Radical reactions, homolytic bond

A free-radical reaction is a chemical process which involves molecules having unpaired electrons. The radical species could be a starting compound or a product, but the most common cases are reactions that involve radicals as intermediates. Most of the reactions discussed to this point have been heterolytic processes involving polar intermediates and/or transition states in which all electrons remained paired throughout the course of the reaction. In radical reactions, homolytic bond cleavages occur. The generalized reactions shown below illustrate the formation of alkyl, vinyl, and aryl free radicals by hypothetical homolytic processes. 

Chain growth polymerizations (also called addition polymerizations) are characterized by the occurrence of activated species (initiators)/active centers. They add one monomer molecule after the other in a way that at the terminus of each new species formed by a monomer addition step an activated center is created which again is able to add the next monomer molecule. Such species are formed from compounds which create radicals via homolytic bond scission, from metal complexes, or from ionic (or at least highly polarized) molecules in the initiating steps (2.1) and (2.2). From there the chain growth can start as a cascade reaction (propagation 2.3) upon manifold repetition of the monomer addition and reestablishment of the active center at the end of the respective new product ... 

The radicals formed from this homolysis are unstable and each breaks down by cleavage of a C-G bond, generating C02 and a phenyl radical. These homolytic bond cleavages are elimination reactions and are the reverse of radical addition reactions. 

R Sp Al-C Sp Sp C-C bond Formation (Addition of C=O, Carboalumination) Hydride Transfer (p-Hydride Elimination) Radical Reaction (Homolytic Cleavage) 0l /... 

We shall postpone further discussions of reactions involving radicals and homolytic bond cleavage until we reach Chapter 10. At this point we focus our attention on reactions involving ions and heterolytic bond cleavage. 

Most of the free-radical mechanisms discussed thus far have involved some combination of homolytic bond dissociation, atom abstraction, and addition steps. In this section, we will discuss reactions that include discrete electron-transfer steps. Addition to or removal of one electron fi om a diamagnetic organic molecule generates a radical. Organic reactions that involve electron-transfer steps are often mediated by transition-metal ions. Many transition-metal ions have two or more relatively stable oxidation states differing by one electron. Transition-metal ions therefore firequently participate in electron-transfer processes. 

The broadest classification of reactions is into the categories of heterolytic and homolytic reactions. In homolytic (free radical) reactions, bond cleavage occurs with one electron remaining with each atom, as in... 

Thermal cracking takes place without a catalyst at temperatures up to 900 °C. The exact processes are complex, although they undoubtedly involve radical reactions. The high-temperature reaction conditions cause spontaneous homolytic breaking of C-C and C-H bonds, with resultant formation of smaller fragments. We might imagine, for instance, that a molecule of butane... 

Alkyl halides can be reduced to alkanes by a radical reaction with tributyltin hydride, (C4H9)3SnH, in the presence of light (hv). Propose a radical chain mechanism by which the reaction might occur. The initiation step is the light-induced homolytic cleavage of the Sn— H bond to yield a tributyltin radical. 

The use of metal-complex initiating systems proved to be especially promising in carrying out the reactions with acrylic monomers which can be easily polymerized, when the common initiators of radical reactions are excepted. The use of Fe(CO)s -I- DMFA system allows us to perform homolytical addition of bromoform to acrylic monomers selectively at C-Br bond with no essential polymerization (ref. 10). 

Excited states can also decay by means of chemical reaction via heterolytic bond cleavage, leading to ions, or by homolytic bond cleavage generating free radicals. 

Since homolytic or radical processes are largely governed by the effects of bond dissociation energies, a knowledge of BDE is required for the evaluation of chemical reactivity in such reactions. However, we have found, as we mention later, that BDE s are also an important factor influencing other types of reactions involving bond heterolyses. 

Molecules in heterolytic (polar) reactions form and break bonds by "coordination" and molecules in homolytic (nonpolar or free radical) reactions form and break bonds by "colligation."75 (Two more new terms ) Heterolytic reactions occur mostly in solutions, usually involving ion formation and electrophilic or nucleophilic reactions homolytic reactions occur mostly in gases and do not involve ions because less energy is required to distance the atoms into neutral radicals.76... 

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