reacting alkanes to halogens

What are the conditions for a halogen to react to an alkane

UV light to provide activation energy for the reaction, reaction is a substitution of a hydrogen and halogen

What does unequal splitting produce

Releases ions, process is known as heterolysis or heterolytic fission

What does equal splitting produce

Radicals, process known as homolysis or homolytic fission

What is the name of the reaction

Free radical substitution

What are the 3 stages

Initiation, propagation and terminatin

What happens in initiation

UV light breaks the Cl-Cl bond byhomolytic fission to give 2 chlorine radicals, unpaired electron makes Cl reactive

What happens in propagation

Chlorine radical attacks a methane molecule in substitution to form HCl and a methyl radical

What happens after the methyl radical forms

It attaches a different chlorine molecule, this cycle of propagation continues until the reagents are used up

What happens in termination

2 radicals join to form a stable covalent bond

What are the limitations of this

Substitution can continue happening to produce a variety of products and substitution can happen wherever in the carbon chain