Radical reactions reactivity effects

As is broadly true for aromatic compounds, the a- or benzylic position of alkyl substituents exhibits special reactivity. This includes susceptibility to radical reactions, because of the. stabilization provided the radical intermediates. In indole derivatives, the reactivity of a-substituents towards nucleophilic substitution is greatly enhanced by participation of the indole nitrogen. This effect is strongest at C3, but is also present at C2 and to some extent in the carbocyclic ring. The effect is enhanced by N-deprotonation. 

The BDE theory does not explain all observed experimental results. Addition reactions are not adequately handled at all, mosdy owing to steric and electronic effects in the transition state. Thus it is important to consider both the reactivities of the radical and the intended coreactant or environment in any attempt to predict the course of a radical reaction (18). AppHcation of frontier molecular orbital theory may be more appropriate to explain certain reactions (19). 

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. 

Table 1 shows the kinetic data available for the (TMSjsSiH, which was chosen because the majority of radical reactions using silanes in organic synthesis deal with this particular silane (see Sections III and IV). Furthermore, the monohydride terminal surface of H-Si(lll) resembles (TMSjsSiH and shows similar reactivity for the organic modification of silicon surfaces (see Section V). Rate constants for the reaction of primary, secondary, and tertiary alkyl radicals with (TMSIsSiH are very similar in the range of temperatures that are useful for chemical transformations in the liquid phase. This is due to compensation of entropic and enthalpic effects through this series of alkyl radicals. Phenyl and fluorinated alkyl radicals show rate constants two to three orders of magnitude... 

Since these developments became known the importance of steric effects on the reactivity of free radical reactions has also been more clearly recognized and more thoroughly investigated1 11 Some more important and more recent results along these lines are the topic of this review. 

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. 

In spite of a high reactivity of 3-carotene in free radical reactions and marked antioxidant effects in in vitro systems, 3-carotene did not show itself as an effective in vivo antioxidant. Furthermore, recent clinical trials suggested that the administration of 3-carotene may be useless or even harmful to patients with heart and some other diseases, especially to smokers. One might suspect that one of the major reasons of toxic in vivo effects of 3-carotene might be the formation of prooxidative compounds during 3-carotene oxidation. In contrast to... 

This method gave a primary hydrogen-deuterium kinetic isotope effect of 1.3 for the reaction between the aryl radical and tributyltin hydride. This isotope effect is smaller than the isotope effect of 1.9 which San Filippo and coworkers reported for the reaction between the less reactive alkyl radicals and tributyltin hydride163 (vide infra). The smaller isotope effect of 1.3 in the aryl radical reaction is reasonable, because an earlier transition state with less hydrogen transfer, and therefore a smaller isotope effect164, should be observed for the reaction with the more reactive aryl radicals. 

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). 

It is obvions that any categorization tends to name the main trait of the phenomenon under consideration. This is useful. At the same time, the categorization need not be understood literally becanse each effect possesses multiple characteristics. However, it is impossible to study anything withont even a minimal classification. In fact, investigations on the ion-radical electronic structure appear to be more developed than studies on their reactivity. Therefore, not every example considered here is snpplied with the reactivity description. However, future accomplishments in studies on ion-radical reactions will be better understood in terms of the principles stated here. 

Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit autoxidation reactions by rapidly reacting with radical intermediates to form less-reactive radicals that are unable to continue the chain reaction. The chain reaction is effectively stopped, since the damaging radical becomes bound to the antioxidant. Thus, vitamin E (a-tocopherol) is used commercially to retard rancidity in fatty materials in food manufacturing. Its antioxidant effect is likely to arise by reaction with peroxyl radicals. These remove a hydrogen atom from the phenol group, generating a resonance-stabilized radical that does not propagate the radical reaction. Instead, it mops up further peroxyl radicals. In due course, the tocopheryl peroxide is hydrolysed to a-tocopherylquinone. 

Selected entries from Methods in Enzymology [vol, page(s)] Assay with 2,2-dithiobisnitrobenzoic acid method, 233, 381-382 pH effects, 233, 384-385 formed by incubation with dithiothrei-tol, labeling, 233, 409-410 protein thiol assay, 234, 273-274 labeling, 233, 414 reactivity with free radicals and reactive oxygen species, 233, 405 reaction with ferrylmyoglobin, 233, 196-197. 

The effect of a substituent on the reactivity of a monomer in cationic copolymerization depends on the extent to which it increases the electron density on the double bond and on its ability to resonance stabilize the carbocation that is formed. However, the order of monomer reactivities in cationic copolymerization (as in anionic copolymerization) is not nearly as well defined as in radical copolymerization. Reactivity is often influenced to a larger degree by the reaction conditions (solvent, counterion, temperature) than by the structure of the monomer. There are relatively few reports in the literature in which monomer reactivity has been studied for a wide range of different monomers under conditions of the same solvent, counterion, and reaction temperature. 

Steric effects similar to those in radical copolymerization are also operative in cationic copolymerizations. Table 6-9 shows the effect of methyl substituents in the a- and 11-positions of styrene. Reactivity is increased by the a-methyl substituent because of its electron-donating power. The decreased reactivity of P-methylstyrene relative to styrene indicates that the steric effect of the P-substituent outweighs its polar effect of increasing the electron density on the double bond. Furthermore, the tranx-fl-methylstyrene appears to be more reactive than the cis isomer, although the difference is much less than in radical copolymerization (Sec. 6-3b-2). It is worth noting that 1,2-disubstituted alkenes have finite r values in cationic copolymerization compared to the values of zero in radical copolymerization (Table 6-2). There is a tendency for 1,2-disubstituted alkenes to self-propagate in cationic copolymerization, although this tendency is low in the radical reaction. 

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