Halogen abstraction reactions

In contrast to the IIT mechanism, the clement effect on the Arens path is expected to be A (I) > A (Br) > A (C1) as is also the case with S 2 reactions of alkyl halides (Table 25) . This reactivity order has been observed in the reactions of l-halo-2-(2-thienyDacetylenes with sulphides and thiolates in methanol-water in which the C—X bond is presumably broken in the rate-determining step by attack on halogen (see Section Il.C.l.d). In both 5 n2 and halogen abstraction reactions, the magnitude of the element effect is quite large (Table 25). 

Whittle and co-workers have carried out a number of studies of halogen-abstraction reactions of CF3 radicals from halogen molecules and alkyl halides (see Table 26). The exothermic reactions between CF3 radicals and CI2, Br2 and I2 all have low activation energies, whereas the thermoneutral reactions between CF3 and alkyl halides have activation energies of about 10 kcal mole . ... 

In a few cases alkyl complexes can be synthesized by the photoaddition of dichloromethane or chloroform to a low-valent transition metal complex, but the usual products from these halogen abstraction reactions are the dichloro complexes. Photoinduced oxidative addition reactions are not always the result of the generation of an excited state that is more reactive than the ground state. An alternative photochemical pathway can involve the initial dissociation of a ligand to generate a coordinately unsaturated intermediate, which is then activated toward oxidative addition of the substrate. An example of such a reaction is... 

There is a discussion of some of the sources of radicals for mechanistic studies in Section 11.1.4 of Part A. Some of the reactions discussed there, particularly the use of azo compounds and peroxides as initiators, are also important in synthetic chemistry. One of the most useful sources of free radicals in preparative chemistry is the reaction of halides with stannyl radicals. Stannanes undergo hydrogen abstraction reactions and the stannyl radical can then abstract halogen from the alkyl group. For example, net addition of an alkyl group to a reactive double bond can follow halogen abstraction by a stannyl radical. 

It is also worth emphasizing that the initiation and termination steps are not included in the central chain process. For instance, in metal hydride-promoted domino reactions the initial halogen abstraction (or SePh displacement, etc.) and the final hydrogen abstraction from R MH are not classified as part of the domino sequence. More precisely, only the propagation steps within the mechanism of this process will be considered as a strict integral part of the domino reaction. 

This catalytic cycle, generating acetyl iodide from methyl iodide, has been demonstrated by carbonylation of anhydrous methyl iodide at 80°C and CO partial pressure of 3 atm using [(C6H5)4As][Rh(CO)2X2] as catalysts. After several hours reaction, acetyl iodide can be identified by NMR and infrared techniques. However, under anhydrous conditions some catalyst deactivation occurs, apparently by halogen abstraction from the acetyl iodide, giving rhodium species such as frans-[Rh(CO)2I4] and [Rh(CO)I4] . Such dehalogenation reactions are common with d8 and d10 species, particularly in reactions with species containing weak... 

If one takes out of this list the polyhalomethanes and tries to understand what the chemistry is about, certainly a simple-minded view is that this is simply a halogen atom abstraction reaction such as one finds in a gas phase reaction, like sodium atom with organic halides. There is a linear free energy correlation in that the logarithms of the rate constants bear a linear relation to one another. 

The presence of halogen additives substantially increases the tendency of all fuels to soot under diffusion flame conditions [69], The presence of H atoms increases the soot pyrolysis rate because the abstraction reaction of H + RH is much faster than R + RH, where R is a hydrocarbon radical. Halogenated compounds added to fuels generate halogen atoms (X) at modest temperatures. The important point is that X + RH abstraction is faster than H + RH, so that the halogen functions as a homogeneous catalyst through the system... 

Halogen abstraction from hypervalent sulfur halides has also been reported for the imidazol-2-ylidenes (IV) (Scheme 8.22). This reaction gives a nice example of the synthetic utihty of V-heterocyclic carbenes. Indeed, this adduct is the first structurally characterized derivative featuring the chlorosulfite ion (SO2CI ). ... 

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