Hydrogen abstraction trichloromethyl radical, relative

Kooyman s investigation utilized the relative rates of hydrogen abstraction from a series of aralkyl compounds (and one olefin) by the trichloromethyl radical ( ). The experimental results are shown in Table I. 

Table I. Relative rates of Hydrogen Abstraction from Selected Hydrocarbons by the Trichloromethyl Radical.

The trichloromethyl radical is known to attack the rings of polycyclic aromatics (7). In order to correct for this, it was assumed that any enhanced reactivity of the methylarene relative to the parent arene reflected only hydrogen abstractions. A competition between these two species can thus be used to determine (allowing for statistical correction) the amounts of hydrogen abstraction and ring substitution for each arylmethane. Such an approach presumes that the methyl substituent does not electronically influence attack in the aromatic unit. At the time, however, both experimental (24) and theoretical (25)... 

Table II. Relative Rates of Hydrogen Abstraction from a Series of Unsubstituted Arylmethanes by Trichloromethyl Radical at 70 .

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