IChO 2010 · Theory problem 6

Four isomers of C8H10O

Read the description of four kinds of isomeric organic compounds A, B, C, and D. All of them have the formula \(\ce{C8H10O}\) and contain a benzene ring. Answer the questions that follow. If there are stereoisomers, give also their structural formulas.

  • At room temperature, a piece of sodium metal was added (procedure 1) to A, B, and C in test tubes. The evolution of hydrogen gas was observed only in the case of C.
  • When an iron(III) chloride aqueous solution was added to C and D, no coloration was observed in C, whereas D was coloured.
  • A was oxidized when aqueous potassium permanganate was added to it and the mixture was heated. The acidification of the heated mixture and its isolation (procedure 2) afforded benzoic acid.
  • Let’s imagine that a hydrogen atom in the benzene ring is replaced by a chlorine atom (procedure 3). It is possible to obtain in this way four kinds of monochlorinated structural isomers from B, while only two kinds of such isomers can be obtained from D.
  • Hydrogenation of the benzene ring in C and D using a catalyst gave saturated alcohol(s). It was found that the saturated alcohol(s) obtained from C has no stereogenic carbons while those obtained from D has stereogenic carbon(s).

6.1 Among all the isomeric organic compounds with a formula of \(\ce{C8H10O}\) and having a benzene ring, give the structural formulas of all the isomers that do NOT yield hydrogen gas in the underlined procedure 1, in which a piece of sodium is added:

i) to the neat samples in the case of the liquid samples,

ii) to the concentrated solution of the samples in an aprotic solvent in the case of the solid samples.

6.2 Among all the isomeric organic compounds with a formula of \(\ce{C8H10O}\) and having a benzene ring, give the structural formulas of all the isomers that yield benzoic acid in the underlined procedure 2.

6.3 Among all the isomeric organic compounds with a formula of \(\ce{C8H10O}\) and having a benzene ring, give the structural formulas of all the isomers that could yield four different monochlorinated structural isomers when the underlined procedure 3 is performed.

6.4 Give the structural formulas of A, B, C, and D. When several isomers can be considered, give the structural formulas of all of them.

Official English text of the problem.

Answers

  • 6.1 — Five ethers:
Compound SMILES
Ethoxybenzene (phenetole) CCOc1ccccc1
(Methoxymethyl)benzene (benzyl methyl ether) COCc1ccccc1
1-Methoxy-2-methylbenzene (2-methylanisole) COc1ccccc1C
1-Methoxy-3-methylbenzene (3-methylanisole) COc1cccc(C)c1
1-Methoxy-4-methylbenzene (4-methylanisole) COc1ccc(C)cc1
  • 6.2 — Three constitutional isomers, giving four structures when enantiomers are counted separately:
Compound SMILES
(Methoxymethyl)benzene COCc1ccccc1
2-Phenylethan-1-ol OCCc1ccccc1
\((R)\)-1-Phenylethan-1-ol C[C@@H](O)c1ccccc1
\((S)\)-1-Phenylethan-1-ol C[C@H](O)c1ccccc1
  • 6.3 — Six constitutional isomers:
Compound SMILES
1-Methoxy-2-methylbenzene COc1ccccc1C
1-Methoxy-3-methylbenzene COc1cccc(C)c1
(2-Methylphenyl)methanol (2-methylbenzyl alcohol) OCc1ccccc1C
(3-Methylphenyl)methanol (3-methylbenzyl alcohol) OCc1cccc(C)c1
2-Ethylphenol CCc1ccccc1O
3-Ethylphenol CCc1cccc(O)c1
  • 6.4 — All possible identifications:
Label Compound(s) SMILES
A (Methoxymethyl)benzene COCc1ccccc1
B 1-Methoxy-2-methylbenzene; 1-methoxy-3-methylbenzene COc1ccccc1C; COc1cccc(C)c1
C 2-Phenylethan-1-ol; (4-methylphenyl)methanol OCCc1ccccc1; OCc1ccc(C)cc1
D 2,6-Dimethylphenol; 3,5-dimethylphenol Oc1c(C)cccc1C; Oc1cc(C)cc(C)c1

Solution

The degree of unsaturation is

\[ \mathrm{DBE}=\frac{2(8)+2-10}{2}=4. \]

The benzene ring accounts for all four degrees of unsaturation. Consequently, there can be no additional ring, carbonyl group, or other multiple bond outside that ring. The oxygen must occur in an alcohol, a phenol, or an ether.

