Which of these reactants would be the most susceptible to electrophilic aromatic substitution (EAS)? #"PhN"("CH"_2)_3("CH"_3)_3^(+)# or #"PhN"("CH"_2)_3("CH"_3)_3^(+)#? Which would then yield the lowest, and highest, percentage of the meta isomer?
1 Answer
STRONGLY-ELECTRON-WITHDRAWING (DEACTIVATING) GROUPS ARE META DIRECTORS
The idea is that the trimethylammonium group (a positively-charged quaternary ammine) is a strongly-deactivating group, meaning it strongly withdraws electron density away from the aromatic ring, and is a meta director.
Try drawing the resonance structures of
You should get partial positive charges at the ortho and para positions.
These
As the length of the alkyl chain increases on the substituent, the substituent becomes more of an ortho-para directing group (it becomes a weakly-electron-donating group).
Thus, for the first part of your question,
For the second part of your question,