KOtBu as a Single Electron Donor? Revisiting the Halogenation of Alkanes with CBr4 and CCl4
Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde, 295 Cathedral Street, Glasgow G1 1XL, UK
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Academic Editor: John C. Walton
Molecules 2018, 23(5), 1055; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23051055
Received: 8 April 2018 / Revised: 24 April 2018 / Accepted: 26 April 2018 / Published: 1 May 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radical Chemistry)
The search for reactions where KOtBu and other tert-alkoxides might behave as single electron donors led us to explore their reactions with tetrahalomethanes, CX4, in the presence of adamantane. We recently reported the halogenation of adamantane under these conditions. These reactions appeared to mirror the analogous known reaction of NaOH with CBr4 under phase-transfer conditions, where initiation features single electron transfer from a hydroxide ion to CBr4. We now report evidence from experimental and computational studies that KOtBu and other alkoxide reagents do not go through an analogous electron transfer. Rather, the alkoxides form hypohalites upon reacting with CBr4 or CCl4, and homolytic decomposition of appropriate hypohalites initiates the halogenation of adamantane.
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Keywords:
halogenation; potassium tert-butoxide; alkanes; dihalocarbenes; hypohalite
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MDPI and ACS Style
Emery, K.J.; Young, A.; Arokianathar, J.N.; Tuttle, T.; Murphy, J.A. KOtBu as a Single Electron Donor? Revisiting the Halogenation of Alkanes with CBr4 and CCl4. Molecules 2018, 23, 1055. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23051055
AMA Style
Emery KJ, Young A, Arokianathar JN, Tuttle T, Murphy JA. KOtBu as a Single Electron Donor? Revisiting the Halogenation of Alkanes with CBr4 and CCl4. Molecules. 2018; 23(5):1055. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23051055
Chicago/Turabian StyleEmery, Katie J.; Young, Allan; Arokianathar, J. N.; Tuttle, Tell; Murphy, John A. 2018. "KOtBu as a Single Electron Donor? Revisiting the Halogenation of Alkanes with CBr4 and CCl4" Molecules 23, no. 5: 1055. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23051055
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