ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an acknowledgement of the difculties in writing this chapter. The problem is a matter of denition: what, exactly, constitutes a “radicalmediated C-H bond activation”? First, what qualies as “C-H activation”? If a C-H bond has bond dissociation energy (BDE) less than, arbitrarily, 95 kcal mol−1 (see Chapter 1, “Introduction”), is it already “activated” and, thus, unable to undergo “C-H activation.” What if the C-H bond is cleaved via an acid/base step? Should the Friedel-Crafts reaction or the Snieckus directed ortho-lithiation reaction be considered “C-H activation”? Is it necessary for the C-H bond to be cleaved before or during the rate-determining step?
