1. You can recognize the following substituents on benzene as electron donors or electron acceptors via inductive and resonance effects:
    Alkyl, amine, hydroxy/alkoxy, halogen, acyl, cyano, nitro, sulfonyl, CF3
    Visualization: Sigma Complexes
  2. You can describe the role of electronegativity in controlling inductive effects.
  3. You can illustrate resonance effects for both electron donors and acceptors using proper resonance structures.
  4. Using all of the above information, you can classify each substituent as either activating or deactivating, and as either ortho/para or meta-directing based on use of resonance structures in the mechanism of electrophilic aromatic substitution.
  5. You can correctly apply all of these principles to predict the site of electrophilic aromatic substitution on a disubstituted benzene.
  6. You understand strategies for manipulating substituents to allow synthesis of any multiply-substituted benzene:
    • Reduction of nitro to amine; oxidation of amine to nitro
    • Reduction of acyl groups to alkyl groups
    • Use of reversible sulfonation to achieve a particular directing effect
    • The role of protection of amine and hydroxy substituents
  7. You can apply these principles to different aromatic systems (naphthalene).

Recommended end-of-chapter problems: 16-30, 16-32, 16-34, 16-35, 16-37, 16-39, 16-40, 16-42, 16-43, 16-45, 16-56, 16-57.
Friday fun: Phenonium ion rearrangement

Last updated: 12/13/2019