6.1

Alcohols and phenols contain an \(\ce{O-H}\) bond and react with sodium, releasing hydrogen, [H][H]:

\[ \ce{2ROH + 2Na -> 2RONa + H2}. \]

Here \(R\) may represent an alkyl or aryl group. Ethers lack this hydrogen and do not evolve hydrogen under the stated test conditions.

There are exactly five possible ethers:

  1. With one substituent on the benzene ring, the two external carbon atoms can form either an ethoxy group or a methoxymethyl group. These give ethoxybenzene and (methoxymethyl)benzene.
  2. With two substituents, the groups must be methyl and methoxy. Their three relative positions give the 2-, 3-, and 4-methylanisoles.

Their structures are listed in Answers 6.1. The use of neat samples or an aprotic solvent prevents a protic solvent from supplying hydrogen in the sodium test.

6.2

Hot aqueous permanganate oxidizes suitable carbon-containing side chains attached directly to a benzene ring to carboxyl groups. To obtain unsubstituted benzoic acid, the starting structure must have one such side chain and no other substituent that remains on the ring.

The three qualifying connectivities are:

  • (Methoxymethyl)benzene;
  • 2-phenylethan-1-ol;
  • 1-phenylethan-1-ol.

The last compound has a carbon bonded to four different groups: hydrogen, hydroxy, methyl, and phenyl. Both its \(R\) and \(S\) enantiomers must therefore be included.

Balanced overall oxidation equations can be written as follows, using \([O]\) for an oxygen-atom equivalent supplied by the oxidant:

\[ \ce{C6H5CH2OCH3 + 5[O] -> C6H5COOH + CO2 + 2H2O}, \]

\[ \ce{C6H5CH2CH2OH + 5[O] -> C6H5COOH + CO2 + 2H2O}, \]

\[ \ce{C6H5CH(OH)CH3 + 5[O] -> C6H5COOH + CO2 + 2H2O}. \]

These overall equations represent the removed one-carbon fragment at its fully oxidized limit, carbon dioxide, O=C=O; water is O. The identification does not depend on isolating those coproducts.

Before acidification, the aromatic oxidation product is benzoate, [O-]C(=O)c1ccccc1. Acidification gives benzoic acid, O=C(O)c1ccccc1:

\[ \ce{C6H5COO^- + H+ -> C6H5COOH}. \]

Other structures are excluded because:

  • Ethoxybenzene has oxygen directly attached to the ring rather than a carbon side chain that can become the required carboxyl group.
  • Methylanisoles retain a methoxy substituent during side-chain oxidation.
  • Methylbenzyl alcohols have two oxidizable carbon side chains and give benzenedicarboxylic acids under exhaustive oxidation.
  • Ethylphenols and dimethylphenols retain a phenolic hydroxy substituent during the relevant side-chain oxidation.

Thus none of these gives unsubstituted benzoic acid by the stated transformation.

6.3

This question counts constitutionally different positions for replacing a ring hydrogen by chlorine; it does not ask for the relative amounts produced in an actual chlorination.

A monosubstituted benzene has three classes of ring hydrogens: ortho, meta, and para. A ring with three or more substituents has at most three hydrogens available. Therefore, four monochlorinated structural isomers require a disubstituted benzene.

The possible pairs of substituents are:

Substituent pair Structures giving four products
Methyl and methoxy 1,2- and 1,3-substitution
Methyl and hydroxymethyl 1,2- and 1,3-substitution
Ethyl and hydroxy 1,2- and 1,3-substitution

For two different substituents:

  • In a 1,2-disubstituted ring, all four remaining hydrogen positions are constitutionally distinct.
  • In a 1,3-disubstituted ring, all four remaining hydrogen positions are also constitutionally distinct.
  • In a 1,4-disubstituted ring, reflection symmetry makes positions 2 and 6 equivalent, and positions 3 and 5 equivalent. Only two products result.

This gives exactly the six structures in Answers 6.3.

6.4

Identification of A.
The negative sodium test restricts A to the five ethers in 6.1. Of these, only (methoxymethyl)benzene gives benzoic acid in procedure 2. Hence

\[ \boxed{\text{A = (methoxymethyl)benzene}} \]

with SMILES COCc1ccccc1.

