Radicals substitution reactions with hydrocarbons

Alkanes are called saturated hydrocarbons because they do not contain any double or triple bonds. Since they also have only strong cr bonds and atoms with no partial charges, alkanes are very umeactive. Alkanes do undergo radical substitution reactions with chlorine (Cl 2) or bromine (Br2) at high temperatures or in the presence of light, to form alkyl chlorides or alkyl bromides. The substitution reaction is a radical chain reaction with initiation, propagation, and termination steps. Unwanted radical reactions are prevented by radical inhibitors—compounds that destroy reactive radicals by creating umeactive radicals or compounds with only paired electrons. 

The trend observed with the polycyclic hydrocarbons (see preceding section), namely that the product radical anions (ArNu ) are more stable than those derived from the simple benzene analogs, is even more evident with the heteroaromatic substrates and, as a consequence, fragmentation processes are minimized.41 For example, 2-chloroquinoline is the only substrate of many studied to undergo a substitution reaction with PhCH2S- ion without fragmentation of the benzyl-S bond,103 and to react with diphenyl-arsenide ion without scrambling of the aryl moieties.25... 

However, near the Earth s surface, the hydrocarbons, especially olefins and substituted aromatics, are attacked by the free atomic O, and with NO, produce more NO2. Thus, the balance of the reactions shown in the above reactions is upset so that O3 levels build up, particularly when the Sun s intensity is greatest at midday. The reactions with hydrocarbons are very complex and involve the formation of unstable intermediate free radicals that undergo a series of changes. Aldehydes are major products in these reactions. Formaldehyde and acrolein account for 50% and 5%, respectively, of the total aldehyde in urban atmospheres. Peroxyacetyl nitrate (CH3COONO2), often referred to as PAN, and its homologs, also arise in urban air, most likely from the reaction of the peroxyacyl radicals with NO2. 

A classical radical substitution reaction is that of bromine with a hydrocarbon such as toluene. Initiation of the reaction by photolytic cleavage of bromine gives bromine radicals (Br2 + hv 2 Br ). Bromine can also be converted to Br by adding a peroxide or another radical initiator. Bromine radical abstracts a hydrogen... 

In Part 2, a system based on f-butylhydropero.xide (TBHP) is described. This is similar to the above Gif sterns, but the kinetic isotope effect is very different and the selectivity for adamantane substitution is different. However, Fe is activated by TBHP to an Fe oxenoid which, after reaction with hydrocarbon, then reacts with oxygen to give hydroperoxide. So the pattern of intermediates A and B seen in Part I is maintained with TBHP. Radical chemistiy may be involved in some of the reactions tliat involve ionic coupling to saturated hydrocarbons. 

Chapter 13 discusses the substitution reactions of alkanes— hydrocarbons that contain only single bonds. In previous chapters, we have seen that when a compound reacts, the weakest bond in the molecule breaks first. Alkanes, however, have only strong bonds. Therefore, conditions vigorous enough to generate radicals are required for alkanes to react. Chapter 13 also looks at radical substitution reactions and radical addition reactions of alkenes. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some radical reactions that occur in the biological world. 

The hydrogenolyaia of cyclopropane rings (C—C bond cleavage) has been described on p, 105. In syntheses of complex molecules reductive cleavage of alcohols, epoxides, and enol ethers of 5-keto esters are the most important examples, and some selectivity rules will be given. Primary alcohols are converted into tosylates much faster than secondary alcohols. The tosylate group is substituted by hydrogen upon treatment with LiAlH (W. Zorbach, 1961). Epoxides are also easily opened by LiAlH. The hydride ion attacks the less hindered carbon atom of the epoxide (H.B. Henhest, 1956). The reduction of sterically hindered enol ethers of 9-keto esters with lithium in ammonia leads to the a,/S-unsaturated ester and subsequently to the saturated ester in reasonable yields (R.M. Coates, 1970). Tributyltin hydride reduces halides to hydrocarbons stereoselectively in a free-radical chain reaction (L.W. Menapace, 1964) and reacts only slowly with C 0 and C—C double bonds (W.T. Brady, 1970 H.G. Kuivila, 1968). 

Tri-(l-naphthyl)phosphine is cleaved by alkali metals in THF solution. " Reaction with sodium gives the naphthalene radical-ion, with lithium the perylene radical-ion, and with potassium the radical-ion (22). Hydrocarbon radical-ion formation was thought to occur via naphthalene derived from the metal naphthalenide. E.s.r. spectra of further examples of phosphorus-substituted picrylhydrazyl radicals have been reported. ... 

