Toluene, bromination

Free-radical reactions written in the simplest way imply no separation of charge. The case of toluene bromination can be used to illustrate this point ... 

Nevertheless, many free-radical processes respond to introduction of polar substituents, just as do heterolytic processes that involve polar or ionic intermediates. The substituent effects on toluene bromination, for example, are correlated by the Hammett equation, which gives a p value of — 1.4, indicating that the benzene ring acts as an electron donor in the transition state. Other radicals, for example the t-butyl radical, show a positive p for hydrogen abstraction reactions involving toluene. ... 

Multivalent cations (Ca(II), Ce(III)) showed a higher activity than monovalent cations (Na, K). In toluene bromination (ref. 20) the catalytic activity of multivalent cations embedded in a zeolite matrix appeared to be higher than that of the corresponding metal chlorides. 

Because the rate of substitution varies with position, in a benzene derivative it is more informative and frequently more useful to talk about partial rate factors than about relative rates. A partial rate factor is defined as the rate at one particular position in the benzene derivative relative to the rate of substitution at one position in benzene. Let us, for example, calculate the para and meta partial rate factors (pf and mf, respectively) for bromination of toluene with bromine in aqueous acetic acid. Toluene brominates 605 times faster than benzene under these conditions. The product is 66.8 percent p-, 0.3 percent m-, and 32.9 percent o-bromotoluene. Attack at the para position of toluene occurs 0.668 x 605 times as fast as attack at all six positions of benzene but (0.668 x 605 x 6 = 2420) times as fast as at one position of benzene. Therefore pfCH for bromination of toluene under these conditions is 2420. There are only three times as many total carbons in benzene as meta carbons in toluene. Therefore mfca3 = 0.003 x 605 x 3 = 5.5. The definitions of the partial rate factors for monosubstituted benzenes (—R) are given in Equations 7.78-7.80. 

It is also to he noted that ortho and para substitution often occur together in the same molecule, so that the group R enters the para and also both the ortho positions thus both aniline and phenol on bromination readily give symmetric (2,4,6) tribromo-compounds (p. 165), while both toluene and phenol on nitration readily give the symmetric trinitro-derivatives (p. 170). 

In the absence of catalysts, toluene when treated with chlorine (or bromine) at the boiling point, preferably with exposure to sunlight or other bright light source, undergoes halogenation in the side chain. The entrance of the first chlorine atom, for example, proceeds at a much faster rate than the entrance of the second chlorine atom so that in practice the major portion of the toluene is converted into benzyl chloride before appreciable chlorination of benzyl chloride occurs ... 

Kinetic data are available for the nitration of a series of p-alkylphenyl trimethylammonium ions over a range of acidities in sulphuric acid. - The following table shows how p-methyl and p-tert-h xty augment the reactivity of the position ortho to them. Comparison with table 9.1 shows how very much more powerfully both the methyl and the tert-butyl group assist substitution into these strongly deactivated cations than they do at the o-positions in toluene and ferf-butylbenzene. Analysis of these results, and comparison with those for chlorination and bromination, shows that even in these highly deactivated cations, as in the nitration of alkylbenzenes ( 9.1.1), the alkyl groups still release electrons in the inductive order. In view of the comparisons just... 

The classification of hydrocarbons as aliphatic or aromatic took place m the 1860s when It was already apparent that there was something special about benzene toluene and their derivatives Their molecular formulas (benzene is CgHg toluene is C7Hj ) indicate that like alkenes and alkynes they are unsaturated and should undergo addition reac tions Under conditions m which bromine for example reacts rapidly with alkenes and alkynes however benzene proved to be inert Benzene does react with Bi2 m the pres ence of iron(III) bromide as a catalyst but even then addition isn t observed Substitu tion occurs instead ... 

The relative rates of reaction of ethane toluene and ethylbenzene with bromine atoms have been measured The most reactive hydrocarbon undergoes hydrogen atom abstraction a million times faster than does the least reactive one Arrange these hydrocarbons in order of decreasing reactivity... 

