemblance in their reactions to anilines or phenols. Thienyl- and especially pyrryl- and furyl-methyl halides show enhanced reactivity compared with benzyl halides because the halogen is made more labile by electron release of the type shown below. Hydroxymethyl and aminomethyl groups on heteroaromatic nuclei are activated to nucleophilic attack by a similar effect. 

A quantitative study has been made on the effect of a methyl group in the 2-position of five-membered heteroaromatic compounds on the reactivity of position 5 in the formylation and trifluoroacetylation reaction. The order of sensitivity to the activating effect of the substituent is furan > tellurophene >selenophene = thiophene (77AHC(2l)ll9). 

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>. 

The carbonyl reactivity of pyrrole-, furan-, thiophene- and selenophene-2- and -3-carbaldehydes is very similar to that of benzaldehyde. A quantitative study of the reaction of iV-methylpyrrole-2-carbaldehyde, furan-2-carbaldehyde and thiophene-2-carbaldehyde with hydroxide ions showed that the difference in reactivity between furan- and thiophene-2-carbaldehydes was small but that both of these aldehydes were considerably more reactive... 

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. 

Rates of debromination of bromonitro-thiophenes and -selenophenes with sodium thio-phenoxide and sodium selenophenoxide have been studied. Selenophene compounds were about four times more reactive than the corresponding thiophene derivatives. The rate ratio was not significantly different whether attack was occurring at the a- or /3-position. As in benzenoid chemistry, numerous nucleophilic displacement reactions are found to be copper catalyzed. Illustrative of these reactions is the displacement of bromide from 3-bromothiophene-2-carboxylic acid and 3-bromothiophene-4-carboxylic acid by active methylene compounds (e.g. AcCH2C02Et) in the presence of copper and sodium ethoxide (Scheme 77) (75JCS(P1)1390). 

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