Home > Community > What is the function of nitrobenzene as a solvent in Friedel Crafts alkylation reaction?
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Noah Klan

What is the function of nitrobenzene as a solvent in Friedel Crafts alkylation reaction?

David Borgstrom  Follow

The aluminium halide complexes with nitro compounds (e.g., nitrobenzene) are known to display catalytic properties in some organic reactions, including that in Friedel craft alkylations. Those complexes are believed to be more soluble in the solvent (nitrobenzene).

Reference: Russian Journal of Coordination Chemistry 2001, 27(7), 469–475.

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James Frederick Smeader  Follow
Although I agree solubility of the $\ce{AlCl3}$ is good in nitrobenzene (they sell solutions of this), perhaps due to the formation of these complexes, I wouldnt go as far as saying that the complexes are catalytic. The referenced paper cites two references to support this claim, none of which actually say this (one doesnt even use nitrobenzene). If you have another references that shows this catalytic activity, by all means, would be very interesting to read!More
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Jeff Lewis  Follow
@ralk912: Im sorry for the late reply but like to verify my comment. The Russian group is talking about complexes of aluminium halide with nitrocompounds as a whole. They claim N...O...Al complexation. I didnt go through whole paper so I wasnt sure about how specific is this claimed catalytic activity. Yet, Im thinking to do little literature survey and put them here if I found solid evidence. Thanks for your interest.More
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Ann Tod  Follow

Without any more information, it's just that, a solvent. Since it is a poor substrate for Friedel Crafts alkylations, it can be considered inert in these conditions. The choice of nitrobenzene would probably be to carry out the reaction at a relatively high temperature, since it boils at 210.9 °C.

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