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There are 3 possible places for the nitro group to attach: An ortho, meta, or para position. To understand the stability of the carbocation, we need to look at the resonance structures for a given attack and see what the results are.

The first resonance structure of the ortho attack results in a positive charge on the carbon with the hydroxyl group. This happens to be the most stable of the 3 resonance structures for an ortho attack because the two negative electron pairs in the oxygen act to stabilize the positive charge on the carbon. The other two resonance forms leave a carbon with a hydrogen attached, to hold the positive charge. Hydrogen can do nothing to stabilize the charge and thus, these are less stable forms.

In the para attack situation, notice that the second resonance form also puts a positive charge on the carbon with the hydroxyl group. This provides for stability just as it does in the case of an ortho attack and thus, the middle resonance form is very stable.

Finally, in the meta attack situation, all of the resonance forms result in a positive charge on a carbon with only a hydrogen attached. None of these is stable, and thus, meta attack with a hydroxyl group attached, is a very small percentage of the product.

So the electron pairs in the oxygen act to stabilize the ortho and para attacks.

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Q: Why does para direction occur in preference to ortho?
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