Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution Reactions

What are electrophilic aromatic substitution (EAS) reactions?

The electrophilic aromatic substitution (EAS) is a chemical reaction in which an atom attached to an aromatic system is replaced by an electrophile. Within the category of EAS reactions, there are a number of important chemical reactions which are named after their discoverers. Despite being discovered many years ago, these named reactions continue to play a crucial role in organic synthesis, and in constructing ever more complex and diverse chemical molecules.

One of the earliest and perhaps best-known categories of these named reactions is the Friedel-Crafts Acylation and Alkylation Reactions. These are also related to several other classic named reactions in this category.

Learn more about these EAS reactions:

• Friedel-Crafts Acylation and Alkylation
• Fries Rearrangement
• Gattermann and Gattermann-Koch Formylation
• Houben-Hoesch Synthesis 

In addition, there are a number of other key named EAS reactions: