Acid-Catalyzed Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution: Experimental and Theoretical Exploration of a Multistep Mechanism.
The mechanism for the acid-mediated substitution of a phenolic hydroxyl group with a sulfur nucleophile has been investigated by a combination of experimental and theoretical methods. We conclude that the mechanism is distinctively different in nonpolar solvents (i.e., toluene) compared with polar solvents. The cationic mechanism, proposed for the reaction in polar solvents, is not feasible and th
