Radical Reactions & Hammond’s Postulate: Crash Course Organic Chemistry #19

Throughout this series, we’ve mostly talked about pairs of electrons, but electrons don’t always have a buddy. An atom or group of atoms with a single unpaired electron is called a radical. In this episode of Crash Course Organic Chemistry, we’ll learn all about radicals including the three key steps in a radical reaction, and Hammond’s Postulate, an important tool to help us understand these reactions. We’ll also see ways radicals can react with alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes.

Episode Sources:
Davies, K. J., & Doroshow, J. H. (1986). Redox cycling of anthracyclines by cardiac mitochondria. I. Anthracycline radical formation by NADH dehydrogenase. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 261(7), 3060-3067.
Ball, P. (Interview with Nick Lane) Yes, life in the fast lane kills you. May 5, 2016.
Bond Dissociation Energies https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbook_Maps/Supplemental_Modules_(Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry)/Chemical_Bonding/Fundamentals_of_Chemical_Bonding/Bond_Energies
Nimse, S. B., & Pal, D. (2015). Free radicals, natural antioxidants, and their reaction mechanisms. Rsc Advances, 5(35), 27986-28006.
Santos-Sánchez, N. F., Salas-Coronado, R., Villanueva-Cañongo, C., & Hernández-Carlos, B. (2019). Antioxidant compounds and their antioxidant mechanism. In Antioxidants. IntechOpen.
Review of Vitamin C
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/vitamin-c

Series Sources:
Brown, W. H., Iverson, B. L., Ansyln, E. V., Foote, C., Organic Chemistry; 8th ed.; Cengage Learning, Boston, 2018.
Bruice, P. Y., Organic Chemistry, 7th ed.; Pearson Education, Inc., United States, 2014.
Clayden, J., Greeves, N., Warren., S., Organic Chemistry, 2nd ed.; Oxford University Press, New York, 2012.
Jones Jr., M.; Fleming, S. A., Organic Chemistry, 5th ed.; W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2014.
Klein., D., Organic Chemistry; 1st ed.; John Wiley & Sons, United States, 2012.
Louden M., Organic Chemistry; 5th ed.; Roberts and Company Publishers, Colorado, 2009.
McMurry, J., Organic Chemistry, 9th ed.; Cengage Learning, Boston, 2016.
Smith, J. G., Organic chemistry; 6th ed.; McGraw-Hill Education, New York, 2020.
Wade., L. G., Organic Chemistry; 8th ed.; Pearson Education, Inc., United States, 2013.