Prontosil is a compound produced by the coupled reaction of an aryldiazonium ion and an aromatic compound.
<h3>What are diazonium compounds?</h3>
These are organic compounds in which there are ionic interactions between the azo group (-N₂⁺) and an anion X⁻.
The general structure is RN₂⁺X⁻.
- R is the lateral chain that might be an aromatic ring, among other options.
- N₂⁺ is the azo group
- X⁻ is the anion
The azo group characterizes as being unstable and reactive. This property is because one of the N atoms has a positive charge.
-N⁺≡ N
<h3>What is the coupling reaction of aryldiazonium compounds?</h3>Aryldiazonium salt reactions can occur in two ways,
- Substitution reactions
- Coupling reactions
Coupling reactions are the aromatic electrophilic substitution, where the aryldiazonium ion acts as an electrophile for an activated aromatic compound to attack it.
The coupling reaction occurs at the azo group level.
In the exposed example,
- the benzene ring with sulfur bonded to oxygen atoms is the coupling component
- the benzene ring with NH₂ and the azo group is the diazonium ion
In the attached files you will find the drawings.
You can learn more about diazonium compounds at
