NITROTOLUENES

GENERAL

ortho-NITROTOLUENE, meta-NITROTOLUENE, and para-NITROTOLUENE. The three compounds are structural isomers. Nitrotoluenes are produced commercially, as a mixture, by nitration of toluene. Typical end-use markets for the Nitrotoluenes and their derivatives are main materials for the synthesis of imaging products like pigment, dyestuffs,and photographic chemicals. All of these isomers are also used in the production of antioxidants, agricultural, pharmaceutical and rubber chemicals.

The prefix nitro- indicates the presence of NO2- radical, while nitrate refers to any salt or ester of nitric acid or the NO3- anion. Nitroso- is the prefix indicating presence of the group -NO and azo- is for -N=N- group. Some range of  organic compounds containing nitrogen include nitro compounds (RNO2 ), nitroso compounds (RNO), amines (R3N ), amino acids, and natural alkaloids or nucleotides. The nitrogen ion in nitro compounds is trigonally planar with 120° angles. There are two resonance bonds so that the two oxygens are equivalent. Nitro compounds are strongly basic due to electron withdrawing both inductively and mesomerically. Historically, they are abundant in dyes and explosives. Nitro compounds, organic hydrocarbons having one or more NO2 groups bonded via nitrogen to the carbon framework, are versatile intermediate in organic synthesis.

  • Michael addition
  • Reduction
  • Henry Reaction (Nitro-aldol reaction)
  • Nef reaction
  • O-Alkylation
  • Cycloaddition
  • Substitution, Elimination, Conversion reaction
  • Alkylation, Acylation, and Halogenation

Nitro compounds are readily reduced into amines when reacted with hydrochloric acid. Aromatic nitro compounds also yield anilines, aromatic amine compounds. Nitro compounds are cleaved into two parts by the addition of a molecule of water to produce carbonyl compounds (aldehydes or ketones). Aromatic nitro compounds undergo nucleophilic substitutions to be replaced by the hydroxide anion, resulting in the creation of phenol compounds and by alkoxy nucleophiles to corresponding ethers.

ortho-NITROTOLUENE

meta-NITROTOLUENE

para-NITROTOLUENE

 ortho-NITROTOLUENE

meta-NITROTOLUENE

para-NITROTOLUENE

CAS No. :88-72-2
 1-Methyl-2-nitrobenzene

CAS No. : 99-08-1
1-Methyl-3-nitrobenzene

CAS No. : 99-99-0
1-Methyl-4-nitrobenzene

APPLICATION

o-NITROTOLUENE
Intermediates for agriculture chemicals, dyestuffs, paints, pharmaceuticals & plastic foams
m-NITROTOLUENE
Intermediates for dyestuffs and photographic developers
p-NITROTOLUENE
Intermediates for Plastic foams, dyestuffs,paints & pharmaceuticals.

SPECIFICATION

PROPERTY

o-NITROTOLUENE

m-NITROTOLUENE

p-NITROTOLUENE

Appearance

Light yellow or yellow liquid

Pale yellow crystal

Purity

99.5% min

99.5% min

99.5% min

Isomer Impurity

0.5% max

0.5% max

0.5% max

Toluene Impurity

0.2% max

0.2% max

0.2% max

Moisture

0.1% max

0.1% max

0.1% max
Freezing Point

-

-

51°C min

SYNONYMS

o-NITROTOLUENE
2-Methylnitrobenzene. 2-Methyl-1-nitrobenzene. 1-Methyl-2-nitro-benzene. 2-Methylnitrobenzene. ONT. 2-Nitrotoluol. o-Nitrophenylmethane. alpha-Methylnitrobenzene
m-NITROTOLUENE
m-Nitrotoluol. 3-Nitrotoluene. 3-Methylnitrobenzene. m-Nitrophenylmethane.
p-NITROTOLUENE
4-Nitrotoluene. 1-Methyl-4-nitro-benzene. 4-Nitrotoluol. PNT. p-Nitrophenylmethane