Arrange the following five compounds in order of decreasing rate of bromination benzene toluene o xylene m xylene 13 5 tnmethylbenzene (the relative rates are 2 X 10 5 X 10" 5 X 10 60 and 1)... 

Membranes and Osmosis. Membranes based on PEI can be used for the dehydration of organic solvents such as 2-propanol, methyl ethyl ketone, and toluene (451), and for concentrating seawater (452—454). On exposure to ultrasound waves, aqueous PEI salt solutions and brominated poly(2,6-dimethylphenylene oxide) form stable emulsions from which it is possible to cast membranes in which submicrometer capsules of the salt solution ate embedded (455). The rate of release of the salt solution can be altered by surface—active substances. In membranes, PEI can act as a proton source in the generation of a photocurrent (456). The formation of a PEI coating on ion-exchange membranes modifies the transport properties and results in permanent selectivity of the membrane (457). The electrochemical testing of salts (458) is another possible appHcation of PEI. 

These reactions occur on the benzylic hydrogens because these hydrogens are much more reactive. Competition experiments show, for example, that at 40°C a benzylic hydrogen of toluene is 3.3 times as reactive toward bromine atoms as the tertiary hydrogen of an alkane and nearly 100 million times as reactive as a hydrogen of methane. 

Impurities can sometimes be removed by conversion to derivatives under conditions where the major component does not react or reacts much more slowly. For example, normal (straight-chain) paraffins can be freed from unsaturated and branched-chain components by taking advantage of the greater reactivity of the latter with chlorosulfonic acid or bromine. Similarly, the preferential nitration of aromatic hydrocarbons can be used to remove e.g. benzene or toluene from cyclohexane by shaking for several hours with a mixture of concentrated nitric acid (25%), sulfuric acid (58%), and water (17%). 

Molecular bromine is believed to be the reactive brominating agent in uncatalyzed brominations. The brominations of benzene and toluene are first-order in both bromine and the aromatic substrate in trifluoroacetic acid solution, but the rate expressions become more complicated when these reactions take place in the presence of water. " The bromination of benzene in aqueous acetic acid exhibits a first-order dependence on bromine concentration when bromide ion is present. The observed rate is dependent on bromide ion concentration, decreasing with increasing bromide ion concentration. The detailed kinetics are consistent with a rate-determining formation of the n-complex when bromide ion concentration is low, but with a shift to reversible formation of the n-complex... 

Bromination has been shown not to exhibit a primary kinetic isotope effect in the case of benzene, bromobenzene, toluene, or methoxybenzene. There are several examples of substrates which do show significant isotope effects, including substituted anisoles, JV,iV-dimethylanilines, and 1,3,5-trialkylbenzenes. The observation of isotope effects in highly substituted systems seems to be the result of steric factors that can operate in two ways. There may be resistance to the bromine taking up a position coplanar with adjacent substituents in the aromatization step. This would favor return of the ff-complex to reactants. In addition, the steric bulk of several substituents may hinder solvent or other base from assisting in the proton removal. Either factor would allow deprotonation to become rate-controlling. 

Bromination is catalyzed by Lewis acids, and a study of the kinetics of bromination of benzene and toluene in the presence of aluminum chloride has been reported. Toluene is found to be about 35 times more reactive than benzene under these conditions. The catalyzed reaction thus shows a good deal less substrate selectivity than the uncatalyzed reaction, as would be expected on the basis of the greater reactivity of the aluminum chloride-bromine complex. 

If chlorine and bromine are allowed to act upon an aromatic hydrocarbon like toluene, which has a side-chain, substitution may occur in the nucleus or the side-chain, according to the conditions. Generally speaking, in the cold and in presence of a halogen carrier, nuclear substitution occurs, Irut at a high temperatuie the halogen passes into the side-chain (see Piep. 

