Question

The electrophilic aromatic substitution of anisole with Br2 gives 4-bromoanisole. Complete the curved-arrow mechanism below; remember to include lone pairs and formal charges where appropriate.

Answer 1

Concepts and reason

Electrophilic aromatic substitution is a kind of substitution reaction in which an electrophile is substituted in the aromatic ring by replacing the hydrogen atom in the aromatic ring.

Fundamentals

Steps involved in an electrophilic aromatic substitution:

• In the first step, the double bond in the benzene ring attracts the electrophile. This electrophilic attack leads to the formation of carbocation.

• Then, the base donates electrons to the hydrogen atom present in the ring by an electrophilic attack and the hydrogen ion shares its electron to the π system and stabilizes the ring by restoring its aromaticity.

The curved arrow representation in the first step is as follows:

The curved arrow representation in the second step is as follows:

Ans:

The curved arrow representation for the formation of final product is as follows: