[pzona69]

This is something I've been wondering for a while, and we haven't learned anything about it in school. When you take a simple alkane, no carbon side chains or anything attached, and add a halogen, what determines which carbon the halogen adds onto? I understand how it works with alkenes, and alkanes with methyl groups and such, but I was just wondering this today in class. Is it random? I figure there are probably multiple products produced, depending on the alkane, would this be correct?

Also, I wasn't sure as to whether this should be in high school chemistry, since it's a simple question about something I'm learning in a high school organic class; sorry if this is the wrong board.

[agrobert]

I could give you a general answers but it depends on the reaction conditions.  Straight and branched alkanes require energy to be halogenated and the most common reaction is a radical one with homolytic cleavage of a diatomic halogen gas and subsequent radical propagation.

This website explains it well and gives you isomer ratios with understanding.

Look at 2. Halogenation

http://www.cem.msu.edu/~reusch/VirtualText/funcrx1.htm

[pzona69]

agrobert,

thanks a lot, that link was very helpful