The Reaction of Some o-Nitroazobenzenes With Hydroxylamine

Abstract

The reaction of some representative o-nitroazobenzenes with hydroxylamine in ethanolic sodium hydroxide solution gave good to excellent yields of the corresponding 2-aryl-2H-benzotriazole 1-oxides. In some cases, the corresponding parent 2-aryl-2H-benzotriazoles were also obtained. Under the same reaction conditions, nitrobenzene was essentially unreactive. It is suggested that the reactive species is diimide.