Identification of B.
B must also be an ether. Intersecting the five ethers from 6.1 with the six structures from 6.3 leaves:

  • 1-Methoxy-2-methylbenzene, COc1ccccc1C;
  • 1-methoxy-3-methylbenzene, COc1cccc(C)c1.

Both give four distinct ring-monochlorinated constitutional isomers.

Identification of C.
The positive sodium test indicates an \(\ce{O-H}\) group. The negative iron(III) chloride test identifies C as a nonphenolic alcohol.

The possible nonphenolic alcohol connectivities are 2-phenylethan-1-ol, 1-phenylethan-1-ol, and the three methylbenzyl alcohols. Hydrogenation of their benzene rings consumes three equivalents of hydrogen:

\[ \ce{C8H10O + 3H2 ->[catalyst] C8H16O}. \]

The stereogenic-carbon test distinguishes them:

Candidate Consequence of ring hydrogenation
2-Phenylethan-1-ol No stereogenic carbon is formed.
Either enantiomer of 1-phenylethan-1-ol The hydroxy-bearing side-chain carbon remains stereogenic.
2-Methylbenzyl alcohol Both substituted ring carbons become stereogenic.
3-Methylbenzyl alcohol Both substituted ring carbons become stereogenic.
4-Methylbenzyl alcohol Neither substituted ring carbon has four different substituents.

For the ortho and meta methylbenzyl alcohols, the two paths around the saturated ring from a substituted carbon are different. In the para case, those paths are equivalent.

Thus C can be either:

  • 2-Phenylethan-1-ol, OCCc1ccccc1, which gives 2-cyclohexylethan-1-ol, OCCC1CCCCC1;
  • (4-methylphenyl)methanol, OCc1ccc(C)cc1, which gives (4-methylcyclohexyl)methanol.

The latter saturated alcohol can have two relative configurations:

Saturated product SMILES
cis-(4-Methylcyclohexyl)methanol OC[C@H]1CC[C@@H](C)CC1
trans-(4-Methylcyclohexyl)methanol OC[C@H]1CC[C@H](C)CC1

Here cis means the methyl and hydroxymethyl groups lie on the same face of the ring; trans means opposite faces. The cyclic @/@@ notation encodes this relative stereochemistry. Such cis/trans isomerism does not require a carbon bearing four different substituents.

Identification of D.
The positive iron(III) chloride test indicates a phenol. Its colour arises from iron(III)–phenolate coordination. A schematic, balanced binding step is

\[ \ce{Fe^3+ + ArOH <=> [Fe(OAr)]^2+ + H+}. \]

Coordinated water is omitted here; the qualitative test does not specify one unique complex composition or coordination geometry.

The phenols with formula \(\ce{C8H10O}\) are ethylphenols and dimethylphenols. Exactly three have only two classes of ring hydrogen:

Phenol Equivalent hydrogen-position classes, numbering the hydroxy-bearing carbon 1
4-Ethylphenol, CCc1ccc(O)cc1 \(\{2,6\}\), \(\{3,5\}\)
2,6-Dimethylphenol, Oc1c(C)cccc1C \(\{3,5\}\), \(\{4\}\)
3,5-Dimethylphenol, Oc1cc(C)cc(C)c1 \(\{2,6\}\), \(\{4\}\)

Hydrogenation eliminates 4-ethylphenol: its saturated ring has 1,4-substitution and no carbon bearing four different substituents, just as in the para case considered for C.

The other two candidates satisfy the final condition:

  • Hydrogenated 2,6-dimethylphenol has stereogenic carbons at positions 2 and 6.
  • Hydrogenated 3,5-dimethylphenol has stereogenic carbons at positions 3 and 5.

At each methyl-bearing carbon, the four attachments are hydrogen, methyl, and two different paths around the ring. One path reaches the hydroxy-bearing carbon sooner than the other. This remains true for every possible relative configuration of the substituents.

Therefore,

\[ \boxed{\text{D = 2,6-dimethylphenol or 3,5-dimethylphenol}.} \]

All parent structures identified as A–D are achiral. The only enantiomers required among the answers to 6.1–6.4 are the two forms of 1-phenylethan-1-ol in 6.2.

The answers were checked against the official answers published by the organisers.