title: Basic principles of reactivity in free radical chemistry.
abstract: This review is concerned with an overall survey of reactivity in free radical chemistry. A concise classification is given of elementary reaction steps which can be combined in different ways to account for overall chemical transformations: radical forming reactions, radical transformations, and radical destroying reactions. From this is derived the concept of the chain reaction which leads on to an up-to-date theory for understanding reactivity in free radical processes. Finally, a few aspects of autoxidation are discussed.
mesh_terms: D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002621:Chemistry; D004583:Electrons; D005609:Free Radicals; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D011789:Quantum Theory; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D005609:Free Radicals