Radicals, anti-Markovnikov atom abstraction

In the presence of a radical initiator, alkenes react with reactive molecules such as hydrogen bromide to give simple 1 1 adducts rather than a polymer. The initiator radical reacts rapidly with an HBr molecule to give a bromine atom (6.49), which starts the chain reaction. In the first propagation step, the bromine atom adds to the alkene 61 to give the adduct radical 62 (reaction 6.50). Since 62 abstracts a hydrogen atom from HBr by reaction (6.51) more rapidly than it would add to the alkene to form a polymer radical as in (6.43), the chain continues with reactions (6.50) and (6.51) as the propagating steps, and the product is the primary bromo compound 63. This anti-Markovniko addition is in the reverse direction to the polar addition discussed in Chapter 5. Since the radical chain reaction is faster than the polar reaction, the anti-Markovnikov product dominates if radicals are present. If the Markovnikov product is required, the reaction must be carried out in the dark, in the absence of free radical initiators, and preferably with a radical inhibitor present. 

The other reaction is the peroxide-catalysed addition of HBr to alkenes 7.19 giving the anti-Markovnikov product 7.21. The peroxide generates a bromine radical by abstracting the hydrogen atom from the HBr. The key step is the addition of the bromine atom to the double bond 7.19, which takes place to give the more-substituted radical 7.20, and this in turn abstracts a hydrogen atom from another molecule of HBr to give the primary alkyl bromide 7.21. 

The mechanism proposed for the peroxide effect involves a radical chain reaction. The initiation step (equation 9.31) produces a bromine atom, which then attaches to the less alkyl-substituted carbon atom of a carbon-carbon double bond (equation 9.32). The resulting alkyl radical then abstracts a hydrogen atom from HBr to produce the anti-Markovnikov product and regenerate a bromine atom in the second propagation step (equation 9.33). Termination steps, not shown, interrupt the chain reaction. 

FIGURE 11.35 Addition of a bromine atom to 1-propyne gives the more stable vinyl radical, which then abstracts the hydrogen atom from hydrogen bromide to give the anti-Markovnikov product. 

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