Nitration of Phenol over a ZSM-5 Zeolite

2-Methoxyethyl Nitrite as a Reagent for Chemoselective On-Water Nitration

An on-water approach has been developed that allows a nitration of tyrosines and phenols under mild conditions. We envisioned that the assembly of tyrosine/tyrosyl radical couples with interfacial water molecules would realize a biomimetic stacking hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) transition state to facilitate the electron-transfer process. The optimal organic nitrite, 2-methoxyethyl nitrite, resulted in rapid coupling of the tyrosyl radicals with •NO 2 at the oil-water interface to afford the nitrated phenols. Many characteristics found in our on-water strategy are distinct from other complementary systems that include radical nitration. These enticing roles of water in the reaction process introduce new avenues to explore in the design of synthetic organic chemistry systems.

Selective nitration of phenol to o-nitrophenol in the presence of metal-free reduced graphene oxide at room temperature

Reduced graphene oxide catalyzed selective synthesis of o-nitrophenol from an equimolar mixture of phenol and nitric acid in dichloroethane at room temperature.

Regioselective Nitration of m-Xylene Catalyzed by Zeolite Catalyst

Nitration with nitric acid and acetic anhydride via acetyl nitrate as nitrating species is efficient with the substrate m-xylene as solvent. Zeolite Hβ with an SiO2/Al2O3 ratio of 500 was found to be the most active of the catalysts tried both in yield and regioselectivity in the nitration of m-xylene. The molecular volume of the reactants was calculated with the Gaussian 09 program at the B3LYP/6–311+G(2d, p) level and compared with the size of the zeolite Hβ channels. A range of other substrates were subjected to the nitrating system under the same conditions as those optimized for m-xylene and excellent selectivity was obtained.