Hydroxy radical

Under these conditions, a component with a low rate constant for propagation for peroxy radicals may be cooxidized at a higher relative rate because a larger fraction of the propagation steps is carried out by the more reactive (less selective) alkoxy and hydroxy radicals produced in reaction 4. 

Unsymmetrical azo-compounds find application as initiators of polymerization in special circumstances, for example, as initiators of living radical polymerization [e.g. triphenylmethylazobenzene (30) (see 9.3.4)], as hydroxy radical sources [e.g. a-hydroperoxydiazene (31) (see 3.3.3,1)1, for enhanced solubility in organic solvents [e.g. f-butylazocyclohexanecarbonitrile (32)J, or as high temperature initiators [e.g. t-butylazoformamide (33)]. They have also been used as radical precursors in model studies of cross-termination in copolymerization (Section... 

The chemistry of alkyl hydroperoxides (40) has been reviewed by Porter,217 Sheldon204 and Hiatt.2lS Alkyl hydroperoxides are high temperature sources of alkoxy and hydroxy radicals.219 They are often encountered as components of redox systems. 

Primary and secondary hydroperoxides are also susceptible to induced decomposition through loss of an a-hydrogen. The radical formed is usually not stable and undergoes (3-scission to give a carbonyl compound and hydroxy radical.2"3 It is reported that these hydroperoxides may also undergo non-radical decomposition with evolution of hydrogen.137... 

A number of mechanisms for thermal decomposition of persulfate in neutral aqueous solution have been proposed.232 They include unimolccular decomposition (Scheme 3.40) and various bimolecular pathways for the disappearance of persulfate involving a water molecule and concomitant formation of hydroxy radicals (Scheme 3.41). The formation of polymers with negligible hydroxy end groups is evidence that the unimolecular process dominates in neutral solution. Heterolytic pathways for persulfate decomposition can he important in acidic media. 

Hydroxy radicals are produced by redox reactions involving hydrogen peroxide (see 3.3.2.6.2). They can also be generated in organic solution by thermal decomposition of a-hydroperoxydiazenes (see 3.3.3.1). 

The transient radicals produced in reactions of hydroxy radicals with vinyl monomers in aqueous solution have been detected directly by EPR43 439 or UV spectroscopy,440-441 These studies indicate that hydroxy radicals react with monomers and other species at or near the diffusion-controlled limit ( Table 3.7). However, high reactivity does not mean a complete lack of specificity. Hydroxy radicals are electrophilic and trends in the relative reactivity of the hydroxy radicals toward monomers can be explained on this basis/97... 

Grant et a/.397 examined the reactions of hydroxy radicals with a range of vinyl and a-methylvinyl monomers in organic media. Hydroxy radicals on reaction with AMS give significant yields of products from head addition, abstraction and aromatic substitution (Table 3.8) even though resonance and steric factors combine to favor "normal tail addition. However, it is notable that the extents of abstraction (with AMS and MMA) arc less than obtained with t-butoxy radicals and the amounts of head addition (with MMA and S) are no greater than those seen with benzoyloxy radicals under similar conditions. It is clear that there is no direct correlation between reaclion rale and low specificity. 

Hydroxy radical and sulfate radical anion, though they may sometimes give rise to similar products, show quite different selectivity in their reactions with unsaturated substrates. In particular, the sulfate radical anion has a somewhat lower propensity for hydrogen abstraction than the hydroxyl radical. For example, the sulfate radical anion shows little tendency to abstract hydrogen from mcthacrylic acid.232... 

One of the most used systems involves use of horseradish peroxidase, a 3-diketone (mosl commonly 2,4-pentandione), and hydrogen peroxide." " " Since these enzymes contain iron(II), initiation may involve decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by a redox reaction with formation of hydroxy radicals. However, the proposed initiation mechanism- involves a catalytic cycle with enzyme activation by hydrogen peroxide and oxidation of the [3-diketone to give a species which initiates polymerization. Some influence of the enzyme on tacticity and molecular... 

The reaction with nitrite proceeds smoothly and with relatively high yields of the corresponding nitroarene (see Sec. 10.6). Obviously a major part of the driving force of this reaction is the formation of a stable, i. e., an energetically favorable, radical, nitrogen dioxide. With the hydroxide ion — a much stronger nucleophile than the nitrite ion — the reaction is expected to produce very unstable radicals, the hydroxy radical OH and the oxygen radical anion O, from the diazohydroxide (Ar - N2 — OH) and the diazoate (Ar-N20 ) respectively. Consequently, dediazoniation in alkaline aqueous solution does not follow the simple Scheme 8-41 with Yn = OH, but instead involves diazoanhydrides (Ar — N2 —O —N2 —Ar) as intermediates (see Sec. 8.8). 

A rapid and clean oxidation of sulphides to sulphoxides can also be carried out using the titanium(III) trichloride/hydrogen peroxide reagent35. On a milimole scale, the oxidation takes place in a time shorter than 20 min upon addition of a solution of hydrogen peroxide to a solution of the sulphide and titanium(III) trichloride in methanol at room temperature. It was suggested that the formation of a sulphoxide in this reaction resulted from a direct coupling of the hydroxy radical with cation radical 20 formed at the sulphur atom of the sulphide (equation 6). 

The a- and [3-isomers of endosulfan undergo photolysis in laboratory tests after irradiation in polar solvents and upon exposure to sunlight on plant leaves. The a-isomer also undergoes isomerization to the P-isomer, which is relatively more stable (Dureja and Mukerjee 1982). A photolytic half-life of about 7 days was reported for endosulfan by EPA (1982c). The primary photolysis product is endosulfan diol, which is subsequently photodegraded to endosulfan a-hydroxyether. Endosulfan sulfate is stable to direct photolysis at light wavelengths of >300 nm however, the compound reacts with hydroxy radicals, with an estimated atmospheric half-life of 1.23 hours (HSDB 1999). 

Moorhouse, C.P., Halliwell, B., Grootveld, M. and Gutteridge, J.M.C. (1985). Cobalt(ll) ion as a catalyst of hydroxyl radical and possible crypto-hydroxy radical formation under physiological conditions. Differential effects of hydroxyl radical scavengers. Biochem. Biophys. Acta 843, 261-268. 

Figure 17.2 Lipid peroxidation scheme. LH, a polyunsaturated fatty acid LOOM, lipid hydroperoxide LOH, lipid alcohol L, lipid radical LOO, lipid hydroperoxyl radical LO, lipid alkoxyl radical. Initiation the LH hydrogen is abstracted by reactive oxygen (e.g. lipid alkyl radical, lipid alkoxy radical, lipid hydroperoxyl radical, hydroxy radical, etc.) to produce a new lipid alkyl radical, L. Propagation the lipid alkyl, alkoxyl or hydroperoxyl radical abstracts hydrogen from the neighbouring LH to generate a new L radical.

The hydroxy radicals formed by the decomposition of the hydroxylalkoxy radicals react rapidly with 02 to form aldehydes and H02, which also contribute to NO oxidation to N02 ... 

Figure 9.4 Decomposition of a hydroperoxyl group to form carbonyl and hydroxy radicals...

As mentioned in the introduction, there are conflicting views as to the contributions made to polymer degradation by various initiating species. Among these species, in addition to ketones, hydroperoxides are some of the more important chromophores. As it is known, the photolysis of hydroperoxides yields alkoxy and hydroxy radicals. In polymers, in the presence of oxygen, these radicals lead to the secondary formation of peroxy radicals. The latter in turn are converted by hydrogen abstraction into new hydroperoxides (Scheme I) ... 

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