Hydrogen atom abstraction hydrogenation

Von Bunau and Kuhnert calculated from the effect of additives that in the gas phase about 95 % of the hydrogen atoms formed in the radiolysis produced propyl radicals in this reaction while only 5% of the hydrogen atoms abstract hydrogen to form H2 and cyclopropyl radicals (equation 7) ... 

Scheme 5.15. Main-chain-scission-type radicals are also formed when free hydrogen atoms abstract hydrogen from polymer side groups (see upper part of Scheme 5.15).

Each chlorine atom formed m the initiation step has seven valence electrons and IS very reactive Once formed a chlorine atom abstracts a hydrogen atom from methane as shown m step 2 m Figure 4 21 Hydrogen chloride one of the isolated products from... 

Step 2 Hydrogen atom abstraction from methane by a chlorine atom... 

The relative rates of reaction of ethane toluene and ethylbenzene with bromine atoms have been measured The most reactive hydrocarbon undergoes hydrogen atom abstraction a million times faster than does the least reactive one Arrange these hydrocarbons in order of decreasing reactivity... 

Two other important commercial uses of initiators are in polymer cross-linking and polymer degradation. In a cross-linking reaction, atom abstraction, usually a hydrogen abstraction, occurs, followed by termination by coupling of two polymer radicals to form a covalent cross-link ... 

Most solvents for hydroperoxides are not completely inert to radical attack and, consequendy, react with radicals from the hydroperoxide to form solvent-derived radicals, either by addition to unsaturated sites or by hydrogen- or chlorine-atom abstraction. In equation 15, S—H represents solvent and S is a solvent radical. 

Selective chlorination of the 3-position of thietane 1,1-dioxide may be a consequence of hydrogen atom abstraction by a chlorine atom. Such reactions of chlorine atoms are believed to be influenced by polar effects, preferential hydrogen abstraction occurring remotely from an electron withdrawing group. The free radical chain reaction may be propagated by attack of the 3-thietanyl 1,1-dioxide radical on molecular chlorine. 

Important differences are seen when the reactions of the other halogens are compared to bromination. In the case of chlorination, although the same chain mechanism is operative as for bromination, there is a key difference in the greatly diminished selectivity of the chlorination. For example, the pri sec selectivity in 2,3-dimethylbutane for chlorination is 1 3.6 in typical solvents. Because of the greater reactivity of the chlorine atom, abstractions of primary, secondary, and tertiary hydrogens are all exothermic. As a result of this exothermicity, the stability of the product radical has less influence on the activation energy. In terms of Hammond s postulate (Section 4.4.2), the transition state would be expected to be more reactant-like. As an example of the low selectivity, ethylbenzene is chlorinated at both the methyl and the methylene positions, despite the much greater stability of the benzyl radical ... 

No product derived from the transannular hydrogen abstraction is observed in the addition of bromotrichloromethane because bromine-atom abstraction is sufficiently rapid to prevent effective competition by the intramolecular hydrogen abstraction. 

The selectivity observed in most intramolecular functionalizations depends on the preference for a six-membered transition state in the hydrogen-atom abstraction step. Appropriate molecules can be constmcted in which steric or conformational effects dictate a preference for selective abstraction of a hydrogen that is more remote from the reactive radical. 

One of the most common reactions of photoexcited carbonyl groups is hydrogen-atom abstraction from solvent or some other hydrogen donor. A second common reaction is cleavage of the carbon-carbon bond adjacent to the carbonyl group ... 

The intermediates which are generated are free radicals. The hydrogen-atom abstraction can be either intramolecular or intermolecular. Many aromatic ketones react by hydrogen-atom abstraction, and the stable products are diols formed by coupling of the resulting a-hydroxyben2yl radicals ... 

The efficiency of reduction of benzophenone derivatives is greatly diminished when an ortho alkyl substituent is present because a new photoreaction, intramolecular hydrogen-atom abstraction, then becomes the dominant process. The abstraction takes place from the benzylic position on the adjacent alkyl chain, giving an unstable enol that can revert to the original benzophenone without photoreduction. This process is known as photoenolization Photoenolization can be detected, even though no net transformation of the reactant occurs, by photolysis in deuterated hydroxylic solvents. The proton of the enolic hydroxyl is rapidly exchanged with solvent, so deuterium is introduced at the benzylic position. Deuterium is also introduced if the enol is protonated at the benzylic carbon by solvent ... 

Intramolecular hydrogen-atom abstraction is also an important process for acyclic a,/ -unsaturated ketones. The intermediate diradical then cyclizes to give the enol of a cyclobutyl ketone. Among the by-products of such photolyses are cyclobutanols resulting from alternative modes of cyclization of the diradical intermediate ... 

This behavior stems from the greater stability of secondar y compared with primary free radicals. The transition state for the step in which a chlorine atom abstracts a hydrogen from carbon has free-radical character at carbon. 

Spin density surface for the most stable radical formed by hydrogen atom abstraction from a model of a-tocopherol shows delocalization of the unpaired electron. 

Examine the energies of radicals resulting from hydrogen atom abstraction in 3-ethylpentane. Which radical is the lowest energy Is there a relationship between the CH bond lengths in 3-ethylpentane and the stabilities of the radicals resulting from bond dissociation Elaborate. 

Draw resonance structures for the possible radicals resulting from hydrogen atom abstraction from toluene. Which would you anticipate to be the most stable Why Compare energies for the different radicals (radical A, radical B,. ..). Is the lowest-energy radical that which you anticipated Are any of the alternatives significantly better than any of the others Explain your reasoning. 

Atom or radical transfer reactions generally proceed by a SH2 mechanism (substitution, homolytie, bimolecular) that can be depicted as shown in Figure 1.6. This area has been the subject of a number of reviews.1 3 27 97 99 The present discussion is limited, in the main, to hydrogen atom abstraction from aliphatic substrates and the factors which influence rate and specificity of this reaction. 

Figure 1.6 Transition state for hydrogen atom abstraction.

The most direct evidence that stereoelectronic effects are also important in these reactions follows from the specificity observed in hydrogen atom abstraction from conformationally constrained compounds,18 60 C-H bonds adjacent to oxygen113"118 or nitrogen110 and which subtend a small dihedral angle with a lone pair orbital (<30°) are considerably activated in relation to those where the dihedral angle is or approaches 90°. Thus, the equatorial H in 20 is reported to be 12 times more reactive towards /-butoxy radicals than the axial 11 in 21.115... 

However, the situation is not as clear-cut as it might at first seem since a variety of other factors may also contribute to the above-mentioned trend. Abuin et a/.141 pointed out that the transition state for addition is sterically more demanding than that for hydrogen-atom abstraction. Within a given series (alkyl or alkoxy), the more nucleophilic radicals are generally the more bulky (i.e. steric factors favor the same trends). It can also be seen from Tabic 1.6 that, for alkyl radicals, the values of D decrease in the series primary>secondary>tertiary (i.e. relative bond strengths favor the same trend). 

Various light-induced reactions including hydrogen atom abstraction, electron transfer and (3-scission occur under the influence of UV light. Certain... 

---