Disproportionation Electronic effects

The irreversible decay of the dormant alkoxamine chains stops the monomer conversion rather abruptly at the time t = H( nk. For methyl methacrylate polymerizations this stop has been observed, and it has been demonstrated that it is caused by a considerable fraction of cross-disproportionation between the nitroxide and the propagating radicals.51,97112 Unfortunately, the factors governing disproportion-ation-to-combination ratios in radical—radical reactions are not well understood up to now, but stereo-electronic effects are certainly very important.112 Hence, one cannot yet predict a nitroxide structure that will allow living methacrylate polymerizations up to large conversions. 

Radicals are species with at least one unpaired electron, which, in contrast to organic anions and cations, react easily with themselves in bond-forming reactions. In the liquid phase, most of these reactions occur with diffusion-controlled rates. Radical-radical reactions can be slowed only if radicals are stabilized by electronic effects (stable radicals) or shielded by steric effects (persistent radicals). However, these effects are not strong enough to prevent diffusion-controlled recombination of, for example, benzyl radicals or tert-butyl radicals.1 Only in extreme cases are the radical or di-tert-butylmethyl radical recombination rates low.2 While the recombination rates of the triphenyl-methyl radical is reduced due to both steric and radical stabilizing effects, the steric effect alone slows the recombination of the di-/t>/-/-butyl methyl radical. Since neither of the radicals have C-H bonds (I to the radical centre, disproportionation reactions, in which the hydrogen atom is transferred, cannot occur. 

Electron-transfer activation. The observation of intense coloration upon mixing the solutions of hydroquinone ether MA and nitrogen dioxide at low temperature derives from the transient formation of MA+ cation radical, as confirmed by the spectral comparison with the authentic sample. The oxidation of MA to the corresponding cation radical is effected by the nitrosonium oxidant, which is spontaneously generated during the arene-induced disproportionation of nitrogen dioxide,239 i.e.,... 

Electron spin resonance (ESR) signals, detected from phosphinated polystyrene-supported cationic rhodium catalysts both before and after use (for olefinic and ketonic substrates), have been attributed to the presence of rhodium(II) species (348). The extent of catalysis by such species generally is uncertain, although the activity of one system involving RhCls /phosphinated polystyrene has been attributed to rho-dium(II) (349). Rhodium(II) phosphine complexes have been stabilized by steric effects (350), which could pertain to the polymer alternatively (351), disproportionation of rhodium(I) could lead to rhodium(II) [Eq. (61)]. The accompanying isolated metal atoms in this case offer a potential source of ESR signals as well as the catalysis. 

It is seen that the rate constant ks is lower for compounds with electron-accepting substituents than with electron-donating substituents, which implies a dependence of the rate of Ar20 and R02 recombination on the electron density at the para- and ort/zo-positions of the benzene ring of the phenoxyl radical. The activation energies of this reaction vary from -33 to 10 kJ mol-1 however, the concurrent variation in the pre-exponential factor from 103 to 1010 L mol-1 s-1 causes a strong compensatory effect. It can also be seen that phenoxyl radicals readily react with peroxyl radicals k= 10s—109 L mol-1 s-1), whereas the disproportionation of peroxyl radicals is sufficiently slower (see Chapter 2). Hence, during the oxidation of hydrocarbons in the presence of phenols when k7[ArOH] > /c2[RH], the recombination reaction of ArO with R02 is always faster than the reaction of disproportionation of peroxyl radicals. 

There has been nothing like the enthusiasm for the application to these systems of the theoretical equations, which we have noted in the previous sections and will encounter in the next. Nevertheless, a number of features are present which are qualitatively consistent with the discussions in Sec. 5.8.1 and which are in part illustrated in Table 5.11. There is a correlation of rate constant with the driving force of the internal electron transfer. -pjjg p. itro-phenyl derivative is a poorer reducing agent when protonated and k is much less than for the unprotonated derivative. Consequently disproportionation (2A 3) becomes important. Although there are not marked effects of structural variation on the values of A , the associated activation parameters may differ enormously and this is ascribed to the operation of different mechanisms."" The resonance-assisted through-chain operates with the p-... 

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