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Old May 20th, 2006, 12:47
Dan the Chemist Dan the Chemist is offline
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Ok, ferric bromide is your lewis acid, which co-ordinates to the Br2, polarising the Br-Br bond, which is basically a source of 'Br+'.

1. Relative to the reaction with benzene, this reaction will be slower (inductive withdrawal of electron density from the ring by chlorine =>the ring's nucleophilicity is decreased)

2. Expect ortho and para substitution - if you draw the carbocation intermediate of ortho and para substitution, you will see that it has 4 resonance structures (remember pi donation by Cl), but the intermediate in meta substitution only has 3 resonance structures (cannot be stabilised by pi donation from Cl)

Look up 'substituent effects' in any general organic textbook.