Ionic chain mechanisms

Condensation of dibromodifluoromethane or bromochlorodifluoromethane with potassium phenoxides usually needs an initiation by a thiol and occurs by an ionic chain mechanism [/5, 16 (equations 14 and 15)... 

The experimental evidence for the second hypothesis was the observed increase of the cracking rate of alkanes after addition of small amounts of alkenes to the feed. Both early theories assumed the continuation of the cracking reaction by intermolecular transfer of the charge from the products to fresh starting molecules, that is like an ionic chain mechanism with the catalyst acting only as an initiator. The problem was further clouded by the fact that two types of acid centres exist on the surface, the Br0n-... 

Insertions of CX2 into Mc3SiNMe2 require an ionic chain mechanism, shown for... 

Caprolactam can also be polymerized by ionic chain mechanisms. The reaction can be carried out below the melting point of the nylon and at atmospheric pressure, making the technique very attractive for the production of large cast articles. 

In contrast to the well-known alkylation paths, namely, S l and Sn2, the fluoroalkylation reaction was rationalized by an unusual ionic chain mechanism [26]. As shown in Scheme 14.3, the reaction was initiated with the direct attack of electron-positive bromine (5+) on the BrCF2CF2Br by phenoxide. Tetrafluoroethy-lene (CF2=CF2) was generated in situ after loss of bromide anions. The phenoxides added to the CF2=CF2 to give the reactive fluorocarbanions, which were quickly terminated by bromide to form 2-bromo-tetrafluoroethyl aryl ethers. In the elimination step, zinc inserted into the C—Br bond of 2-bromo-tetrafluorethyl aryl ethers in a similar way to the preparation of Grignard reagents. Finally, the aryl trifluorovinyl ethers were obtained by the elimination of ZnBrF salt at elevated temperature. 

It might be noted that most (not all) alkenes are polymerizable by the chain mechanism involving free-radical intermediates, whereas the carbonyl group is generally not polymerized by the free-radical mechanism. Carbonyl groups and some carbon-carbon double bonds are polymerized by ionic mechanisms. Monomers display far more specificity where the ionic mechanism is involved than with the free-radical mechanism. For example, acrylamide will polymerize through an anionic intermediate but not a cationic one, A -vinyl pyrrolidones by cationic but not anionic intermediates, and halogenated olefins by neither ionic species. In all of these cases free-radical polymerization is possible. 

Addition Chlorination. Chlorination of olefins such as ethylene, by the addition of chlorine, is a commercially important process and can be carried out either as a catalytic vapor- or Hquid-phase process (16). The reaction is influenced by light, the walls of the reactor vessel, and inhibitors such as oxygen, and proceeds by a radical-chain mechanism. Ionic addition mechanisms can be maximized and accelerated by the use of a Lewis acid such as ferric chloride, aluminum chloride, antimony pentachloride, or cupric chloride. A typical commercial process for the preparation of 1,2-dichloroethane is the chlorination of ethylene at 40—50°C in the presence of ferric chloride (17). The introduction of 5% air to the chlorine feed prevents unwanted substitution chlorination of the 1,2-dichloroethane to generate by-product l,l,2-trichloroethane. The addition of chlorine to tetrachloroethylene using photochemical conditions has been investigated (18). This chlorination, which is strongly inhibited by oxygen, probably proceeds by a radical-chain mechanism as shown in equations 9—13. 

The anti-Markownikoff addition of hydrogen bromide to alkenes was one of the earliest free-radical reactions to be put on a firm mechanistic basis. In the presence of a suitable initiator, such as a peroxide, a radical-chain mechanism becomes competitive with the ionic mechanism for addition of hydrogen bromide ... 

In contrast to ionic chain polymerizations, free radical polymerizations offer a facile route to copolymers ([9] p. 459). The ability of monomers to undergo copolymerization is described by the reactivity ratios, which have been tabulated for many monomer systems for a tabulation of reactivity ratios, see Section 11/154 in Brandrup and Immergut [14]. These tabulations must be used with care, however, as reactivity ratios are not always calculated in an optimum manner [15]. Systems in which one reactivity ratio is much greater than one (1) and the other is much less than one indicate poor copolymerization. Such systems form a mixture of homopolymers rather than a copolymer. Uncontrolled phase separation may take place, and mechanical properties can suffer. An important ramification of the ease of forming copolymers will be discussed in Section 3.1. 

Titov and co-workers, although conceding the validity of the ionic nitration mechanism for liq phase nitrations with coned acids, believe that many nitrations occur via a free-radical mechanism involving the free radicals (at any rate molecules having an unpaired electron) N02, N03, and NO. For vapor phase nitration of hydrocarbons, nitration of side chains of aromatic compds in... 

Clearly, neither rate expression yields to the ordinary interpretation. Transition states with a nonintegral number of atoms or a fractional ionic charge cannot exist (not that the one represented by Eq. (8-4) is fractional, but others we shall see would be). These reactions are believed to proceed by chain mechanisms. 

Kinetically indistinguishable chain mechanisms can be characterized by different ionic strength profiles, as was apparently first demonstrated in a study this author conducted with D. A. Ryan on the reaction of (aqua)-2-propylchromium cation with oxygen.17 This reaction was presented in Chapter 7. Two schemes that are consistent with the rate law are as follows ... 

The predicted ionic strength profiles for various substrates in the chain mechanisms of Schemes C, D, and E, Eqs. (9-79M9-86), are shown for substrates of different ionic charges. 

