Radicals, from

Polymerization reactions. There are two broad types of polymerization reactions, those which involve a termination step and those which do not. An example that involves a termination step is free-radical polymerization of an alkene molecule. The polymerization requires a free radical from an initiator compound such as a peroxide. The initiator breaks down to form a free radical (e.g., CH3 or OH), which attaches to a molecule of alkene and in so doing generates another free radical. Consider the polymerization of vinyl chloride from a free-radical initiator R. An initiation step first occurs ... 

An individual radical from the RP may encounter a radical from a different RP to fomi what are known as random RPs or F pairs. F pairs which happen to be in the singlet state have a high probability of recombining, so the remaining F pairs will be in the triplet state. Consequently, the initial condition for F pairs is the triplet state in nearly all cases. 

An individual radical from die RP may be scavenged by a solvent or another chemical species to fonn diamagnetic products. Because the products are fonned following escape from the cage, they are known as escape or scavenging products. 

The velocity distribution/(v) depends on the conditions of the experiment. In cell and trap experiments it is usually a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution at some well defined temperature, but /(v) in atomic beam experiments, arising from optical excitation velocity selection, deviates radically from the nonnal thennal distribution [471. The actual signal count rate, relates to the rate coefficient through... 

The radical phenylation of a large number of mono- and dialkyl-thiazoles has been investigated (393,395,396,399-405, for a general review cf. 398) and analyzed in terms of partial rate factors. As in other instances the alkyl groups slightly activate the substrate in certain positions toward phenyl radicals, but they also induce some steric hindrance to the approach of the aryl radical from the onho positions (Fig. 1-19). 

Mass Spectrometry Ethers like alcohols lose an alkyl radical from their molecular ion to give an oxygen stabilized cation Thus m/z 73 and m/z 87 are both more abun dant than the molecular ion m the mass spectrum of sec butyl ethyl ether... 

Radicals from Ring Systems. Univalent substituent groups derived from polycyclic hydrocarbons are named by changing the final e of the hydrocarbon name to -yl. The carbon atoms having free valences are given locants as low as possible consistent with the fixed numbering of the... 

In discussing mechanism (5.F) in the last chapter we noted that the entrapment of two reactive species in the same solvent cage may be considered a transition state in the reaction of these species. Reactions such as the thermal homolysis of peroxides and azo compounds result in the formation of two radicals already trapped together in a cage that promotes direct recombination, as with the 2-cyanopropyl radicals from 2,2 -azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN),... 

Tlie formation of initiator radicals is not the only process that determines the concentration of free radicals in a polymerization system. Polymer propagation itself does not change the radical concentration it merely changes one radical to another. Termination steps also occur, however, and these remove radicals from the system. We shall discuss combination and disproportionation reactions as modes of termination. 

Products other than hydroperoxides are formed in oxidations by reactions such as those of equations 11 and 12. Hydroxyl radicals (from eq. 4) are very energetic hydrogen abstractors the product is water (eq. 11). 

Most solvents for hydroperoxides are not completely inert to radical attack and, consequendy, react with radicals from the hydroperoxide to form solvent-derived radicals, either by addition to unsaturated sites or by hydrogen- or chlorine-atom abstraction. In equation 15, S—H represents solvent and S is a solvent radical. 

Alkoxy radicals from hydroperoxides can undergo a -scission reaction (eq. 2) to yield an alkyl radical and a ketone. The higher stabiUty of the generated alkyl radical compared to that of the parent alkoxy radical provides the driving force for this reaction, and the R group involved is the one that forms the most stable alkyl radical. 

Polymerization Mechanism. The mechanism that accounts for the experimental observations of oxidative coupling of 2,6-disubstituted phenols involves an initial formation of aryloxy radicals from oxidation of the phenol with the oxidized form of the copper—amine complex or other catalytic agent. The aryloxy radicals couple to form cyclohexadienones, which undergo enolization and redistribution steps (32). The initial steps of the polymerization scheme for 2,6-dimethylphenol are as in equation 6. 

