Bromoform, radical addition reactions

The radical addition of bromoform to ketensilylacetals has been described, initiated with AIBN or Et3B (ref. 12). The reaction yields polyfunctional silicon-containing compounds of CHBr2C(R)CBr(OR )OSiR type or products of their conversions (hydrolysis, fragmentation of R etc.). 

Benzocyclopropene reacts with a variety of radical reagents (for example A -bromosuccinimide carbon tetrachloride bromotrichloromethane bromoform/benzoyl peroxide alkyl sulfide and ethane-1,2-dithiol with photolysis) to afford products derived from cleavage of the cyclopropane ring. The preferential mode of reaction consists of a chain reaction initiated by radical addition at Cl a followed by opening of the cyclopropyl radical to afford a benzyl radical. Yields are generally low except for the addition of the alkylsulfanyl radical, e.g. formation of 1, and no products derived from addition to the central tt-bond are formed. Cyclopropa[A]naphthalene reacts similarly with radicals and gives 2-methylnapthalene derivatives, while no addition to the central 7i-bond is observed. ... 

One of the older preparative free-radical reactions is the addition of polyhalomethanes to alkenes. Examples of addition of carbon tetrabromide, carbon tetrachloride, and bromoform have been recorded. The reactions are chain processes that depend on facile abstraction of halogen or hydrogen from the halomethane ... 

The use of metal-complex initiating systems proved to be especially promising in carrying out the reactions with acrylic monomers which can be easily polymerized, when the common initiators of radical reactions are excepted. The use of Fe(CO)s -I- DMFA system allows us to perform homolytical addition of bromoform to acrylic monomers selectively at C-Br bond with no essential polymerization (ref. 10). 

Allenylcobaloximes, e.g. 26, react with bromotrichloromethane, carbon tetrachloride, trichloroacetonitrile, methyl trichloroacetate and bromoform to afford functionalized terminal alkynes in synthetically useful yields (Scheme 11.10). The nature of the products formed in this transformation points to a y-specific attack of polyhaloethyl radicals to the allenyl group, with either a concerted or a stepwise formation of coba-loxime(II) 27 and the substituted alkyne [62, 63]. Cobalt(II) radical 27 abstracts a bromine atom (from BrCCl3) or a chlorine atom (e.g. from C13CCN), which leads to a regeneration of the chain-carrying radical. It is worth mentioning that the reverse reaction, i.e. the addition of alkyl radicals to stannylmethyl-substituted alkynes, has been applied in the synthesis of, e.g., allenyl-substituted thymidine derivatives [64],... 

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