Electrophilic aromatic substitution | organic chemistry |

About: Electrophilic aromatic substitution

Electrophilic aromatic substitution is an organic reaction in which an atom that is attached to an aromatic system (usually hydrogen) is replaced by an electrophile. Some of the most important electrophilic aromatic substitutions are aromatic nitration, aromatic halogenation, aromatic sulfonation, and acylation and alkylating.

Illustrative reactions:

In this process, solid acids are used as catalyst to generate the incipient carbocation. Many other electrophilic reactions of benzene are conducted, although on much smaller scale, they are valuable routes to key intermediates. The nitration of benzene is achieved via the action of the nitronium ion as the electrophile. The sulfonation with fuming sulfuric acid gives benzenesulfonic acid. Aromatic halogenation with bromine, chlorine, or iodine gives the corresponding aryl halides. This reaction is typically catalyzed by the corresponding iron or aluminum trihalide.
The Friedel–Crafts reaction can be performed either as an acylation or as an alkylation. Often, aluminium trichloride is used, but almost any strong Lewis acid can be applied. For the acylation reaction a stoichiometric amount of aluminum trichloride is required.

Reaction mechanism:

The overall reaction mechanism, denoted by the Hughes–Ingold mechanistic symbol SEAr,[3] begins with the aromatic ring attacking the electrophile E+. This step leads to the formation of a positively charged and delocalized cyclohexadienyl cation, also known as an arenium ion, Wheland intermediate, or arene σ-complex. Many examples of this carbocation have been characterized, but under normal operating conditions these highly acidic species will donate the proton attached to the sp3 carbon to the solvent (or any other weak base) to reestablish aromaticity. The net result is the replacement of H by E in the aryl ring. Occasionally, other electrofuges (groups that can leave without their electron pair) beside H+ will depart to reestablish aromaticity; these species include silyl groups (as SiR3+), the carboxy group (as CO2 + H+), the iodo group (as I+), and tertiary alkyl groups like t-butyl (as R+). The capacity of these types of substituents to leave is sometimes exploited synthetically, particularly the case of replacement of silyl by another functional group (ipso attack). However, the loss of groups like iodo or alkyl is more often an undesired side reaction.

Effect of substituent groups:

Both the regioselectivity—the different possible arene substitution patterns—and the speed of an electrophilic aromatic substitution are affected by the substituents already attached to the benzene ring. In terms of regioselectivity, some groups promote substitution at the ortho or para positions, whereas other groups favor substitution at the meta position. These groups are called either ortho–para directing or meta directing, respectively. In addition, some groups will increase the rate of reaction (activating) while others will decrease the rate (deactivating). While the patterns of regioselectivity can be explained with resonance structures, the influence on kinetics can be explained by both resonance structures and the inductive effect.


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