Give the oxidation number of the element indicated for each compound.
1 answer:
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Answer:
See explanation and image attached
Explanation:
Aromatic hydrocarbons undergo electrophillic substitution. Usually, substituted benzene is more or less reactive to electrophillic substitution compared to unsubstituted benzene.
Substituents on the benzene ring tend to direct the incoming electrophile during electrophillic substititution. The presence of the -CH3 group on toluene directs the incoming Br electrophile to the ortho/para position.
Where the incoming electrphile E is Bromine, we can see that in the ortho/ para product, the electron pushing -CH3 stabilizes the resonance structure formed and increases electron density at the ortho/para position via resonance compared to the meta product as we can see from the image attached. Hence, the ortho and para products predominate over meta products.
Image credit: Chemistry steps
