Is radical dehalogenation possible?
1 Answer
Dec 23, 2014
Yes, indeed. Radical dehalogenation is an important process in organic synthesis.
The process often involves tributyltin hydride, (C₄H₉)₃SnH.
For example, (C₄H₉)₃SnH undergoes a free radical reaction with 1-bromopropane to produce propane.
CH₃CH₂CH₂Br + (C₄H₉)₃SnH → CH₃CH₂CH₃ + (C₄H₉)₃SnBr
The initiation step involves the formation of the tributyltin free radical, (C₄H₉)₃Sn·.
Then the free radical keeps reacting and being regenerated in the propagation steps.
As usual, there are several termination steps.
