Hydrocarbons hydrogen atom selectivity

The factors that influence the diastereoselectivity for the class of monocyclic hydrocarbons, from which monoterpenes are the most studied group, are mainly steric and conformational. Monoterpenes, in general, show relatively low overall syn/anti selectivity, usually attributed to the availability of allylic hydrogen atoms in the right alignment for abstraction. 

From the different contributions, it may be concluded that, in the oxidation of ammonia, the same type of redox mechanism is operative for metal oxides as in the selective oxidation of hydrocarbons. As a consequence, the hydrogen atoms will be abstracted successively from the NH3 molecule by a stepwise mechanism. 

Another interesting feature related to the a nature of the cyclopropyl and vinyl radicals is their reactivity. In general, a radicals are more reactive and less selective than n radicals. Phenyl, vinyl, and cyclopropyl a radicals will abstract hydrogen atoms from saturated hydrocarbons at 77 K, conditions under which k radicals are unreactive [23]. In Ruchardt s [24] radical reactivity classification, based on the reaction of a series of o and n radicals with BrCClj and CCl, the cyclopropyl radical, an inverting a radical in an sp -hybridized orbital, closely resembled the noninverting phenyl radical. Further support for this finding... 

The fact that no hydrogen adducts with m> 5 were observed suggests strongly a cumulenic carbon skeleton of C=C=(C=C=) ]C as stated in Section 9.2. Furthermore, the absence of the adducts with m>5 implies that the hydrogen atoms attack selectively the two terminal carbon atoms only that is to say, the cumulenic double bond refuses the addition of hydrogen atom to yield hydrocarbons with more than four hydrogen atoms. 

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