Aromatic- Electrophilic substitution Flashcards
How does benzene react with strong electrophiles
- In substitution rather than addition
What takes place in an electrophilic substitution reaction
- An atom or group of atoms replaces a hydrogen atom on the benzene ring so that the product retains the stable aromatic ring
Describe the mechanism for an S(E)Ar reaction
- In situ generation of electrophile
- The aromatic ring breaks aromaticity and attacks the very reactive electrophile
- Forms an Wheland intermediate
- Stabilisation of Wheland intermediate by resonance
- The proton at the site of electrophilic attack is lost from this cation intermediate to restore aromaticity
Which is the slow, rate determining step in an SEAr
- The breaking of the aromaticity requires a lot of energy- slow
What position does the charge take in Wheland intermediate resonance
- Either ortho or para never meta
What are the 5 most common substitution reactions of benzene
- Halogenation
- Nitration
- Sulfonation
- Alkylation
- Acylation
Which halogens are accessible and why
- Chlorine
- Bromine
- NOT Fluorine- too reactive/ difficult to handle
- NOT iodine- too unreactive
What is formed when chlorine/bromine reacts with benzene
- Chlorobenzene
2. Bromobenzene
What catalyst is used in bromination/ chlorination of benzene
- FeBr3
2. AlCl3
What are the steps in bromination of benzene
- Bromine atom donates a lone pair of electrons to the Lewis acidic iron centre to give a zwitterion
- This causes the Br-Br bond to become polarised- stronger electrophile
- Benzene acts as a nucleophile and attacks the partially positive bromine atom releasing FeBr4-
- The Wheland intermediate, stabilised by resonance, then rapidly loses a proton to restore aromaticity
- By-products FeBr4- + H+ combine to restore FeBr3 catalyst and HBr
What is needed for the nitration of benzene
- Mixture of concentrated nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid
What is the first step in the nitration of benzene
- Generation of NO2+ electrophile
- Sulfuric acid protonates nitric acid to give OH2+ - an excellent leaving group
- Dehydration then occurs to give reactive nitronium ion
What are the uses of nitration
- Synthesis of explosives
- Nitro group can be easily reduced to an amino group to form anilines- found in many pharmaceuticals and natural products
What is used to reduce the nitro group of nitrobenzene
- Small scale Bechamp reduction- Tin in dilute hydrochloric acid
- In industry- hydrogenation using a palladium on carbon catalyst- avoids cost of large amounts of toxic tin waste
What is the product of the sulfonation of benzene
- Benzenesulfonic acid