aromatic compounds Flashcards
what are the characteristics of aromatic compounds?
- resonance
- high thermochemical stability
- under substitution instead of addition reactions
- nmr ring currents
who discovered the actual bond length of benzene and when?
kathleen londsdale in 1929
what is the theoretical energy increase of hydrogenating cyclohexane 3 times and what is the reality? why is it?
theoretically 360 but actually only 208 due to the stability offered by conjugation/resonance structures
what type of catalyst does benzene need to form monosubsituted product with bromine (Br2)
lewis acid catalyst (eg. FeBr3)
What are the requirements for a compound to be considered aromatic?
- conjugation
- cyclic, planar structure
- every carbon must be sp2 hybridized with 1 p orbital to overlap with neighbours
- follows huckels rule
.
why does a molecular have to planar to be aromatic?
so that the p orbitals are aligned and can effectively overlap (adjacent to each other and are parallel)
what is huckels rule and what is the equation?
4n+2 = no. of pi electrons if n is an integer than the planar ring is aromatic
what is the difference between aromatic and antiaromatic compound?
anti-aromatics abides by all the rules except for huckels rule (abides by 4n instead)
what is a frost musulin diagram
MO diagram to determine aromaticity of a cyclic structure
(the bottom is always only 1, vertex pointing down)
What is the mechanism for SEAr? What conditions are required?
Reacting benzene ring with electrophile and then deprotonation (elimination) to reform the aromatic ring
required a lewis acid catalyst
how many steps is an SEAr reaction?
2 steps, forms cationic intermediate
what is the driving force between carbocation intermediate and aromatic compound
re-establishing aromatic stabilization
what stabilizes the cationic intermediate?
delocalization of the positive charge
how can the transition state of SEAr reactions be studied?
kinetic isotope effect: replacing hydrogen with deuterium atoms and NMR the components
how does replacing H with D effect the transition states in SEAr?
no change for TS1 as that is only effected by rate of electrophile (that determines RDS) attack and TS2 is not observed thus is not the rate determining step
how was the carbocation species proven?
using 1:1 ratio of antimony pentaflouride and flouro sulphuric acid with NMR
draw out the mechanism for how SEAr carbocation can be isolated
check lecture 11 slide 5
what are the conditions for nitration and draw out the mechanism
catalysts H2SO4 but HNO3 is required by the catalyst and mechanism is on L11 S8
what is a sulfonation reaction and what is the mechanism
sulfur trioxide and sulfuric acid
L11 S9, protonated sulfur trioxide as electrophile
is sulfonation reversible and if so under what conditions?
it is and above 80 degrees C
draw out the mechanism behind chlorination and bromination and reagents required? why is that specific catalyst used?
L11 P10
FeH3 catalyst where H is the corresponding halogen to avoid halogen scrambling
to polarise the X-X bond
why cant halogen molecules react with the benzene ring on its own
no dipole, needs to be polarized (by lewis acid catalyst)
but if the aromatic ring is substituted then a catalyst isnt required (due to activating groups)
what is friedel crafts alkylation?
adding a alkyl group to an aromatic compound using an alkyl halide and an aluminium halide catalyst
what is the problem with freidel craft alkylation?
- carbocations can rearrange via wagner-meerwin 1-2 hydride of alkyl shifts thus final product formed is different
- polyalkylation due to the donating effect of alkyl groups in general
what is friedel crafts acylation? what is an issue?
addition of acetyl group to benzene ring with lewis acid catalyst BUT the oxygen can coordinate with the lewis acid causing a loss in product or loss of catalyst
what is a further reaction after acetylation?
reduction of ketonic species with zinc/mercury with HCl to form alkyl chain (without the overalkylation because carbonyl is electron withdrawing)