Why are there no substitution reactions of alkanes with fluorine or iodine (1 Viewer)

ekjchale#1

Active Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2022
Messages
118
Gender
Male
HSC
2022
^^^^
Does electronegativity play a role in why they don't?
Thanks in advance
🙂
 

someth1ng

Retired Nov '14
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
5,558
Location
Adelaide, Australia
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2021
By substitution, I assume halogenation reactions.

Yes, you can do it with fluorine, which is much more reactive and basically uncontrollable/explosive (this is why you don't learn about it).

Iodine is less reactive because when you get iodine radicals, the hydrogen atom abstraction is slow (for extended reading, see polarity matching and hydrogen atom transfer/abstraction). Br and Cl radicals are more electron-poor, so they're better at abstracting electron-rich hydrogen atoms.

Oh, by extended reading, I mean it's like, stuff you might learn in third-year chemistry or later.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top