i. The directive influence of ortho, para directing groups can be explained with the help of inductive and resonance effects.
ii. phenol has the following resonating structures:
Resonating structure of phenol
iii. It can be seen from the above resonating structures, that the ortho (o-) and para (p-) positions have a greater electron density than the meta positions.
iv. Therefore, -OH group activates the benzene ring for the attack of second substituent (E) at these electron rich centres. Thus, phenolic -OH group is activating and ortho, para-directing group.
v. In phenol, -OH group has electron withdrawing inductive (-I) effect which slightly decreases the electron density at ortho positions in benzene ring. Thus, resonance effect and inductive effect of -OH group act opposite to each other. However, the strong resonance effect dominates over inductive effect.