The radical-promoted reaction between polyethylene and hexafluoro-acetone is shown in Equation 1. It had been demonstrated previously in the case of simple hydrocarbons (8) that the addition of a carbon radical to the carbonyl group of hexafluoroacetone can take place in two modes, to yield the product, of substitution with either a fluoro-... 

PINO possesses a high reactivity in the reaction with the C—H bond of the hydrocarbon. Hence, the substitution of peroxyl radicals to nitroxyl radicals accelerates the chain reaction of oxidation. The accumulation of hydroperoxide in the oxidized hydrocarbon should decrease the oxidation rate because of the equilibrium reaction. 

As previously mentioned, Davis (8) has shown that in model dehydrocyclization reactions with a dual function catalyst and an n-octane feedstock, isomerization of the hydrocarbon to 2-and 3-methylheptane is faster than the dehydrocyclization reaction. Although competitive isomerization of an alkane feedstock is commonly observed in model studies using monofunctional (Pt) catalysts, some of the alkanes produced can be rationalized as products of the hydrogenolysis of substituted cyclopentanes, which in turn can be formed on platinum surfaces via free radical-like mechanisms. However, the 2- and 3-methylheptane isomers (out of a total of 18 possible C8Hi8 isomers) observed with dual function catalysts are those expected from the rearrangement of n-octane via carbocation intermediates. Such acid-catalyzed isomerizations are widely acknowledged to occur via a protonated cyclopropane structure (25, 28), in this case one derived from the 2-octyl cation, which can then be the precursor... 

Lund and coworkers [131] pioneered the use of aromatic anion radicals as mediators in a study of the catalytic reduction of bromobenzene by the electrogenerated anion radical of chrysene. Other early investigations involved the catalytic reduction of 1-bromo- and 1-chlorobutane by the anion radicals of trans-stilhene and anthracene [132], of 1-chlorohexane and 6-chloro-l-hexene by the naphthalene anion radical [133], and of 1-chlorooctane by the phenanthrene anion radical [134]. Simonet and coworkers [135] pointed out that a catalytically formed alkyl radical can react with an aromatic anion radical to form an alkylated aromatic hydrocarbon. Additional, comparatively recent work has centered on electron transfer between aromatic anion radicals and l,2-dichloro-l,2-diphenylethane [136], on reductive coupling of tert-butyl bromide with azobenzene, quinoxaline, and anthracene [137], and on the reactions of aromatic anion radicals with substituted benzyl chlorides [138], with... 

In recent years, a large body of work emphasized the use of zeolites for production of fine chemicals (refs.1-4). The interests stand in replacement of liquid acids to lower corrosion of equipment and pollution, and to reach specific selectivities. However, the hopes raised up in a rapid development of processes seems restrained nowadays. Many patents claimed zeolites as catalysts but very few have received industrial applications. Actually, basic research on the stability, the origin of deactivation, the regenerability of the catalysts have to be developed. Moreover, fundamental aspects of the mechanism of this new kind of reactions are lacking, in particular, the possibility of radical mechanisms, which are rather scarce with hydrocarbons, but can likely occur when heteroatoms are involved in the reactant. Those were our objectives in the study of the isomerisation of substituted halobenzenes on zeolites (refs.5-7). Indeed this reaction was claimed to occur readily on zeolites (refs.8-9), but it is supposed that no industrial development has followed. 

Allenic hydrocarbons, including cyclic ones, underwent chlorine addition under radical conditions only one double bond reacted [12], A number of conjugated dienes added chlorine in their reaction with (dichloroiodo)benzene under radical conditions. Both 1,2- and 1,4-addition occurred their ratios varied, depending on the substitution of the non-cyclic substrate and the size of the cyclic ones trans products were normally favoured [13]. 1,6-Dienes were cyclized to 1,2-bis chloromethyl cyclopentanes [14] ... 

In addition to the usual reactions of the catalyst with intermediate hydroperoxides, the second type of reaction undoubtedly involves direct reaction of the metal catalyst with the hydrocarbon substrate and/or with secondary autoxidation products. Two possible pathways can be visualized for the production of radicals via direct interaction of metal oxidants with hydrocarbon substrates, namely, electrophilic substitution and electron transfer. Both processes are depicted below for the reaction of a metal triacetate with a hydrocarbon. 

Trimethylsilyl anions also give the substitution products by the reaction with alkyl chloride in almost quantitative yield (equation 14), but considerable amounts of electron-transfer products are produced as well in HMPA. Indeed, Mc3SiNa/HMPA is an excellent reagent to produce anion radicals (Table 9) from aromatic hydrocarbons for ESR (electron spin resonance) studies (equation 65). ... 

---