The Duff reaction or hexamine aromatic formylation is a formylation reaction used in organic chemistry for the synthesis of benzaldehydes with hexamine as the formyl carbon source. It is named after James Cooper Duff, who was a chemist at the College of Technology, Birmingham, roughly 1920–1950.
The electrophilic species in this electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction is the iminium ion CH2+NR2. The initial reaction product is an iminium which is hydrolyzed to the aldehyde. See mechanism below. The reaction requires strongly electron donating substituents on the aromatic ring such as in a phenol. Formylation occurs ortho to the electron donating substituent preferentially, unless the ortho positions are blocked, in which case the formylation occurs para.
Examples are the synthesis of 3,5-di-tert-butylsalicylaldehyde:
and the synthesis of syringaldehyde:
Read more about Duff Reaction: Reaction Mechanism
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