2tolyl

2-tolyl, also known as ortho-tolyl or 2-methylphenyl, is the aryl substituent derived from toluene by removing a hydrogen from the benzene ring at the position adjacent to the methyl group. This places the attachment point to the rest of the molecule in the ortho position relative to the methyl substituent, hence the name ortho-tolyl. It is part of the tolyl family, which also includes m-tolyl (3-tolyl) and p-tolyl (4-tolyl).

As a substituent, 2-tolyl corresponds to the 2-methylphenyl skeleton: a benzene ring bearing a methyl group and the point of attachment at the adjacent carbon. The common shorthand in chemical literature is 2-tolyl or o-tolyl, with the systematic name being 2-methylphenyl.

Applications and occurrence: 2-tolyl groups are frequently used in organic synthesis to introduce an ortho-substituted aryl fragment. They appear in cross-coupling reactions, aryl amide formation, and in a wide range of pharmaceutical and materials science compounds that incorporate the 2-tolyl moiety. In radical chemistry, the 2-tolyl radical is recognized as a reactive aryl species derived from the ortho position of toluene.

See also: o-tolyl, m-tolyl, p-tolyl, tolyl group.