Radical reactions halogenation

The usual way to achieve heterosubstitution of saturated hydrocarbons is by free-radical reactions. Halogenation, sulfochlorination, and nitration are among the most important transformations. Superacid-catalyzed electrophilic substitutions have also been developed. This clearly indicates that alkanes, once considered to be highly unreactive compounds (paraffins), can be readily functionalized not only in free-radical from but also via electrophilic activation. Electrophilic substitution, in turn, is the major transformation of aromatic hydrocarbons. 

For most vinyl polymers, head-to-tail addition is the dominant mode of addition. Variations from this generalization become more common for polymerizations which are carried out at higher temperatures. Head-to-head addition is also somewhat more abundant in the case of halogenated monomers such as vinyl chloride. The preponderance of head-to-tail additions is understood to arise from a combination of resonance and steric effects. In many cases the ionic or free-radical reaction center occurs at the substituted carbon due to the possibility of resonance stabilization or electron delocalization through the substituent group. Head-to-tail attachment is also sterically favored, since the substituent groups on successive repeat units are separated by a methylene... 

Ha.logena.tlon, One review provides detailed discussion of direct and indirect methods for both mono- and polyhalogenation (20). As with nitration, halogenation under acidic conditions favors reaction in the benzenoid ring, whereas reaction at the 3-position takes place in the neutral molecule. Radical reactions in the pyridine ring can be important under more vigorous conditions. 

One of the older preparative free-radical reactions is the addition of polyhalomethanes to alkenes. Examples of addition of carbon tetrabromide, carbon tetrachloride, and bromoform have been recorded. The reactions are chain processes that depend on facile abstraction of halogen or hydrogen from the halomethane ... 

The addition of halogenated aliphatics to carbon-carbon double bonds is the most useful type of carbon-carbon bond forming synthetic method for highly halogenated substrates Numerous synthetic procedures have been developed for these types of reactions, particularly for the addition of perfluoroalkyl iodides to alkenes using thermal or photolytic initiators of free radical reactions such as organic peroxides and azo compounds [/]... 

Initiation step (Section 4.17) A process which causes a reaction, usually a free-radical reaction, to begin but which by itself is not the principal source of products. The initiation step in the halogenation of an alkane is the dissociation of a halogen molecule to two halogen atoms. 

Recall from Section 5.3 that radical substitution reactions require three kinds of steps initiation, propagation, and termination. Once an initiation step has started the process by producing radicals, the reaction continues in a self-sustaining cycle. The cycle requires two repeating propagation steps in which a radical, the halogen, and the alkane yield alkyl halide product plus more radical to carry on the chain. The chain is occasionally terminated by the combination of two radicals. 

Besides radical additions to unsaturated C—C bonds (Section III.B.l) and sulfene reactions (see above), sulfonyl halides are able to furnish sulfones by nucleophilic substitution of halide by appropriate C-nucleophiles. Undesired radical reactions are suppressed by avoiding heat, irradiation, radical initiators, transition-element ion catalysis, and unsuitable halogens. However, a second type of undesired reaction can occur by transfer of halogen instead of sulfonyl groups283-286 (which becomes the main reaction, e.g. with sulfuryl chloride). Normally, both types of undesired side-reaction can be avoided by utilizing sulfonyl fluorides. 

Abstraction of a halogen has been studied much less, but the order of reactivity is RI > RBr > RCl 3> RF. There are now many cases where free-radical reactions are promoted by transition metals. ... 

Photons are very clean reagents, leaving no residues. A photo-initiated process therefore has potential advantages even when compared to reactions initiated by the use of catalysts. Such processes may use fewer raw materials compared to non-photochemical alternatives, e.g. comparison of photo- and radical-initiated halogenation reactions. 

Another characteristic of many radical reactions is that, once initiated, they often proceed with great rapidity owing to the establishment of fast chain reactions of low energy requirement, e.g. in the halogenation of alkanes (3, cf. p. 323) ... 

Halogenation, and particularly chlorination, unlike most radical reactions, is markedly influenced by the presence in the substrate of polar substituents this is because Cl, owing to the electronegativity of chlorine, is markedly electrophilic (c/. p. 314), and will therefore attack preferentially at sites of higher electron density. Chlorination will thus tend to be inhibited by the presence of electron-withdrawing groups, as is seen in the relative amounts of substitution at the four different carbon atoms in 1-chlorobutane (78) on photoehemically initiated chlorination at 35° ... 

Diels-Alder adduct from cyclopentadiene, 8 222t Diels-Alder reactions of, 25 488-489 economic aspects of, 25 507-509 electrophilic addition of, 25 490 in ene reactions, 25 490 esterification of, 25 491 free-radical reactions of, 25 491 from butadiene, 4 371 Grignard-type reactions of, 25 491 halogenation of, 15 491—492 health and safety factors related to, 25 510-511... 

Finally, it should be noted that there are various reactions which can be called phe-nol-dienone rearrangements. They proceed upon halogenation, nitration and alkylation of phenols as well as in the course of radical reactions of phenols186. 

The oxidative degradations of binuclear azaarenes (quinoline, isoquinoline, and benzodrazines) by hydroxyl and sulfate radicals and halogen radicals have been studied under both photochemical and dark-reaction conditions. A shift from oxidation of the benzene moiety to the pyridine moiety was observed in the quinoline and isoquinoline systems upon changing the reaction from the dark to photochemical conditions. The results were interpreted using frontier-orbital calculations. The reaction of OH with the dye 3,3,6,6-tetramethyl-3,4,6,7,9,10-hexahydro-(l,8)(2//,5//)-acridinedione has been studied, and the transient absorption bands assigned in neutral solution.The redox potential (and also the pA a of the transient species) was determined. Hydroxyl radicals have been found to react with thioanisole via both electron transfer to give radical cations (73%) and OH-adduct formation (23%). The bimolec-ular rate constant was determined (3.5 x lO lmoU s ). " ... 

The Hunsdiecker reaction is a free-radical reaction for the synthesis of an alkyl halide. The starting material comes from the reaction of a silver carboxylate with a solution of a halogen in a solvent such as carbon tetrachloride (see Figure 12-44). The overall free-radical mechanism is shown in Figure 12-45. 

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