I have 2-trimethylsilylthiophene and need to make it 3-trimethylsilylthiophene. I know solvents can have an effect on how and where molecules are placed, etc. but not sure how to do it in this case. There will be mercury involved somewhere I think, or perhaps mercury replaced by iodine..?

Basically I'm confused and wonder if anyone has any insight on where to even begin, or just a book/website that is good for explaining how to go about this stuff..?

 

Cheers

Thiophenes react with electrophiles to substitute at the 2 position, with relatively little at the 3 position. This means direct substitution with eg trimthylsilyl chloride on thiophene will not be a suitable prep.

You may have to ring close a suitable diketone with P2S5. You might also start with 3 bromothiophene (http://www.orgsyn.org/orgsyn/orgsyn/prepContent.asp?prep=cv5p0149) which you could react with lithium and then TMSCl.