ABSTRACT
Benzene is one of the most important organic molecules known and it is representative of a wide variety of molecules known as aromatic compounds. The special stability called aromaticity that is associated with its structure leads to special types of reactions. Kekule structures are representations of benzene where the bonds are localized, and different structures are used to show that the bond positions “change.” The arenium ion formed by reaction at the meta- position of nitrobenzene is much higher in energy than that formed by reaction at the meta- position of methylbenzene. The aromatic substitution product of the Friedel–Crafts reaction will therefore be the arene derived from reaction of benzene with the secondary or tertiary carbocation. The initial reaction involves collision of the negatively charged hydroxide with the chlorine-bearing carbon of electron-rich benzene ring of chlorobenzene, the ipso carbon.