Nitroxyl radicals of diarylamines can also be obtained on oxidation with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of vanadium ions. Resonance helps stabili2e these radicals. Eor example, the nitroxide from 4,4 -dimethoxydiphenylainine [63619-50-1] is stable for years, whereas the radical from the unsubstituted diphenylamine caimot be isolated. Substitution in the ortho and para positions also increases the stabiUties of these nitroxides by inhibiting coupling reactions at these sites. However, they are not as stable as the stericaHy hindered tetramethylpiperidyl radical. 

Resonance theory can also account for the stability of the allyl radical. For example, to form an ethylene radical from ethylene requites a bond dissociation energy of 410 kj/mol (98 kcal/mol), whereas the bond dissociation energy to form an allyl radical from propylene requites 368 kj/mol (88 kcal/mol). This difference results entirely from resonance stabilization. The electron spin resonance spectmm of the allyl radical shows three, not four, types of hydrogen signals. The infrared spectmm shows one type, not two, of carbon—carbon bonds. These data imply the existence, at least on the time scale probed, of a symmetric molecule. The two equivalent resonance stmctures for the allyl radical are as follows ... 

Metal Deactivators. The abiUty of metal ions to catalyse oxidation can be inhibited by metal deactivators (19). These additives chelate metal ions and increase the potential difference between the oxidised and reduced states of the metal ions. This decreases the abiUty of the metal to produce radicals from hydroperoxides by oxidation and reduction (eqs. 15 and 16). Complexation of the metal by the metal deactivator also blocks its abiUty to associate with a hydroperoxide, a requirement for catalysis (20). 

The concept and use of free radical attack on pyrimidines has been little developed. However, pyrimidine does react slowly with p-nitrobenzenediazonium chloride to yield some 2- and 4-p-nitrophenylpyrimidines (51JCS2323) in addition, 2,4-and 4,6-dimethyl-pyrimidine are converted by hydroxymethylene radicals (from ammonium peroxydisul-fate/methanol) into 6- and 2-hydroxymethyl derivatives, respectively (77H(6)525). Certain bipyrimidine photoproducts appear to be formed from two similar or dissimilar pyrimidinyl radicals (see Section 2.13.2.1.4). 

Similar reactions occur with acyl radicals, for example with the CONH2 radical from formamide (74AHC(16)123). 

Radicals from partially hydrogenated heterocycles may be named in two ways in the usual manner, using the appropriate hydro prefix for the parent compound, or by use of the indicated hydrogen convention (italic capital H and locant, enclosed in parentheses). The symbol for the indicated hydrogen must be written immediately following the locant for the radical site, e.g. (163). 

Fig. 1. Examples of temperature dependence of the rate constant for the reactions in which the low-temperature rate-constant limit has been observed 1. hydrogen transfer in the excited singlet state of the molecule represented by (6.16) 2. molecular reorientation in methane crystal 3. internal rotation of CHj group in radical (6.25) 4. inversion of radical (6.40) 5. hydrogen transfer in halved molecule (6.16) 6. isomerization of molecule (6.17) in excited triplet state 7. tautomerization in the ground state of 7-azoindole dimer (6.1) 8. polymerization of formaldehyde in reaction (6.44) 9. limiting stage (6.45) of (a) chain hydrobromination, (b) chlorination and (c) bromination of ethylene 10. isomerization of radical (6.18) 11. abstraction of H atom by methyl radical from methanol matrix [reaction (6.19)] 12. radical pair isomerization in dimethylglyoxime crystals [Toriyama et al. 1977].

We start with the reaction of abstraction of a hydrogen atom by a CH3 radical from molecules of different matrices (see, e.g., Le Roy et al. [1980], Pacey [1979]). These systems were the first to display the need to go beyond the one-dimensional consideration. The experimental data are presented in table 2 together with the barrier heights and widths calculated so as to fit the theoretical dependence (2.1) with a symmetric gaussian barrier. 

Fig. 12.2. EPR spectra of small organic free radicals, (a) Spectrum of the benzene radical anion. [From J. R. Bolton, Mol. Phys. 6 219 (1963). Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis, Ltd.] (b) Spectrum of the ethyl radical. [From R. W. Fessenden and R. H. Schuler, J. Chem. Phys. 33 935 (1960) J. Chem. Phys. 39 2147 (1963). Reproduced by permission of the American Institute of Physics.]...

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