Why is nitrobenzene commonly used as a solvent in Friedel-Crafts acylation/alkylation?

1 Answer
anor277
Dec 22, 2016

Why is nitrobenzene used as a solvent in Friedel-Crafts acylation/alkylation?

Explanation:

Nitrobenzene contains an electron-withdrawing nitro group directly bound to the phenyl ring. As #-^+N(=O)O^-#, i.e. a quaternized nitrogen, it serves to deactivate the aromatic ring towards electrophilic aromatic substitution. And of course, a lack of reactivity is required of a solvent in an organic reaction. It is also relatively high boiling, (#>210# #""^@C#), so this means you can heat the reaction up high to get it going.

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