Free radical reactions, organic

The reaction between hydrogen and chlorine is probably also of this type and many organic free radical reactions (e.g. the decomposition of ethanal) proceed via chain mechanisms. 

G. Sosnovsky, Free Radical Reactions in Preparative Organic Chemisty, Macmillan, New York, 1964. 

Because many organic peroxides undergo thermolysis to form useful free radicals, they are used commercially as initiators for free-radical reactions. Many organic peroxides also undergo reactions in which free radicals are not involved, eg, heterolyses, hydrolyses, reductions, and rearrangements. Numerous reviews of the chemistry and appHcations of organic peroxides have been pubHshed (11,13—41). 

The major organic reactions of BrCl consist of electrophilic brominations of aromatic compounds. Many aromatic compounds do not react in aqueous solution unless the reaction involves activated aromatic compounds (an example being phenol). Bromine chloride undergoes free-radical reactions more readily than bromine. 

The addition of halogenated aliphatics to carbon-carbon double bonds is the most useful type of carbon-carbon bond forming synthetic method for highly halogenated substrates Numerous synthetic procedures have been developed for these types of reactions, particularly for the addition of perfluoroalkyl iodides to alkenes using thermal or photolytic initiators of free radical reactions such as organic peroxides and azo compounds [/]... 

Inhibit autoxidation of organic materials by interfering with free radical reactions that lead to incorporation of oxygen into macromolecules in a chain mechanism consisting of two interacting cyclical processes (Scheme II.1). 

Due to its gaseous nature it may have an effect on the stratospheric ozone layer [281, 402, 404]. After injection into soil for fumigation, methyl bromide rapidly diffuses through the soil pore space to the soil surface and then into the atmosphere [159,162,163,405,406]. Since a plastic sheet typically covers the soil surface, the rate of emission into the atmosphere depends upon the thickness and density of the plastic, if other conditions are the same [159, 406]. Other routes of disappearance from soil include chemical hydrolysis, methylation to soil organic matter through free radical reactions, and microbial degradation [ 136,159,405,407]. Several reports appeared on the study of the microbial transformations of methyl bromide, summarized as follows ... 

The use of free-radical reactions in organic synthesis started with the reduction of functional groups. The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the relevance of silanes as efficient and effective sources for facile hydrogen atom transfer by radical chain processes. A number of reviews [1-7] have described some specific areas in detail. Reaction (4.1) represents the reduction of a functional group by silicon hydride which, in order to be a radical chain process, has to be associated with initiation, propagation and termination steps of the radical species. Scheme 4.1 illustrates the insertion of Reaction (4.1) in a radical chain process. 

For an excellent review of radical cyclization reactions, see J. Fossey, D. Lefort and J. Sorba, Free Radicals in Organic Chemistry, Wiley, New York, 1995, p. 151. 

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