Question

What are alkyl radicals?

Answer 1

As we know that in chemistry, an alkyl substituent is an alkane with one less hydrogen. An acyclic alkyl has the general formula as${{C}_{n}}{{H}_{2n+1}}$. Also a radical is an atom, molecule or ion with an unpaired valence electron. Many of these radicals dimerize spontaneously. So here we have to explain about alkyl radicals.

Complete answer:
Let us discuss about alkanes a bit followed by alkyl radicals:-
Alkanes: These are the organic compounds that only consist of single bonded carbon and hydrogen atoms and lack any other functional groups such as alcohols or carbonyl groups. The general formula of alkane is:${{C}_{n}}{{H}_{2n+2}}$
Alkyl radicals: When one atom of hydrogen has been removed from an alkane, it results in monovalent radicals. These radicals of alkanes are the molecular fragments having an unpaired electron are usually called as alkyl groups.
-The nomenclature of the alkyl groups are formed by substituting the suffix ‘-yl’ in place of ‘-ane’ in the names of the alkanes from which they are derived.
-Alkyl radicals can be generated in a number of ways but the most typical methods involve redox reactions. Other methods known for the reduction of alkyl radicals are ionizing radiation, heat, electrical discharges, and electrolysis.
-These are the intermediates in many chemical reactions especially in organic reactions.
-Few examples of alkyl radicals are: The methyl radical ($C{{H}_{3}}^{\bullet }$) is formed from methane ($C{{H}_{4}}$ ) and the ethyl radical (${{C}_{2}}{{H}_{5}}^{\bullet }$ ) is formed from ethane (${{C}_{2}}{{H}_{6}}$).

Note:
-Remember that these unpaired electrons make alkyl radicals very chemically reactive and also being the intermediate, most of these organic radicals have short lifetimes.
-Alkyl radicals are important in various processes such as combustion, plasma chemistry, biochemistry, atmospheric chemistry, polymerization and many other chemical processes.