Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons, in which the carbon atoms are joined by single covalent bonds only. They are generally unreactive. They are non-polar and so, are unreactive towards polar or ionic reagents.
Having said that, alkanes do undergo two main types of reactions: Combustion and Halogenation.
Today, we shall discuss more on the halogenation reaction which occurs in the presence of ultraviolet light / sunlight / heat. Chlorine or bromine are usually involved in the halogenation process.
Halogenation of alkanes proceeds via the Free-Radical Substitution (FRS) mechanism which consists of three steps:
- Initiation
- Propagation
- Termination
In the video below, you will learned the FRS mechanism in detail and also understand why halogenation of alkanes via FRS is NOT a good method to obtain halogenoalkanes (which are commonly tested in GCE A-Level H2 Chemistry Examination and its equivalents).
I hope you find the content easy for your understanding and if you have any questions, leave me a comment below. Feel free to share this blog post with your friends.
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Direct video link: https://youtu.be/WaWB16kr5SU
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