Advices For Studying Organic Chemistry

1. Almost all small radicals are short-lived, highly reactive species.


2. They tend to react in a way that leads to pairing of their unpaired electron.
   
   
   1. Abstraction of an atom from another molecule:
      i) Hydrogen abstraction:
      General Reaction
      +H R R
      Alkane Alkyl radical
   
   
   
   

XXH +

Specific Example

Methane Methyl radical

Cl ++H CH 3 Cl H CH 3

2) Addition to a compound containing a multiple bond to produce a new, larger

radical:

Alkene Newradical

CC CC

R R

The Chemistry of Radicals in Biology, Medicine, and Industry

1. Radical reactions are of vital importance in biology and medicine.
   
   
   1. Radical reactions are ubiquitous (everywhere) in living things, because radicals
      are produced in the normal course of metabolism.
   
   
   2. Radical are all around us because molecular oxygen ( OO) is itself a
      diradical.
   
   
   3. Nitric oxide ( N O ) plays a remarkable number of important roles in living
      systems.