Radical Reaction Pathways and Stability

Radical reactions follow a small set of pathways that help highly reactive species become more stable. A radical can react with another radical, with a spin-paired molecule, or through unimolecular decomposition, which means one radical species breaks down on its own.

In radical-radical coupling,...

The unpaired electron makes radicals a highly reactive species.

Consequently, radicals undergo three forms of reactions to achieve stability:

first, by combining with another radical and forming a spin‐paired molecule;

second, by reacting with another spin‐paired molecule to generate a new radical and a new spin‐paired molec...