Bromination, of hydrocarbons

Free-radical bromination of hydrocarbons is an important means for functionalization of otherwise unreactive molecules. The process is a chain reaction involving the following steps ... 

Free radical bromination of hydrocarbons is an important method of selective... 

Example 7.15 S ite-Selective Bromination of Hydrocarbons Using Visible Light [62]. 

In a special case, BBrs is used for the bromination of hydrocarbons. Adamantane is brominated by a mixture of Bromine, BBrs, and Aluminum Bromide to give 1,3-dibromoadamantane selectively. Tetrachlorocyclopropene and hexachlorocyclopentadiene arc substituted to the corresponding bromides by BBrs and, in the latter case, addition of AlBrj and Br2 is effective to improve the result ... 

The classification of hydrocarbons as aliphatic or aromatic took place m the 1860s when It was already apparent that there was something special about benzene toluene and their derivatives Their molecular formulas (benzene is CgHg toluene is C7Hj ) indicate that like alkenes and alkynes they are unsaturated and should undergo addition reac tions Under conditions m which bromine for example reacts rapidly with alkenes and alkynes however benzene proved to be inert Benzene does react with Bi2 m the pres ence of iron(III) bromide as a catalyst but even then addition isn t observed Substitu tion occurs instead ... 

Other nonpolymeric radical-initiated processes include oxidation, autoxidation of hydrocarbons, chlorination, bromination, and other additions to double bonds. The same types of initiators are generally used for initiating polymerization and nonpolymerization reactions. Radical reactions are extensively discussed in the chemical Hterature (3—15). 

The bromination of aromatic hydrocarbons can occur either in a side chain or on the ring, depending on conditions. In the presence of sunlight aLkylben2enes are brominated predominately in the side chain (24). 

In the late 1980s, however, the discovery of a noble metal catalyst that could tolerate and destroy halogenated hydrocarbons such as methyl bromide in a fixed-bed system was reported (52,53). The products of the reaction were water, carbon dioxide, hydrogen bromide, and bromine. Generally, a scmbber would be needed to prevent downstream equipment corrosion. However, if the focus of the control is the VOCs and the CO rather than the methyl bromide, a modified catalyst formulation can be used that is able to tolerate the methyl bromide, but not destroy it. In this case the methyl bromide passes through the bed unaffected, and designing the system to avoid downstream effects is not necessary. Destmction efficiencies of hydrocarbons and CO of better than 95% have been reported, and methyl bromide destmctions between 0 and 85% (52). 

Using Table III in Ref. 68 (p. 692), calculate the expected product composition from the gas-phase photochemical chlorination and bromination of 3-methylpentane under conditions (excess hydrocarbon) in which only monohalogenation would occur. 

Robertson et al.261 measured rates of bromination of some aromatic hydrocarbons in acetic acid containing sodium acetate (to eliminate protonation of the aromatic by liberated hydrogen bromide) and lithium bromide (to reduce the rate to a measurable velocity ) at 25 °C, the second-order rate coefficients for 3-nitro-N,N-dimethylaniline and anisole being 14.2 and 0.016 respectively the former compound was thus stated to be about 1012 times as reactive as benzene (though no measurement of the latter rate coefficient, inferred to be 1.33 xlO-11, could be found in the literature) and this large rate spread gives one further indication of the unreactive nature of the electrophile. Other rates relative to benzene were ... 

Table 2. Bromination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons with CuBr2/Al2033)... 

Avramoff et al. have already reported that the reaction of hydrocarbons such as toluene with tetramethylammonium tribromide (TMA Br3) in benzene, in the presence of benzoyl peroxide at room temperature gave benzylic bromination products (ref. 21). However, TMA Br3 is not easy to handle in comparison with the stable BTMA Br3 because of its hydroscopic character. Furthermore, as shown in their literature, a large excess of TMA Br3 is necessary to brominate arenes. 

The lack of steric effects in oxidations of hydrocarbons by Cr(VI) renders D and E unacceptable. The activated complex of scheme C is non-linear and hence does not comply with the magnitude of the observed isotope effect. Two pieces of evidence are quoted which indicate A to be the more probable of the remaining two. Firstly, the p constant of —1.17 is more in agreement with that obtained for bromine atom abstraction from toluenes (—1.369 to —1.806) than those found for solvolyses involving electron-deficient carbon ( — 2.57 to —4.67) . Secondly, the correlation between the relative rates of oxidation of the series... 

A wide variety of aromatic compounds can be brominated. Highly reactive ones, such as anilines and phenols, may undergo bromination at all activated positions. More selective reagents such as pyridinium bromide perbromide or tetraalkylammonium tribromides can be used in such cases.18 Moderately reactive compounds such as anilides, haloaromatics, and hydrocarbons can be readily brominated and the usual directing effects control the regiochemistry. Use of Lewis acid catalysts permits bromination of rings with deactivating substituents, such as nitro and cyano. 

An interesting new homogeneous catalytic process was developed by Buijs [184] for the reductive dehalogenation of polychlorinated and -brominated aromatic hydrocarbons and ethers. Cu(I) benzoate catalyzed the reaction under Dow-Phenol conditions in the absence of air at 235 °C (Eq. (8)) ... 

Whereas pure NBS effects side chain bromination of aromatic hydrocarbons, aged material effects bromination of aromatic ring. 

The Fate of Highly Brominated Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Fish... 

Dibromoethane is a halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbon produced when gaseous ethylene comes in contact with bromine. The mixing of ethylene and bromine is accomplished in a variety of ways. One of the more common manufacturing processes involves a liquid-phase bromination of ethylene at 35°-85°C. After the bromination of ethylene, the mixture is neutralized to free acid and then purified by distillation. Other methods of 1,2-dibromoethane formation include the hydrobromination of acetylene and a reaction of 1,2-dibromoethane with water (Fishbein 1980 HSDB 1989). 

Kinetic results on the chlorination of aniline by A-chloro-3-methyl-2,6-diphenylpiperi-din-4-one (3) suggest that the protonated reagent is reactive and that the initial site of attack is at the amino nitrogen. The effects of substituents in the aniline have been analysed but product studies were not reported. Zinc bromide supported on acid-activated montmorillonite K-10 or mesoporous silica (100 A) has been demonstrated to be a fast, selective catalyst for the regioselective para-bromination of activated and mildly deactivated aromatics in hydrocarbon solvents at 25 °C. For example, bromobenzene yields around 90% of dibromobenzenes with an ortholpara ratio of 0.12. 

SCHEME 185. Chlorination and bromination of aromatic amines, hydrocarbons and naphthols with in situ generated active halogen... 

The reaction of unsaturated hydrocarbons with bromine is synthetically important. Unsaturated fatty acids have been electrobrominated in an acetic acid/acetonitrile medium and at platinum electrodes [128]. The mechanism and rate constant for the process with oleic, erucic, and linoleic acid were elucidated. The a-bromination of a,f-unsaturated ketones has been reported [129] on the basis of the electrolysis of a substrate/CF3COOH/CuBr/Et4NOTs/ MeCN reaction system. CuBr is present as a catalyst. 

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