Synthesis hydrobromination

A considerable amount of hydrobromic acid is consumed in the manufacture of inorganic bromides, as well as in the synthesis of alkyl bromides from alcohols. The acid can also be used to hydrobrominate olefins (qv). The addition can take place by an ionic mechanism, usually in a polar solvent, according to Markownikoff s rule to yield a secondary alkyl bromide. Under the influence of a free-radical catalyst, in aprotic, nonpolar solvents, dry hydrogen bromide reacts with an a-olefin to produce a primary alkyl bromide as the predominant product. Primary alkyl bromides are useful in synthesizing other compounds and are 40—60 times as reactive as the corresponding chlorides (6). 

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