The data also bear on the validity of the two models that have been proposed to describe the mechanism of ionic chain propagation in the gas phase. In review, Lampe, Franklin, and Field (23) have proposed that the polymerization proceeds through the reactions of long-lived, undissociated, intermediate reaction complexes,... 

Ionic chain polymerisations refer to chain mechanisms in the course of which the propagation step consists of the insertion of a monomer into an ionic bond. The strength of this ionic bond can vary, depending on the nature of the species, the temperature and the polarity of the solvent, between a closed ionic pair in contact up to free ions (see Figure 23). Final polymer microstructure (configuration,...) and molecular mass distribution depend on the actual nature of the active ionic species. 

We have shown [1, 2] that, in the polymerisation of styrene by perchloric acid under the conditions reported here, the initiation reaction does not produce carbonium ions and that the monomer is polymerised by non-ionic chain carriers. Since the most likely nonionic reaction product formed from perchloric acid and styrene is the ester 1-phenylethyl perchlorate we attempted its preparation in order to try it as catalyst for the polymerisation of styrene. However, we found this ester to be unstable in methylene dichloride solution. It forms styrene oligomers, polystyryl ions, and perchloric acid, and the preparative technique and the mechanism of the reactions involved will be discussed in a paper dealing with the spectroscopic behaviour of polymerising and polymerised systems. 

While this is an effective nucleation mechanism for PET, the efficiency of this system is not stable and decreases significantly with melt mixing (compounding) time. This instability is due to a disproportion reaction in which the sodium chain ends react with each other to give disodium terephthalate. The subsequent decrease in ionic chain end concentration is directly linked to the loss in nucleation efficiency. 

Like radical polymerizations, ionic polymerizations also occur by a chain mechanism. In contrast to radical polymerizations the chain carriers are macroions carbonium ions in the case of cationic polymerizations and carbanions in the case of anionic polymerization of C=C compounds ... 

Kharasch and Mayo in 1933," in the first of many papers on the subject, showed that the addition of HBr to allyl bromide in the presence of light and air occurs rapidly to yield 1,3-dibromopropane, whereas in the absence of air and with purified reagents, the reaction is slow and 1,2-dibromopropane is formed. The latter reaction is the normal addition occurring by an ionic pathway giving the Markovnikov orientation. In 1933 the mechanism of the abnormal process ( anti-Markovnikov addition) was not discussed, and it was only in 1937 that the free radical chain mechanism for this process was proposed by Kharasch and his co-workers. "" The mechanism was extended to propene, for which the role of peroxides in promoting the reaction was demonstrated (equations 30, 31). This mechanism was also proposed... 

Early studies (1 ) of the kinetics of polymerization of styrene, isoprene and butadiene in hydrocarbon solvents indicated a half-order rate dependency on growing chain concentration, although there were conflicting data at that time (10, 11) which suggested even lower fractional orders for the dienes. Since the apparent half-order dependency could not be rationalized, as in the case of the polar media, by an ionic dissociation mechanism, some other form of association-dissociation phenomenon offered a possible answer. In view of the known tendency of organolithium compounds to undergo molecular association in non-polar media, the following scheme was proposed by us (l) ... 

Two free-radical chain reactions, in addition to the ionic enolate mechanism, seem reasonable for the oxidation of the sugars by oxygen. With an aldose-2-f one of the free-radical mechanisms would yield non-labeled formic acid and the next lower aldonic acid the other would yield labeled formic acid and the same aldonic acid. 

AUTOXIDATION. A word used to describe those spontaneous oxidations, which take place with molecular oxygen or air at moderate temperatures (usually below 150°C) without visible combustion. Autoxidation may proceed through an ionic mechanism, although in most cases the reaction follows a free radical-induced chain mechanism. The reaction is usually autocatalytic and may be initiated thermally, photoehemically, or by addition of either free radical generators or metallic catalysts. Being a chain reaction, the rate of autoxidation may be greatly increased of decreased by traces of foreign material. 

A significant observation concerning bromine addition is that it and many of the other reactions listed on page 360 proceed in the dark and are not influenced by radical inhibitors. This is evidence against a radical-chain mechanism of the type involved in the halogenation of alkanes (Section 4-4D). However, it does not preclude the operation of radical-addition reactions under other conditions, and, as we shall see later in this chapter, bromine, chlorine, and many other reagents that commonly add to alkenes by ionic mechanisms also can add by radical mechanisms. 

These homodimerizations of the donor olefins are well accounted for by the ion-radical chain mechanism, and provide powerful evidence for the occurrence of single electron transfer. Were it not for these cyclodimers, ionic homopolymerizations of D or A could be interpreted as initiation by zwitterionic tetramethylenes formed from D and A. 

CF3), with different kinds of nucleophiles such as RO, RS, R2N and R3N, enamines, eno-lates and phosphorous ylides103-108. They reported that these compounds have been found to react spontaneously affording decent preparations of perhalofluoroalkyl compounds like RfOR, RfSR, RfNR2. Although these workers reported that different and competitive pathways have been found in some other cases they say that they have shown that most of their reactions proceed via an ionic process. For example, they note that, in contrast to earlier reports, they found that dibromoperfluoro alkanes actually reacted spontaneously with PhOK to yield fluoro alkyl phenyl ethers, and they conclude Evidence for an anionic chain mechanism involving a bromophilic attack by the phenoxide is presented . 

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