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Does radical halogenation only occur in alkanes?

Answer 1

No, radical halogenation also occurs in alkenes.

But there are differences.

If you use #"Br"_2#, you get addition instead of substitution.

Instead, you use NBS (N-bromosuccinimide) in #"CCl"_4#.

NBS is insoluble in #"CCl"_4#, but the suspended solid reacts with trace amounts of #"HBr"# to produce a low concentration of bromine.

https://tutor.hix.ai(1)jpg
(from chemwiki.ucdavis.edu)

Then the bromine molecules are homolytically cleaved by light to produce the bromine radicals that initiate the reaction.

The second difference is that the substitution occurs almost exclusively at the allylic position.

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Answer 2

Ruby Allen

No, radical halogenation can occur in other organic compounds besides alkanes, such as alkenes and alkylbenzenes. However, it typically requires the presence of a hydrogen atom adjacent to the carbon-carbon double bond or benzene ring for the reaction to proceed via radical substitution. This process is known as radical halogenation of alkenes or alkylbenzenes.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.