Carbon-centered radicals theoretical methods

The reaction enthalpy and thus the RSE will be negative for all radicals, which are more stable than the methyl radical. Equation 1 describes nothing else but the difference in the bond dissociation energies (BDE) of CH3 - H and R - H, but avoids most of the technical complications involved in the determination of absolute BDEs. It can thus be expected that even moderately accurate theoretical methods give reasonable RSE values, while this is not so for the prediction of absolute BDEs. In principle, the isodesmic reaction described in Eq. 1 lends itself to all types of carbon-centered radicals. However, the error compensation responsible for the success of isodesmic equations becomes less effective with increasingly different electronic characteristics of the C - H bond in methane and the R - H bond. As a consequence the stability of a-radicals located at sp2 hybridized carbon atoms may best be described relative to the vinyl radical 3 and ethylene 4 ... 

In recent years, interest in radical-based transformations of allenes has been renewed for two major reasons. First, a number of useful intramolecular additions of carbon-centered radicals to 1,2-dienes have been reported, which allowed syntheses of complex natural product-derived target molecules to be accomplished in instances where other methods have failed to provide similar selectivities. Further, a large body of kinetic and thermochemical data has become accessible from results of experimental and theoretical investigations in order to predict selectivities in addition reactions to allenes more precisely. Such contributions originated predominantly from (i) studies directed towards an understanding of the incineration process,... 

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