3: Nonchain Reactions
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Although many radical reactions in carbohydrate chemistry are chain processes, nonchain reactions also play a significant role in the chemistry of these compounds. As mentioned at the beginning of Chapter 2, chain and nonchain reactions each involve radical formation, transformation, and disappearance. The difference is that for chain reactions the transformation cycle typically is repeated many times for each initiating radical, but for nonchain reactions each radical formed causes transformation to take place only once. The radicals that participate in nonchain reactions sometimes are formed by bond homolysis but more often are produced by electron transfer. Bond homolysis is usually a photochemical reaction. Electron transfer typically involves transition-metal-generated radicals.