Nitrobenzene is an aromatic nitro compound and the simplest of the nitrobenzenes, with the chemical formula C6H5NO2. It is a water-insoluble pale yellow oil with an almond-like odor. It freezes to give greenish-yellow crystals. It is produced on a large scale from benzene as a precursor to aniline. In the laboratory, it is occasionally used as a solvent, especially for electrophilic reagents. As confirmed by X-ray crystallography, nitrobenzene is a planar molecule.
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👉 Nitrobenzene in the context of Upper critical solution temperature
The upper critical solution temperature (UCST) or upper consolute temperature is the critical temperature above which the components of a mixture are miscible in all proportions. The word upper indicates that the UCST is an upper bound to a temperature range of partial miscibility, or miscibility for certain compositions only. For example, hexane-nitrobenzene mixtures have a UCST of 19 °C (66 °F), so that these two substances are miscible in all proportions above 19 °C (66 °F) but not at lower temperatures. Examples at higher temperatures are the aniline-water system at 168 °C (334 °F) (at pressures high enough for liquid water to exist at that temperature), and the lead-zinc system at 798 °C (1,468 °F) (a temperature where both metals are liquid).
A solid state example is the palladium-hydrogen system which has a solid solution phase (H2 in Pd) in equilibrium with a hydride phase (PdHn) below the UCST at 300 °C. Above this temperature there is a single solid solution phase.
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Nitrobenzene in the context of Nitration
In organic chemistry, nitration is a general class of chemical processes for the introduction of a nitro group (−NO2) into an organic compound. The term also is applied incorrectly to the different process of forming nitrate esters (−ONO2) between alcohols and nitric acid (as occurs in the synthesis of nitroglycerin). The difference between the resulting molecular structures of nitro compounds and nitrates (NO−3) is that the nitrogen atom in nitro compounds is directly bonded to a non-oxygen atom (typically carbon or another nitrogen atom), whereas in nitrate esters (also called organic nitrates), the nitrogen is bonded to an oxygen atom that in turn usually is bonded to a carbon atom (nitrito group).
There are many major industrial applications of nitration in the strict sense; the most important by volume are for the production of nitroaromatic compounds such as nitrobenzene. The technology is long-standing and mature.
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