"Front Matter". In: Organosilanes in Radical Chemistry - Index of
"Front Matter". In: Organosilanes in Radical Chemistry - Index of
"Front Matter". In: Organosilanes in Radical Chemistry - Index of
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4 Reduc<strong>in</strong>g Agents<br />
4.1 GENERAL ASPECTS OF RADICAL CHAIN REACTIONS<br />
The use <strong>of</strong> free-radical reactions <strong>in</strong> organic synthesis started with the reduction<br />
<strong>of</strong> functional groups. The purpose <strong>of</strong> this chapter is to give an overview <strong>of</strong> the<br />
relevance <strong>of</strong> silanes as efficient and effective sources for facile hydrogen atom<br />
transfer by radical cha<strong>in</strong> processes. A number <strong>of</strong> reviews [1–7] have described<br />
some specific areas <strong>in</strong> detail. Reaction (4.1) represents the reduction <strong>of</strong> a<br />
functional group by silicon hydride which, <strong>in</strong> order to be a radical cha<strong>in</strong><br />
process, has to be associated with <strong>in</strong>itiation, propagation and term<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
steps <strong>of</strong> the radical species. Scheme 4.1 illustrates the <strong>in</strong>sertion <strong>of</strong> Reaction<br />
(4.1) <strong>in</strong> a radical cha<strong>in</strong> process.<br />
RZ þ R 0 3SiH !RH þ R0 3SiZ (4:1)<br />
A large number <strong>of</strong> compounds are known to decompose thermally or photolytically<br />
to generate free radicals (see Section 4.2). These radicals (<strong>In</strong>:) participate<br />
<strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>itiation step by abstract<strong>in</strong>g a hydrogen atom from the reduc<strong>in</strong>g<br />
SiH. <strong>In</strong> the propagation steps, the removal <strong>of</strong> the functional group Z <strong>in</strong><br />
agent R0 3<br />
the organic substrate takes place by action <strong>of</strong> R0 3Si: radical via a reactive<br />
<strong>in</strong>termediate or a transition state represented by [RZ(:)SiR0 3 ]. A site-specific<br />
radical R: is generated, which then reacts with the silicon hydride and gives the<br />
reduced product, together with ‘fresh’ R0 3Si: radicals to cont<strong>in</strong>ue the cha<strong>in</strong>.<br />
Cha<strong>in</strong> reactions term<strong>in</strong>ate by radical–radical comb<strong>in</strong>ation or disproportionation<br />
reactions, with the general concept that the more remote the term<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
reactions the more efficient is the cha<strong>in</strong> reaction. K<strong>in</strong>etically speak<strong>in</strong>g, to be<br />
efficient the rate <strong>of</strong> cha<strong>in</strong> transfer steps between radicals and start<strong>in</strong>g materials<br />
must be higher than that <strong>of</strong> cha<strong>in</strong> term<strong>in</strong>ation steps between radicals. The<br />
<strong>Organosilanes</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Radical</strong> <strong>Chemistry</strong> C. Chatgilialoglu<br />
# 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd ISBN: 0-471-49870-X