Question

Devise a synthesis of each compound from benzene. You may also use any organic compounds having four carbons or fewer, and any required inorganic reagents.

a.

b.

Short answer

Answer

a.

b.

Step-by-step solution

Benzene

Benzene is an important compound among several aromatic compounds. It functions as an excellent ligand in the area of organic chemistry.

Reactions of benzene

Benzene gets subject to various reactions, and the important one among them is the electrophilic substitution reaction. It is nucleophilic and can combine with various reagents to form substituted derivatives.

Synthesis of the given compounds from benzene

a. The synthesis of compound a involves three steps. The first step is the bromination of benzene in the presence of Br₂ and FeBr₃ to form bromobenzene. This molecule reacts with an alkene in the presence of $\mathrm{Pd}{\left(\mathrm{OAc}\right)}_2$, $\mathrm{P}{\left(\mathrm{o}-\mathrm{tolyl}\right)}_3$,${\left({\mathrm{CH}}_3{\mathrm{CH}}_2\right)}_3\mathrm{N}$ and to generate styrene. Styrene reacts with CHCl₃ and KOC(CH₃)₃ to form compound a. The reaction can be given as:

Synthesis of compound a from benzene

b. The synthesis of the given compound involves two steps. In the first step, benzene gets subjected to bromination with ${\mathrm{Br}}_2$ and FeBr₃ to form bromobenzene. This bromobenzene is treated with an alkene in the presence of $\mathrm{Pd}{\left(\mathrm{OAc}\right)}_2$, $\mathrm{P}{\left(\mathrm{o}-\mathrm{tolyl}\right)}_3$, and to generate the compound b. The reaction can be given as:

Synthesis of compound b from benzene