Primary alkoxy radicals

Under moderate conditions, primary alkoxy radicals tend to undergo reaction 12 whereas secondary and tertiary alkoxys tend to undergo -scission. In general, the alkyl group that can form the lowest energy radical tends to become the departing radical. The -scission of secondary alkoxy radicals yields aldehydes as the nonradical products tertiary alkoxy radicals yield ketones. 

Thermally unstable cycHc trioxides, 1,2,3-trioxolanes or primary o2onides are prepared by reaction of olefins with o2one (64) (see Ozone). Dialkyl trioxides, ROOOR, have been obtained by coupling of alkoxy radicals, RO , with alkylperoxy radicals, ROO , at low temperatures. DiaLkyl trioxides are unstable above —30° C (63). Dialkyl tetraoxides, ROOOOR, have been similarly produced by coupling of two alkylperoxy radicals, ROO , at low temperatures. Dialkyl tetraoxides are unstable above —80°C (63). 

Dialkyl peroxydicarbonates have been reported as low temperature sources of alkoxy radicals (Scheme 3.30)lfMJfb and these radicals may be formed in relatively inert media. However, it is established, for primary and secondary peroxydicarbonates, that the rate of loss of carbon dioxide is slow compared to the rate of addition to most monomers or reaction with other substrates.186,187 Thus, in polymerizations carried out with diisopropyl peroxydicarbonate (47), chains will be initiated by isopropoxycarbonyloxy (48) rather than isopropoxy radicals (49) (see 3.4.2.2).188... 

Primary and secondary aikoxy radicals generally show a reduced tendency to abstract hydrogen or to undergo 3-scission when compared to the corresponding i-alkoxy radical.1"3 402 This has been correlated with the lesser nucleophilicity of these radicals.427... 

The rate constants for reaction of Bu3SnH with the primary a-alkoxy radical 24 and the secondary ce-alkoxy radical 29 are in reasonably good agreement. However, one would not expect the primary radical to react less rapidly than the secondary radical. The kinetic ESR method used to calibrate 24 involved a competition method wherein the cyclization reactions competed with diffusion-controlled radical termination reactions, and diffusional rate constants were determined to obtain the absolute rate constants for the clock reactions.88 The LFP calibrations of radical clocks... 

For the primary and secondary a-alkoxy radicals 24 and 29, the rate constants for reaction with Bu3SnH are about an order of magnitude smaller than those for reactions of the tin hydride with alkyl radicals, whereas for the secondary a-ester radical 30 and a-amide radicals 28 and 31, the tin hydride reaction rate constants are similar to those of alkyl radicals. Because the reductions in C-H BDE due to alkoxy, ester, and amide groups are comparable, the exothermicities of the H-atom transfer reactions will be similar for these types of radicals and cannot be the major factor resulting in the difference in rates. Alternatively, some polarization in the transition states for the H-atom transfer reactions would explain the kinetic results. The electron-rich tin hydride reacts more rapidly with the electron-deficient a-ester and a-amide radicals than with the electron-rich a-alkoxy radicals. 

Their rate coefficients were determined and showed that the primary alkoxy radicals have slightly higher rate coefficients for the reaction with O2 than the secondary... 

Recently, Kabasakalian et al.138-140 have reported the nitroso dimer formation in the photolysis of primary and secondary nitrites. Both this reaction and the Barton reaction16 are explained in terms of reactions of alkoxy radicals. 

Several mechanisms have been suggested to produce the energy required to populate an excited carbonyl, which is at least 290-340 kj mol-1 [8]. Direct homolysis of hydroperoxides [9, 10], disproportion of alkoxy radicals [11] and /2-scission of alkoxy radicals [12] are all exothermic enough. However, the most widely accepted mechanism has been the highly exothermic (460 kj mol-1) bimolecular termination of primary or secondary alkyl per-oxyl radicals, i.e. the Russell mechanism (Scheme 2). It proceeds via an intermediate tetroxide to give an excited carbonyl, an alcohol, and oxygen [13, 14]. 

Polypropylene, in which tertiary radicals predominate, nevertheless gives CL. This has been an argument against the validity of the Russell mechanism, which requires at least one of the peroxy radicals to be primary or secondary. However, Mayo and co-workers [15, 16] showed that termination reactions are accompanied by production of alkoxy radicals that will cleave to... 

The reaction of alkoxy radicals, as the intermediates of hydrocarbon oxidation, with molecular oxygen takes place in the case of primary and secondary radicals... 

A great tendency towards fragmentation is displayed by alkoxy] radicals which are formed as primary species of hydroperoxides or peroxides decomposition or during self-interaction of peroxyl radicals. 

This is not a termination reaction. It is one means of converting alkylperoxy radicals to alkoxy radicals. It is the dominant reaction when neither peroxy radical contains an a-hydrogen, but it even occurs to a significant extent (in one report about 40% of the time [17]) with peroxy radicals that do contain a-hydrogens. Alkoxy radicals are vigorous hydrogen abstractors [12]. This appears to be the main reaction for primary alkoxy radicals the products are primary alcohols. Secondary and tertiary alkoxys, however, tend to undergo a competitive 6-scission reaction to a major extent [18] ... 

However, this process is thwarted because of a high activation energy hence. Reaction (4.7) plays a significant role at higher temperatures or under catalysed conditions, considered in Sections 4.2.2 and 4.2.3. Once formed, hydroxy and especially primary alkoxy radicals are so active that they abstract hydrogen atoms in non-selective reactions. Reactions (4.8. 10) ... 

The termination reaction proceeds through primary and secondary peroxy radicals according to Reaction (4.14), but at temperatures above 120°C these peroxy radicals also interact in a non-terminating way to give primary and secondary alkoxy radicals. Reaction (4.21) [6]. These radicals again contribute to the formation of cleavage products via Reactions (4.10) and (4.11) ... 

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