Radicals multiple halogen substitution

When hydrogen abstraction or electrophilic addition reactions may be inhibited by multiple halogen substitutions or steric hindrance, a hydroxyl radical can be reduced to a hydroxide anion by an organic substrate shown in Equation (7.28) ... 

Although we discussed its mechanism at length in Section 4-3, free-radical halogenation is rarely an effective method for the synthesis of alkyl halides. It usually produces mixtures of products because there are different kinds of hydrogen atoms that can be abstracted. Also, more than one halogen atom may react, giving multiple substitutions. For example, the chlorination of propane can give a messy mixture of products. 

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