Hydrogen atom transfer reactions, pressure effects

The mechanistic proposal of rate-limiting hydrogen atom transfer and radical recombination is based on the observed rate law, the lack of influence of CO pressure, kinetic isotope effects [studied with DMn(CO)s] and CIDNP evidence. In all known cases, exclusive formation of the overall 1,4-addition product has been observed for reaction of butadiene, isoprene and 2,3-dimethyl-l,3-butadiene. The preferred trapping of allyl radicals at the less substituted side by other radicals has actually been so convincing that its observation has been taken as a mechanistic probe78. 

The thermal alkylation of ethylene-isobutane mixtures at high pressures in the gas phase has been studied in the presence and absence of HCl, and it has been found that HCl can (a) dramatically increase the total yield of alkylate, (b) increase the fraction of the alkylate which is C6 rather than C8> and (c) both increase and decrease the ratio of 2-methyl pentane to 2J2-dimethylbutane in the C6 fraction of the alkylate, this latter depending on the amount of HCl used. All of these effects can be explained readily in terms of the generally accepted free radical mechanism of thermal alkylation, provided one assumes that HCl acts as a catalyst for those reaction steps that involve transfer of a hydrogen atom between a free radical and a hydrocarbon. 

The effect of temperature is peculiar (see Fig. 13). The deuterium content of the reactant olefin, in this case 1-butene, at about 10% conversion falls with increasing temperature, paralleling its behavior in isomerization. However, the deuterium content of the isomerized 2-butenes rises rapidly, as does also the deuterium number of the butane. This tells us (1) intramolecular hydrogen transfer becomes less important with rising temperature and is perhaps replaced by reactions involving adsorbed deuterium atoms (step 1. ii), and (2) butane is probably formed through the same intermediates as those which yield 2-butenes, viz., 2-butyI radicals. The same kind of behavior is shown by the other butenes. Partial pressure variation has no remarkable effect on the course of exchange and isomerization. 

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