What is the purpose of benzene nitration?
Nitration is used to add nitrogen to a benzene ring, which can be used further in substitution reactions. The nitro group acts as a ring deactivator. Having nitrogen present in a ring is very useful because it can be used as a directing group as well as a masked amino group.
Why benzene is more readily nitrated than nitrobenzene?
Because the benzene acts as a nucleophile in electrophilic aromatic substitution, substituents that make the benzene more electron-rich can accelerate the reaction. ... Phenol, C6H5OH, undergoes nitration a thousand times faster than benzene does. Nitrobenzene, C6H5NO2, undergoes the reaction millions of times more slowly.