Alkylbenzenes such as toluene (methylbenzene) react with NBS to give products in which bromine substitution has occurred at the position next to the aromatic ring (the benzyiic position). Explain, based on the bond dissociation energies in Table 5.3 on page 156. 

Draw resonance structures for the benzyl radical, C6H5CH2-, the intermediate produced in the NBS bromination reaction of toluene (Problem 10.27). 

The ortho, meta, para system of nomenclature is also useful when discussing reactions. For example, we might describe the reaction of bromine with toluene by saying, "Reaction occurs atthe para position"—in other words, at the position para to the methyl group already present on the ring. 

Next ask yourself, "What is an immediate precursor of p-bromotoluene " Perhaps toluene is an immediate precursor because the methyl group would direct bromination to the ortho and para positions. Alternatively, bromobenzene might be an immediate precursor because we could carry out a Friedel-Cralts methylation and obtain a mixture of ortho and para products. Both answers are satisfactory, although both would also lead unavoidably to a product mixture that would have to be separated. 

What is an immediate precursor of toluene " Benzene, which could be methylated in a Friedel-Crafts reaction. Alternatively, "What is an immediate precursor of bromobenzene " Benzene, which could be brominated. 

Derbyshire and Waters192 measured the rates of bromination of sodium toluene-m-sulphonate (in water) and of benzoic acid (in aqueous acetic acid) by hypobromous acid with sulphuric or perchloric acids as catalysts, all at 21.5 °C. No bromination occurred in the absence of mineral acid and the reaction was strictly first-order in aromatic and in hypobromous acid. The function of the catalyst was considered to be the formation of a positive brominating species, according to the equilibrium... 

Aqueous dioxan (50%) has been used as a medium for bromination with acidified hypobromous acid and de la Mare and Harvey195 showed that, with perchloric acid as catalyst, the bromination of toluene followed the usual kinetic equation (89). At 25 °C, in ca. 0.0013 M hypobromous acid, the average value of fc2/[H+] for toluene (0.008-0.15 M) was 21.7 and for benzene (0.0011-0.016 M) was 0.60, so that ktoWtnc/kbtaztae was 36.2. The bromination of f-butylbenzene196 and biphenyl197 gave k2/[H+] = 7.25 and 7.52, and hence relative rates of 12.1,... 

Further interpretation of Bruner s results were that the loss of hydrogen bromide from the first formed ArHBr2 complex was proportional to [IBr]3 and the bromination of toluene in carbon tetrachloride at 25 °C was found to give a maximum rate at [I2][Br2] = 0.8, and said to follow the rate equation... 

Subsequently, rate coefficients were determined for the zinc chloride-catalysed bromination of benzene, toluene, i-propyl-benzene, r-butylbenzene, xylenes, p-di-f-butylbenzene, mesitylene, 1,2,4-trimethyl-, sym-triethyl-, sym-tri-f-butyl-, 1,2,3,5-and 1,2,4,5-tetramethyl- and pentamethylbenzenes, all at 25.4 °C and in acetic acid, and it was shown that the reaction was inhibited by HBr.ZnCl2 which accumulates during the bromination and was considered to cause the first step of the reaction (formation of ArHBr2) to reverse320. The second-order coefficients for bromination of o-xylene at 25.0 °C were shown to be inversely dependent upon the hydrogen bromide concentration and the reversal of equilibrium (155)... 

An investigation of the relative rates of bromination of benzene, toluene, m-and p-xylene by bromine in acetic acid, catalysed by mercuric acetate, revealed relative rates almost identical with those obtained with molecular bromine322, though as in the bromination of biphenyl by bromine acetate (p. 129) it is quite inconsistent for a much more reactive electrophile to have the same selectivity. Relative rates were (molecular bromination values in parenthesis) benzene 1.0 toluene, 480 (610) p-xylene, 2.1 x 103 (2.2 x 103) m-xylene 2.0 x 10s (2.1 x 10s). 

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