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Ring opening of the cyclopropylmethyl radical is reliable and fast, and so has been used as a radical trap and a radical clock.

Could someone please explain what exactly makes this reaction so fast, besides the ring strain? Why is the anionic ring opening slower?

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GingerBadger
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    Cyclopropylmethyl radical undergoes a very rapid ring opening rearrangement that relieves the ring strain and is enthalpically favorable. The rate-constant for this reaction is 8.6×107 s−1 at 298 K. – Chakravarthy Kalyan Feb 01 '18 at 23:41
  • @ChakravarthyKalyan Thanks! But why is the anionic process much slower? – GingerBadger Feb 01 '18 at 23:45
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    https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/19090/what-is-the-reason-for-the-exceptional-stability-of-the-cyclopropylmethyl-carboc – Chakravarthy Kalyan Feb 02 '18 at 00:04

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