Radical Chemistry

Dear Colleagues,

 

Radicals play an astonishing variety of roles in an amazingly diverse range of sciences and technologies. Our understanding of the almost unlimited flexibility of their structures and the huge breadth of their activities has expanded wonderfully in the last few years. Notable new advances include: The burgeoning exploitation of photoredox catalysis in mild synthetic procedures, boron-containing radicals in syntheses, oxime derivatives as radical precursors, radical cascade reactions, novel controlled/living radical mediated polymerization methods, double spin labelling for EPR distance measurements in biopolymers and organic super electron donors. Radical-mediated syntheses are steadily taking their place alongside more traditional nucleophile/electrophile preparative procedures. In fact, radical-mediated preparations frequently enable tedious protection/deprotection steps to be dispensed with and this, coupled with the neutral conditions and absence of harsh acidic/basic reagents, makes their use particularly attractive. Radical reactivity depends strongly on the underlying thermodynamics. Key thermodynamic parameters have been obtained for many model radicals and archetype radical clocks are available for assessing reactivity. These tools, supplemented and augmented by DFT computational methods, ensure that synthetic planning is comparatively easy and that mechanisms can be rationally established. Furthermore, radical intermediates can often be elegantly characterized and monitored by EPR spectroscopic methods. Persistent radicals are finding more and more uses in both biological and materials sciences. The aim of this Special Issue is to review and showcase recent research across the whole field. Papers and review articles are welcomed in the heartland areas of radical-based synthesis and physical organic chemistry, as well as in all the newly-developing fields.

Prof. Dr. John C. Walton
Guest Editor

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