Radical reactions polar effects

Rate constants and Arrhenius parameters for the reaction of Et3Si radicals with various carbonyl compounds are available. Some data are collected in Table 5.2 [49]. The ease of addition of EtsSi radicals was found to decrease in the order 1,4-benzoquinone > cyclic diaryl ketones, benzaldehyde, benzil, perfluoro propionic anhydride > benzophenone alkyl aryl ketone, alkyl aldehyde > oxalate > benzoate, trifluoroacetate, anhydride > cyclic dialkyl ketone > acyclic dialkyl ketone > formate > acetate [49,50]. This order of reactivity was rationalized in terms of bond energy differences, stabilization of the radical formed, polar effects, and steric factors. Thus, a phenyl or acyl group adjacent to the carbonyl will stabilize the radical adduct whereas a perfluoroalkyl or acyloxy group next to the carbonyl moiety will enhance the contribution given by the canonical structure with a charge separation to the transition state (Equation 5.24). 

If we define polar effects on free-radical reactions as effects due to electron-withdrawal or electron-release—rather than to accommodation of the odd electron—then there is no doubt about their existence it is the interpretation of such effects that is open to question. 

Reagent for Polarity Reversal Catalysis in Radical Reactions. Polarity reversal catalysis (PRC) has been established by Roberts in free-radical chemistry as an efficient alternative to the use of stannanes (e.g., tri-/>butylstannane) and their associated toxicity and purification problems. Silyl radicals can be a valid alternative to tin radicals for one of the most common radical reactions, that is, radical dehalogenation, but silanes, contrary to stannanes, cannot sustain an effective radical chain reaction, due to the stronger Si-H bond. 

Numerous studies have been devoted to the addition of RSO2X to olefins. The propagation steps for these chain processes are shown in Scheme 13. The main factors controlling the reactivity of sulfonyl radicals are polar effects and the reversibility of the addition. Sulfonyl radicals exhibit an electrophilic character with respect to addition to olefins [98]. Evidence for the reversibility came early from the observation of the isomerization of cis- and rran -2-butenes during their copolymerization with sulfur dioxide and their Cu(I)-mediated reaction with benzenesulfonyl chloride [99]. Therefore, the chain transfer of alky] adduct radica]s has to compete effectively with -elimination of sulfonyl radicals (see Scheme 13). Selenosulfonates, sulfonyl halides, and sulfonyl cyanides are the most popular substrates that meet this property. 

Salikhov K M, Molin Yu N, Sagdeev R Z and Buchachenko A L 1984 Spin Polarization and Magnetic Effects in Radical Reactions (Amsterdam Elsevier)... 

Selective chlorination of the 3-position of thietane 1,1-dioxide may be a consequence of hydrogen atom abstraction by a chlorine atom. Such reactions of chlorine atoms are believed to be influenced by polar effects, preferential hydrogen abstraction occurring remotely from an electron withdrawing group. The free radical chain reaction may be propagated by attack of the 3-thietanyl 1,1-dioxide radical on molecular chlorine. 

Radical chlorination reactions show a substantial polar effect. Positions substituted by electron-withdrawing groups are relatively unreactive toward chlorination, even though the substituents may be potentially capable of stabilizing the free-radical intermediate " ... 

Similarly, carboxylic acid and ester groups tend to direct chlorination to the / and v positions, because attack at the a position is electronically disfavored. The polar effect is attributed to the fact that the chlorine atom is an electrophilic species, and the relatively electron-poor carbon atom adjacent to an electron-withdrawing group is avoided. The effect of an electron-withdrawing substituent is to decrease the electron density at the potential radical site. Because the chlorine atom is highly reactive, the reaction would be expected to have a very early transition state, and this electrostatic effect predominates over the stabilizing substituent effect on the intermediate. The substituent effect dominates the kinetic selectivity of the reaction, and the relative stability of the radical intermediate has relatively little influence. 

The traditional means of assessment of the sensitivity of radical reactions to polar factors and establishing the electrophilicity or nucleophilieity of radicals is by way of a Hammett op correlation. Thus, the reactions of radicals with substituted styrene derivatives have been examined to demonstrate that simple alkyl radicals have nucleophilic character38,39 while haloalkyl radicals40 and oxygcn-ccntcrcd radicals " have electrophilic character (Tabic 1.4). It is anticipated that electron-withdrawing substituents (e.g. Cl, F, C02R, CN) will enhance overall reactivity towards nucleophilic radicals and reduce reactivity towards electrophilic radicals. Electron-donating substituents (alkyl) will have the opposite effect. 

Bernardi, F., Bottom, 1997, Polar Effect in Hydrogen Abstraction Reactions from Halo-Substituted Methanes by Methyl Radical A Comparison Between Hartree-Fock, Perturbation, and Density Functional Theories , J. Phys. Chem., 101, 1912. 

Finally it has to be remarked briefly that the reactivity and selectivity of free radicals is certainly not only determined by steric and bond energy effects or by the thermodynamic stability of these transients. Polar effects are also important, in particular in those reactions which have early transition states e.g., the steps of free radical chain reactions12. They are either due to dipole interactions in the ground state or to charge polarization at transition states. FMO-theory apparently offers a more modern interpretation of many of these effects13. ... 

The first step of a free radical aromatic substitution, the formation of the a-com-plex, is also an addition step. The o,m,p-product ratio therefore also responds to steric effects. This is shown for the free radical phenylation and dimethylamination of toluene and r.-butylbenzene in Table 8. The larger the substituent on the aromatic system and the bulkier the attacking radical, the more p-substitution product is obtained at the expense of o-substitution. In the phenylation reaction the yield of m-product also increases in contrast to the dimethylamination reaction. The substitution pattern of this latter reaction is, in addition to the steric effect, governed heavily by polar effects because a radical cation is the attacking species113. ... 

K. M. Salikhov.Y. N. Molin, R. Z. Sag-deev, A. L. Buchachenko, Spin Polarization and Magnetic Field Effects in Radical Reactions, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1984. 

The polar effect involved in radical addition has been repeatedly discussed in the scientific literature. The parabolic model opens up new prospects for the correct estimation of the polar effect (see Section 6.2.7). It permits one to determine the contribution of this effect to the activation energy using experimental data. This contribution (AE ) is estimated by choosing a reference reaction that involves the same reaction center but in which one or both reactants... 

Another factor that influences the reactivity of two polar reactants, acylperoxyl radical with aldehyde, is the polar interaction of carbonyl group with reaction center in the transition state. Aldehydes are polar compounds, their dipole moments are higher than 2.5 Debye (see Section 8.1.1). The dipole moment of the acylperoxyl radical is about 4 Debye (/jl = 3.87 Debye for PhC(0)00 according to the quantum-chemical calculation [54]). Due to this, one can expect a strong polar effect in the reaction of peroxyl radicals with aldehydes. The IPM helps to evaluate the increment Ain the activation energy Ee of the chosen reaction using experimental data [1], The results of Acalculation are presented in Table 8.10. 

Ketone and the formed a-ketoperoxyl radical are polar molecules. Hence the polar effect influences the reactivity of the ketones and the peroxyl radicals. Polar solvents also influence the reactions of peroxyl radicals with ketones as well as other free radical reactions. 

We see that the polar effect is strong in reactions of peroxyl radicals with monoesters. It lowers the activation energy of the reaction of the peroxyl radical in most cases. This means that the geometry of atoms C H O of the TS is nonlinear. The geometric parameters of the TS of peroxyl radical reactions with C—H bonds of esters are presented in Table 9.18. 

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