Detritiation of various fluorenes in highly basic media

Abstract

Rates of detritiation from the 9-position of fluorene, 9-phenyl-, and 9-t-butyl-fluorene have been measured at 25° in hydroxide–water solutions containing various amounts of dimethyl sulphoxide. In all three cases considerable rate enhancements are observed with the tendency being, as reflected in the log k vs. H_ correlations, for the weaker acid to be the more receptive to increases in basicity. These results are in accord with previous findings for other carbon acids.