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A good example of a substitution reaction is halogenation. When chlorine gas (Cl 2) is irradiated, some of the molecules are split into two chlorine radicals (Cl•), whose free electrons are strongly nucleophilic. One of them breaks a C–H covalent bond in CH 4 and grabs the hydrogen atom to form the electrically neutral HCl.
The relative rates at which different halogens react vary considerably: [citation needed] fluorine (108) > chlorine (1) > bromine (7 × 10 −11) > iodine (2 × 10 −22).. Radical fluorination with the pure element is difficult to control and highly exothermic; care must be taken to prevent an explosion or a runaway reaction.
Halogenation of saturated hydrocarbons is a substitution reaction. The reaction typically involves free radical pathways. The regiochemistry of the halogenation of alkanes is largely determined by the relative weakness of the C–H bonds. This trend is reflected by the faster reaction at tertiary and secondary positions.
One or more of the hydrogen atoms can be replaced with other atoms, for example chlorine or another halogen: this is called a substitution reaction. An example is the conversion of methane to chloroform using a chlorination reaction. Halogenating a hydrocarbon produces something that is not a hydrocarbon. It is a very common and useful process.
The cathode transfers electrons to the molecule, which decomposes to produce the corresponding hydrocarbon (hydrogen atoms substitute the original chlorine atoms) and free chloride ions. For instance, the reductive dechlorination of CFCs is complete and produces several hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) plus chloride.
The dislodged chlorine has to resort to nucleophilic attack from the rear as in a regular nucleophilic substitution. [ 3 ] In the complete picture for this reaction the sulfite reacts with a chlorine ion in a standard S N 2 reaction with inversion of configuration.
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Although aqua regia is an unstable mixture that continually gives off fumes containing free chlorine gas, this chlorine gas appears to have been ignored until c. 1630, when its nature as a separate gaseous substance was recognised by the Brabantian chemist and physician Jan Baptist van Helmont. [15] [en 1] Carl Wilhelm Scheele, discoverer of ...